Infrastructure support for CSOs (SONGOs) in Moscow and St Petersburg regions
Where information on support measures can be accessed, together with examples from the Moscow and St Petersburg regions.
A round table event on “Support infrastructure for SONGOs” took place during the Ministry of Economic Development’s annual conference on the theme “Inter-sectoral cooperation in the social sector” held on 7 December.
At the meeting, Tatyana Evlampieva, Head of the Ministry’s Department for Strategic Development and Innovation, stated that they had recently updated their material on infrastructure support for Russian SONGOs which contains information on financial, investment and training support for CSOs, tax benefits and methods for evaluating the merits of non-profit projects.
The section on information support for CSOs has been updated for the first time since 2011. Evlampieva said that they had developed a template for such support at the regional level, containing 14 steps and four sections that focus on information transparency offered by regional authorities, media involvement and support for CSO openness.
The material can be found on the Ministry’s website or by clicking on: https://nko.economy.gov.ru.
Examples from the Moscow and St Petersburg regions
A support programme is being implemented in the capital to support CSOs entitled “Moscow is a kind city”, said Olga Ilyukhina, Head of the City’s Department of Labour and Social Protection and project organiser.
The programme organises competitions for the award of venues and grants. 374 projects have received grants totalling 1.2 billion roubles over the last three years, while CSOs were successful in obtaining 50 venues for hosting inclusive activity workshops where 125,000 events were held between 2021 and 2022.
In addition, since July last year, the programme has organised a social marketplace where CSO goods have been bought totalling more than eight million roubles. The Moscow is a kind city project is also promoting social volunteering in support of CSOs, as well as helping CSO staff to engage effectively with State authorities.
Support infrastructure for CSOs in the St Petersburg region consists of volunteer and social innovation centres, as well as regional Public Chambers, said Alexandra Maznik, Head of the Department for Cooperation with CSOs at the St Petersburg Region’s Public Relations Committee.
The volunteer resource centre is a State finance institution for the region, providing co-working spaces for CSO events, together with advising on participation in grant competitions and helping with volunteer support for CSO events.
