Russian Government lists services open to NGO provision
01.11.2016
As well as the list itself, which consists of 20 points, the government also approved the criteria for evaluating the quality of social utility services provision.
The Russian government has approved a list of services which non-governmental organisations included on a register of “contractors of public utility services” can provide. The relevant resolution was published on the government’s website. A series of events is planned over the next two years which will allow such organisations to become fully competent actors in the social services market and to help the government with this directive, announced the head of the government Dmitri Medvedev.
“This list contains what people need the most. Above all, it is social aid for the elderly, children and disabled; help to those who find themselves in complex situations at home, with concerns about their health; a solution to issues of social rehabilitation. NGOs must assist families in which there are children with disabilities or seriously ill people. And we’re talking not only about help with care, but about psychological support and consultations, which are also important. NGOs can also help with finding employment for those for whom it is always difficult – disabled people or people who are inhibited by their health and some groups of minors,” he emphasised.
The list of services, which is made up of twenty points, includes the provision of social services at home, and for the immobile or mobility-impaired. The list enumerates social and employment services for young people, mothers with children, the disabled, the elderly, but also people released from penitentiary facilities, services for rehabilitation and social adaptation of the disabled, services for social support of families bringing up disabled children. Moreover, the list will propose the participation of NGOs in activities for the prevention of neglect and child delinquency, social orphanhood and medical social support of the seriously ill.
This package of services includes those which are already on the basic list of state municipal services and jobs. “This is a very convenient supplement for the regions, these are the very services that NGOs can be contracted to implement. The question often arises: “What services can be contracted out to NGOs? What services can they provide?” This list will help identify these services,” said member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation Elena Topoleva.
She highlighted that the document satisfies the requests of the public insofar as the approved government list has a wider scope than originally proposed. In this sense, Topoleva considers it necessary to add to develop the list in the long-term. “I think that it is worth supplementing the list with services eliminating the consequences of disasters and protecting the environment, and I would also broaden the list of services provided by NGOs in the field of culture. But what exactly is missing will become apparent once the law is put into practice,” she said.
The government also approved the criteria for evaluating the quality of the public utility services. The list takes into account the requirements about the necessary qualifications of those who are directly involved in service provision, as well as transparency and accessibility of information about the NGOs providing services.
The implementer of social utility service can be an NGO, which over the course of a year or more has been providing social utility services of a certain standard, is not a ‘foreign agent’ and does not have debt from unpaid taxes, charges or other obligatory payments, as provided by Russian legislation. Amendments to the current federal legislation on NGO will come into force from 1 January 2017.
