Winning projects for Presidential Grants in 2022
Who has been awarded a presidential grant? 10 of the 1,942 winning projects are discussed
How to chase away a polar bear, teach prison employees not to engage in confrontations with prisoners, and build a development plan for CSOs.
14.01.2022
On January 13, the winners of the first Presidential Grants Fund 2022 were announced. Grant support will be given to 1,942 CSOs. ASI looks at 10 of them.
Reducing conflict in prisons
More than 300 complaints and appeals have been received by the Public Supervisory Committee in the Perm Region.
There are 29 correctional institutions throughout the territory.
According to the appeals, there are a number of instances where prisoners have received hand injuries, abrasions and bruises, which is likely to indicate altercations and fights. Prisoners also complain about limited access to medical care and social assistance.
In order to reduce altercations in correctional institutions, the Conflict-Free Environment for Prisoners project, created by autonomous non-profit organisation Meditation, will be implemented. The project will provide prisoners and correctional officers with advice on conflict resolution, advise them on how to solve violent situations on an individual basis and organise group work to help try and prevent altercations.
Reducing emotional crises in families
In the Republic of Sakha in Yakutia, there are 3-6 times more parents who engage in emotional abuse and use physical punishment against their children, than those who do not, writes the Good Initiative Charity. The project by the Emotional Health Foundation received a grant of almost two million rubles to teach parents of Yakut schoolchildren how to educate them without ending in violent arguments and breakdowns.
The project will involve schoolteachers who will be trained to lead the educational outreach programme for parents. Parents will be taught how to nurture a caring relationship with their children, the important characteristics of childhood and growing up, as well as how to better control their emotions and anger.
Reducing polar bear encounters in the Arctic
The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) received 11 million rubles for the Polar Bear Conservation Project. The project aims to reduce hostile interactions between humans and polar bears in the Arctic.
With the progression of global climate change, polar bears are straying into human territory more and more often. Shooting these animals can have a serious impact on the polar bear population.
The project will offer recommendations on how to safely chase away bears from settlements and other areas that are important for business activity. Groups will be created and trained to properly deal with aggressive encounters with the bears.
‘Roadmap’ for CSOs
The Help Needed Foundation received 17 million rubles to develop an information plan and methodological system for the development of charitable and non-profit organisations.
The CSO Roadmap project aims to improve the level of organisational development within the Russian CSO sector.
The project will create a tool that will allow CSOs to assess their level of development, as well as an algorithm for constructing an individual development plan. According to Help Needed, only 16% of CSOs currently have a functioning system for evaluating the work of their organisation.
Reducing bullying in schools
The Centre for Drama and Directing in the Republic of Bashkortostan aims to solve the problem of bullying with their project What am I keeping to myself.
According to the centre, 60% of children in the republic have dealt with bullying. To help reduce the problem, the project plans to include parents.
Using four schools in Ufa as the testing ground, a drama workshop will be set up specifically for children who have encountered bullying.
Educators, psychologists, theatre teachers and directors will work together with the children and their parents, under the supervision of a specialized teen psychotherapist and a lead-playwright.
Increasing help for woman with HIV
Association E.V.A were one of the winners of the grant with their project Space for Growth. The project spans 32 regions of the Russian Federation. Support will be offered to CSOs that help HIV-positive women with children. In total, there are 127,000 women infected with HIV in these regions.
CSOs that focus on helping those with HIV will be offered help with the evaluation of their activities, consultations on their programmes and project management plans as well as assistance by psychological self-help practitioners.
There are also plans to form a unified development plan for all CSOs working with HIV-positive women with children.
Newspapers from the frontline
The charity Peace for Life received almost 2 million rubles to search for information from front-line newspapers as part of their project Newspapers from the Frontline. The charity notes that this is one of the most informative but least studied sources of the war.
The project will train high school volunteers in specific search techniques so that they can discover photographs and biographies of veterans from the Great Patriotic War, using newspapers and other similar sources. These materials will then be given to the relatives of the veterans. At the end of the project, a catalogue of digitalised front-line newspapers will be published online.
Increasing the number of camp leaders in children’s camps
The Association of Children’s Camps will take steps to increase the participation of camp leaders in their programmes. The project Counsellor- A Social Springboard received a grant of 1 million rubles.
“According to the results of the 2021 summer campaign, there was identified to be an acute shortage of guides in children’s health camps throughout the country as a whole, but particularly in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region”, writes the creators of the project. They will discuss what it takes to be a camp guide and create videos on social media to attract and encourage students from St. Petersburg universities to work in the children’s camps.
For those who are interested, a three-day intensive course will be developed for becoming a camp leader.
Emergency disaster relief with the help of volunteers
The Russian Student Rescue Corps are to create a resource centre in Irkutsk to support volunteers in the field of safety and disaster relief. The resource centre will coordinate the work of all volunteers helping to reduce emergencies and train new volunteers. More than 3000 people are expected to be trained each year.
After training, they will be able to conduct master classes and open lessons on how to react in difficult and emergency situations.
Easing interethnic tension in Cherepovets
The Horizons of Friendship project by the Road to Home Foundation received more than 1 million rubles for their project to help middle school children become more tolerant towards each other. In 2021, the Road Home Foundation received an increasing number of inquiries from migrant families complaining of psychological problems in children, problems at school and issues relating to income levels. The project aims to improve the lives of migrant children by working alongside teachers, holding events for schoolchildren and helping migrant children find resources that will assist their assimilation into international schools.
The Presidential Grant Fund has been the sole provider of grants from the President of the Russian Federation for the development of society since April 3, 2017.
The Fund holds competitions and provides grants to non-profit organisations to help with the implementation of social projects.
