14.05.09

The Russian Public Chamber has declared a grants distribution contest for Russian non-commercial organizations, involved in efforts to develop civil society. Under the Russian government's resolution 1.2 billion rubles has been reserved in the federal budget this year.

A member of the Public Chamber, president of the Civil Society Problems Institute, Maria Slobodskaya, has said the conditions of the contest have been tightened greatly this year. Firstly, the application period has been reduced from five months to two. The last application will be received on July 3 and the results of the contest declared on September 3. There is also another special feature. Projects capable of easing the effects of the social and economic crisis for the population will enjoy priority.

"For the first time ever the contest has a general idea," Slobodskaya said.

In considering the applications the grant-givers will first and foremost take note of the projects that may help increase employment and provide social support for the low-paid and the least-protected groups of the population. problems today and right away."

The projects will be subject "to triple scrutiny," she said.

"We are to finance the extremely specific projects having clear and obvious results," Slobodskaya said. "We are in a crisis, and we've got to resolve the problems now and right away."

The contest is being held for a fourth time on instructions from the president. In 2006 the government for the first time supported non-commercial organizations with 500 million rubles. In 2007 the sum was increased to 1.25 million rubles, and in 2008 they got from the government 1.5 billion rubles in grants. This means, Slobodskyaka says, that the efficiency of this money should be increased considerably. She is certain that the current "crisis year" will allow for giving tangible assistance to the development of the public sector. This will be possible only if the results of the NGO's activity are obvious and both the population and the government can see them.

"The NGO's have a chance of proving they are up to date," she said.

For her part, the head of the human-rights organization 'Resistance', Olga Kostina, recalled that the share of citizens in non-governmental organizations currently stood at 6-7 percent, while in most countries of the world, including the United States, the rate is at about 13 percent.

"In most countries of the world NGO membership is a professional activity," she said, adding that Russian NGO activists still had a long way to go to raise their professionalism.

Five non-commercial non-governmental organizations have become the operators responsible for grants distribution this year.

The largest share, 500,000 rubles of the 1.2 billion rubles, will be distributed by the National Welfare Fund. Its task is to select the most significant social projects for the anti-crisis support of the population.

Another priority is support for all sorts of youth initiatives, for which purpose 270,000 has been reserved. The personnel reserve training fund, called the State Club, will be responsible for distributing that. Projects in the sphere of human rights and freedoms protection and legal enlightenment will get 170,000 million rubles. The recipients will be selected by the public movement Resistance.

The Civil Society Problems Institute will distribute 160,000 rubles among the authors of the best projects in the sphere of education, arts, culture and public diplomacy. Also, another 100,000 rubles will be disbursed to support sociological research and monitoring of the civil society's condition. Distributing these funds will be the business of the Public Projects Institute.

"Applications will be many," the institute's director Valery Fadeyev said with certainty.

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Source: Itar-Tass