Objectives

1. Promote the development of women’s volunteer movements
2. Implement a range of measures to promote important projects involving women volunteers
3. Present the efforts undertaken by the Russian Federation on this theme and their results on international platforms

Background:

Women volunteers are among the most active participants in various aspects of the country’s life.

For most women with an active civic position, volunteering in one form or another is an integral part of life. Statistics show that women are the key link in 90% of volunteer endeavours. Kindness, mercy, and care come naturally to women. Women are the ones who shape the image of participants in social projects involving volunteering.

The interrelationship of public volunteer initiatives and the challenges of the country’s development is a key theme that could positively change the nature of public relations in the near future.

It is important to promote volunteering as a way to identify people’s social needs and to utilize volunteering to develop civil society institutions. A comprehensive discussion is needed on ways for the state and volunteer organizations to collaborate in an effort to ensure that state institutions look at volunteers and their initiatives in a new light.

Going forward, it is paramount to systematically present women’s activities in the non-profit sector to the global community and to demonstrate the coordination of women’s positions and actions to achieve the sustainable development goals using civic and social opportunities.

The Federation Council could easily be a permanent platform for presenting women’s activities to develop the volunteer movement, where the leaders of volunteer organizations would have the opportunity to hold an open dialogue with the authorities and business.

Promotional tools:

1. Work with women volunteers and volunteer projects that boast a social female context using the Federation Council’s platforms
2. Assistance in organizing and providing platforms for other federal and regional authorities
3. Organizing and utilizing international events to promote the development of civil society institutions and the theme of women’s volunteering
4. Collaboration with volunteer associations and organizations on these themes
5. Organizing interaction with regional public chambers on the theme of women’s volunteering
6. Promoting and supporting regional non-profit projects related to women volunteers
7. The Lampa Film Festival project

Project partners (planned):

• Regional public chambers
• Regional resource centres
• Regional non-profit organizations
• Women’s organizations that focus on the development of civil society institutions
• Public Chamber of the Russian Federation
• Associations of volunteer movements
• The ‘Notebook of Friendship’ National Association for the Development of Education.