By Susie Armitage
Residents of Volgograd, Russia (formerly Stalingrad) are proud of their city’s pivotal role in World War II, but teens there want to make their hometown known for something else: positive efforts by youth engaged in their community. A “Road Show” of the best youth-driven programs in Russia came to Volgograd in September as part of the USAID-funded, IREX-designed and -implemented Youth Development Competencies Program (YDCP) [7]. At the event, young people from across Russia shared their projects and ideas with 22 youth action teams in the Volgograd region, inspiring local teens to get involved and make a difference. “I’m a patriot of my city,” said Olesya, a high school student, “and I want Volgograd to be important not just for its war monuments, but for this project, too, for new ideas, for new initiatives. I want our city to develop and I can help. It all starts from something small.”
The Road Show’s interactive project fair allowed experienced youth organizers or “innovators” to present their successful projects and discuss creative possibilities for adaptation by groups of interested young people in Volgograd. Featured projects included “Playing a Life,” a youth theater troupe promoting healthy lifestyles; “Rainbow Bridge,” a yearly festival promoting tolerance; and “Building Bridges,” a photography workshop uniting children with and without disabilities.
The event emphasized peer-to-peer communication and projects by and for young people, including at-risk youth. “I think that Russian youth really have great potential,” commented Valentina, a youth group advisor. “I work with youth that our society has forgotten and considers unneeded—vocational school students—but I know that there are great kids there who can really do a lot and have interesting ideas for creative projects. It’s important for our region to support projects like these so kids can come into their own, not just through the projects we organize for them, but through the things they themselves are interested in.”
Putting youth in the driver’s seat was emphasized throughout the Road Show, and group advisors and young people were encouraged to work together as partners when implementing projects. “Here at the Road Show, that barrier between youth and adults has almost totally come down,” said Tanya, a high school student. “We communicate together at an equal level, as colleagues, really.” Following the Road Show, groups of youth in the Volgograd region will compete for grants to adapt the presented projects, with support from their peer mentors in other regions of Russia. The program’s unique model also allows the innovators to develop professionally as they advise others on how to adapt their projects.
YDCP will hold additional Road Shows in Chelyabinsk, Tambov, Tyumen, and Irkutsk this fall, spreading ideas and empowering youth in these regions. In Volgograd, though, teens are ready to make a difference now. Said Alina, a high school student, “This is my city and I want to make it better. It’s my life—I can build it myself. If I want to do something, I can do it, independently. We’re still young, but we’re citizens of that city, Volgograd, that couldn’t be defeated!”