Best practices in socioeconomic development
15 February 2018
The Russian Investment Forum’s business programme on 15 February 2018 featured a session with the agenda: ‘Best Practices in Socioeconomic Development’ of the regions of the Russian Federation. The session concluded with a ceremony to present awards to the winners of the All-Russian Regional Best Practices and Initiatives in Socioeconomic Development Contest.
The contest, which was held for the second time, was initiated by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI).
For Russia’s regions, the contest is an effective tool through which they are able to convey their best practices to the federal level. The Region-ID information system in the format of ready-made solutions was specifically created for this project. ASI CEO Svetlana Chupsheva noted that the regions are ready to share their experience and best practices. Road maps have been developed for them with a full package of regulatory documents. Forty-one standard solutions have already been placed in the Region-ID.
Novgorod Region Governor Andrey Nikitin believes that the work being carried out today to introduce best practices at the municipal level is ineffective. A shop of ready-made solutions should also be in demand at the local state level. The principle should be simple – ‘Read and selflessly implement’. There are currently three areas in which best practices need to be introduced: support for small business, the social sector, and tourism, Nikitin noted.
Tula Region Governor Alexey Dumin spoke about the practice of a ‘People's Budget’ that can be used everywhere. He believes that “people see problems and set priorities better themselves at the local level. This encourages residents to become actively engaged in life, create public councils, and implement short-term and long-term plans for the construction of various sites. This practice has already been used to build more than 4,000 sites in the region”. The practice of the ‘People's Budget’ contributes to the region’s socioeconomic development, Dumin underscored.
Amur Region Governor Alexander Kozlov presented three practices that work successfully in the region. The ‘Open Municipality’ practice ensures direct communication between the public and management companies. The ‘Creation of Road Construction Plans’ practice is implemented at the local government level. The ‘Open Government’ practice involves a wide array of specialists at different levels travelling to certain parts of the region, which makes it possible to comprehensively examine and resolve local problems.
Irina Makieva, Deputy Chairman and Head of the Integrated Development of Monotowns programme at the Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank), reported that Russia currently has 319 monotowns and said that best practices should be adapted to a particular city or municipality taking into account their distinct features. She considers social practices and the practice of involving people in public life and volunteering as “priorities for 2018”.
Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area – Yugra Governor Natalya Komarova shared her experience of transferring state servants in the social sector to work for private suppliers. She believes that this practice can be applied in any sector and proposed putting all the proposed practices into a single atlas so they can be easily replicated.
Russian First Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Protection Alexey Vovchenko pointed out to the participants that the best practices in the social sector should be adapted for people with disabilities. “Today we don’t even have an idea of how many such people there are in the country and what specific assistance they need”, he said. A system of long-term care needs to be created for such people, and NGOs should be the driving force behind this, he said. “Kostroma, Ryazan, Volgograd, Pskov, and Tula are planned as pilot cities”, Vovchenko said.
Keeping with the theme of best practices in the social sector, Russian Minister of Labour and Social Protection Maxim Topilin added: “Best practices are great. But we need to ensure that they work autonomously without constant monitoring by the governors. The governor shouldn’t have to screw in the light bulbs – they should think about the region’s development strategy and attract investment”.
President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov spoke about the experience gained by the Corporate University in training management to its students on the core of the Alabuga Special Economic Zone. The annual enrolment includes 35 people. This zone is home to 56 residents and 23 modern enterprises under foreign management. “Seventy-five people have already been trained to manage production based on the level of global standards”, Minnikhanov said.
President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sergey Katyrin believes that the more is invested in human capital, the higher the return. “The Foundation for Assistance to Disadvantaged Children (‘Besprizornik’) has been working under the auspices of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for 15 years. Our domestic business is very responsive. We have provided assistance to wheelchair users in organizing and holding the Moscow–Vladivostok motor rally. The Care project is being implemented in the Moscow Region and Ryazan. It encompasses more than 200,000 pensioners”, he said. Katyrin proposed making the project selection procedure more transparent and making media coverage of best practices broader.
Saratov Region Governor Valery Radaev noted that 2018 is the Year of the Volunteer. He pointed out that 34 volunteer centres had been created in the region with the involvement of 83,000 people based on the initiative of citizens. He also talked about the current Silver Volunteers project, which envisages the older generation (grandparents) providing assistance to young families with children.
Head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh) Alexander Bugaev believes that “the local authorities should create conditions so that people have a desire to become a volunteer”. He noted that more than 5 million young people are currently involved in the volunteer movement.
Krasnodar Territory Governor Veniamin Kondratiev said that “agro-tourism should be both a business and an image component of the region”. He cited the example of the company Abrau-Durso, which receives roughly 500,000 visitors per year. Agro-tourism in the territory should have its own route-based atlas, Kondratiev believes.
Acting Samara Region Governor Dmitry Azarov presented the ‘Knowledge Railcar’ project, which enables schoolchildren to visit the cities of Russia. “It’s impossible to love your country if you don’t know anything about it. Eight thousand schoolchildren have already taken advantage of this programme. Children from orphanages are to become involved in this project and organize a ‘Health Railcar’ project for the elderly”, he said.
Head of the Republic of Buryatia Alexey Tsydenov spoke about the Arteria project, which has linked small farms directly with consumers, bypassing transportation, warehousing, and intermediary costs. At present, the project already involves 250 commodity producers and 2,500 customers. “The system is developing dynamically”, Tsydenov said.
The contest, which was held for the second time, was initiated by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI).
For Russia’s regions, the contest is an effective tool through which they are able to convey their best practices to the federal level. The Region-ID information system in the format of ready-made solutions was specifically created for this project. ASI CEO Svetlana Chupsheva noted that the regions are ready to share their experience and best practices. Road maps have been developed for them with a full package of regulatory documents. Forty-one standard solutions have already been placed in the Region-ID.
Novgorod Region Governor Andrey Nikitin believes that the work being carried out today to introduce best practices at the municipal level is ineffective. A shop of ready-made solutions should also be in demand at the local state level. The principle should be simple – ‘Read and selflessly implement’. There are currently three areas in which best practices need to be introduced: support for small business, the social sector, and tourism, Nikitin noted.
Tula Region Governor Alexey Dumin spoke about the practice of a ‘People's Budget’ that can be used everywhere. He believes that “people see problems and set priorities better themselves at the local level. This encourages residents to become actively engaged in life, create public councils, and implement short-term and long-term plans for the construction of various sites. This practice has already been used to build more than 4,000 sites in the region”. The practice of the ‘People's Budget’ contributes to the region’s socioeconomic development, Dumin underscored.
Amur Region Governor Alexander Kozlov presented three practices that work successfully in the region. The ‘Open Municipality’ practice ensures direct communication between the public and management companies. The ‘Creation of Road Construction Plans’ practice is implemented at the local government level. The ‘Open Government’ practice involves a wide array of specialists at different levels travelling to certain parts of the region, which makes it possible to comprehensively examine and resolve local problems.
Irina Makieva, Deputy Chairman and Head of the Integrated Development of Monotowns programme at the Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank), reported that Russia currently has 319 monotowns and said that best practices should be adapted to a particular city or municipality taking into account their distinct features. She considers social practices and the practice of involving people in public life and volunteering as “priorities for 2018”.
Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area – Yugra Governor Natalya Komarova shared her experience of transferring state servants in the social sector to work for private suppliers. She believes that this practice can be applied in any sector and proposed putting all the proposed practices into a single atlas so they can be easily replicated.
Russian First Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Protection Alexey Vovchenko pointed out to the participants that the best practices in the social sector should be adapted for people with disabilities. “Today we don’t even have an idea of how many such people there are in the country and what specific assistance they need”, he said. A system of long-term care needs to be created for such people, and NGOs should be the driving force behind this, he said. “Kostroma, Ryazan, Volgograd, Pskov, and Tula are planned as pilot cities”, Vovchenko said.
Keeping with the theme of best practices in the social sector, Russian Minister of Labour and Social Protection Maxim Topilin added: “Best practices are great. But we need to ensure that they work autonomously without constant monitoring by the governors. The governor shouldn’t have to screw in the light bulbs – they should think about the region’s development strategy and attract investment”.
President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov spoke about the experience gained by the Corporate University in training management to its students on the core of the Alabuga Special Economic Zone. The annual enrolment includes 35 people. This zone is home to 56 residents and 23 modern enterprises under foreign management. “Seventy-five people have already been trained to manage production based on the level of global standards”, Minnikhanov said.
President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sergey Katyrin believes that the more is invested in human capital, the higher the return. “The Foundation for Assistance to Disadvantaged Children (‘Besprizornik’) has been working under the auspices of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for 15 years. Our domestic business is very responsive. We have provided assistance to wheelchair users in organizing and holding the Moscow–Vladivostok motor rally. The Care project is being implemented in the Moscow Region and Ryazan. It encompasses more than 200,000 pensioners”, he said. Katyrin proposed making the project selection procedure more transparent and making media coverage of best practices broader.
Saratov Region Governor Valery Radaev noted that 2018 is the Year of the Volunteer. He pointed out that 34 volunteer centres had been created in the region with the involvement of 83,000 people based on the initiative of citizens. He also talked about the current Silver Volunteers project, which envisages the older generation (grandparents) providing assistance to young families with children.
Head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh) Alexander Bugaev believes that “the local authorities should create conditions so that people have a desire to become a volunteer”. He noted that more than 5 million young people are currently involved in the volunteer movement.
Krasnodar Territory Governor Veniamin Kondratiev said that “agro-tourism should be both a business and an image component of the region”. He cited the example of the company Abrau-Durso, which receives roughly 500,000 visitors per year. Agro-tourism in the territory should have its own route-based atlas, Kondratiev believes.
Acting Samara Region Governor Dmitry Azarov presented the ‘Knowledge Railcar’ project, which enables schoolchildren to visit the cities of Russia. “It’s impossible to love your country if you don’t know anything about it. Eight thousand schoolchildren have already taken advantage of this programme. Children from orphanages are to become involved in this project and organize a ‘Health Railcar’ project for the elderly”, he said.
Head of the Republic of Buryatia Alexey Tsydenov spoke about the Arteria project, which has linked small farms directly with consumers, bypassing transportation, warehousing, and intermediary costs. At present, the project already involves 250 commodity producers and 2,500 customers. “The system is developing dynamically”, Tsydenov said.
