The role of youth organizations in solving social problems of the region

Sedykh Ol'ga Gennadevna ORCID: 0009-0003-6413-9124 PhD in Economics Associate professor, Department of Sociology and Psychology, Baikal State University 664003, Russia, Irkutsk region, Irkutsk, Lenin str., 11, office 2-111 sedyholga@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Taraban Ol'ga Vyacheslavovna PhD in Economics Associate professor, Department of Sociology and Psychology, Baikal State University 664003, Russia, Irkutsk region, Irkutsk, Lenin str., 11, office 2-111 taraban.o@mail.ru

Introduction

The State actively supports the development of youth public initiatives within the framework of youth policy, which is implemented not only at the expense of state authorities, but also commercial and non—profit sectors united by a common goal - creating favorable conditions for the life and development of young citizens, protecting their rights and interests.

V. S. Bogatyr, S. Yu. Popova ^[1], A.D. Pilipenko ^[2], V. V. Bogatyr consider topical issues of the development of youth public organizations in their research. Tkachenko ^[3], L. I. Yakobson, I. V. Mersiyanova, et al. ^[4-6]. Among domestic researchers in the field of modern youth policy, the works of V. A. Ankudinova ^[7], I. I. Vydrina ^[8], M. I. Kamalova, N. V. Kisileva, as well as T. E. Zerchaninova, N. P. Mudretsova, A. S. Nikitina ^[9]. N. S. Khokhlov and I. R. Mersheev can be distinguished ^[10] investigated current trends in state grant support for youth in the Russian Federation, commented on examples of relevant practices in subjects and municipalities.

The state youth policy in Russia has gone through a difficult path. It is generally believed that the modern model of such a state policy began to emerge in the nineties of the last century ^[8]. The law on State Youth Policy in the USSR contained provisions on the need for social services for education, upbringing, vocational training of young people, as well as on the implementation of economic and legal support. This law gave an impetus to the development of youth legislation.

The formation of Russian legislation in the field of youth began with the Decree of the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation. This normative legal act defined such main directions and goals of youth policy activities, such as promoting integrated youth development, preventing discrimination against young citizens, creating conditions for the inclusion of young people in all spheres of society, realizing their potential, and were also identified.

Due to the unstable situation at the end of the last century, the state authorities involved in working with young people underwent constant changes. Since 1991, it has been the State Committee of the RSFSR for Youth Policy, then the committee became subordinate to the Ministry of Education. In 1992, the position of Plenipotentiary Representative of the Government of the Russian Federation for Youth Affairs appeared and the Committee of the Russian Federation for Youth Affairs began to work, which existed until 1998.

In the early noughties, rapid changes continued. A Department for Youth Policy appeared, but it was under the structural department of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation. In 2004, the Department of State Youth Policy, Education and Social Protection of Children was formed separately from other departments ^[7].

In 2007, by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation, the State Committee of the Russian Federation for Youth Affairs was established. In 2008, the committee was renamed the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh), which is still in operation. It can be said that only by 2008 the rapid changes in the structure of bodies dealing with state youth policy had subsided.

Now Rosmolodezh is a federal executive authority that performs functions for the provision of public services and management of state property in the field of state youth policy. Since 2018, it has been subordinated to the Government of the Russian Federation.

In recent years, Federal programs and projects have been increasingly implemented, and the number of participants in events under these programs has increased (see Table 1).

Table 1

Financial support for socially oriented non-profit organizations (SONKO)

Rosmolodezh in 2020-2022

Sources: ¹ Report on the activities and development of socially oriented non-profit organizations for 2020  URL : https://www.economy.gov.ru/material/file/6e0b95bace2f3e90da56ef04545e5f35/Doklad_2021.pdf (accessed: 11/15/2023); 2.3 Report on the activities and development of socially oriented non-profit organizations in the Russian Federation for 2022 URL : https://nko.economy.gov.ru/upload/docs/doklad-o-deyatelnosti-i-razvitii-sonko-za-2022-god.pdf (date of application: 11/15/2023).

The positive trend is largely due to the emergence of Rosmolodezh ambassadors, who educate young citizens about the opportunities that the state provides them. The growth of financial support in 2021 compared to 2020 amounted to almost 68%, and in 2022 — 86% by 2021 and more than three times by 2020. The number of SONKO who received funding increased by 20% in 2021, and in 2022 the number of recipients did not change, but the amount of support for each SONKO increased.

The State youth policy is facing an increased amount of work and a considerable number of problems. In order to fully implement this policy, regional departments dealing with the youth sphere were created ^[11]. In some regions, there are ministries that combine sports, tourism and youth policy, such as in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. In the Irkutsk region, a separate ministry from other ministries was formed not so long ago — the Ministry of Youth Policy. Regional departments and committees also operate in other regions of the Russian Federation. All of them have their own differences and peculiarities, but, of course, regional departments have been created to implement youth policy at the regional, city, and municipal levels. In the field of youth policy, 50 subjects of the Russian Federation transferred services to SONKO in 2022, while in 2020 and 2021 there were 27 and 40 such regions, respectively. The total amount of funds allocated to SONKO for the provision of services in this area in 2022 amounted to 3.55 billion rubles, including recreation services for children and youth (2.09 billion rubles in 2021).

Since 2016, the Ministry of Youth Policy has been functioning in the Irkutsk Region, which was formed as a result of the division of the Ministry of Physical Culture, Sports and Youth Policy of the Irkutsk Region into two ministries. Currently, the Irkutsk Region is implementing the state program "Youth Policy" for 2019-2024, the purpose of which is to ensure successful socialization and effective self-realization of young citizens. The regional program is divided into many subprograms (directions): patriotic education, development of volunteer activities, identification and support of talented youth, interaction with youth public organizations, etc.

The relevance of research on the activities of youth public organizations is due to the fact that youth participation in public organizations contributes to the formation and development of civic consciousness, the development of special competencies and personal qualities among young people ^[12]. In addition to personal development, such associations are capable of working in solving significant social problems.

Research methods and results

According to the Ministry, in 2021 there are 1,450 associations in the Irkutsk region, which include 77,643 young people (see Table 2). The volunteer movement, creativity, military-patriotic and sports and tourism directions are the most popular among the youth of the Irkutsk region.

Table 2

The main activities of youth and children's public associations of the Irkutsk region

Source: The State report "Youth of the Irkutsk region" 2021. Irkutsk: OGBU "CSIUM", 2022. – pp. 38-39 URL : https://mmp38.ru/activities/the-schedule/plan-na-2022/ГосДоклад%202021%20г.pdf

The mission of youth and children's organizations is the formation and development of the interests of the younger generation concerning the continuity of historical, social and cultural heritage, participation in solving socio-economic, socio-political and socio-cultural problems of Russian society. In this regard, research on the value orientations of active youth in connection with the activities of public youth organizations will always be relevant.

The authors conducted a sociological questionnaire survey in 2023, and the method of the main array was used in the formation of the sample. The Irkutsk regional branch of the NGO "Young Guard of United Russia" became the basis of the study. The respondents were members of the organization aged from 16 to 24 years. The purpose of the study was to identify motivational attitudes and priority areas of activity of young people involved in the activities of public organizations.

The majority of the organization's members are students of higher educational institutions (65%), a fifth are students of secondary specialized educational institutions. Students and working youth are also members of the organization in approximately equal proportions (15%). Despite the fact that the majority of respondents belong to only one organization, there are also young activists (20%) who participate in the activities of other organizations. These are mainly volunteer-oriented, environmental and socio-political organizations.  Almost all respondents actively talk about their activities on social networks.

The main motives for joining public organizations were distributed as follows (respondents could choose from 1 to 3 answer options). The leading motives were altruistic. The majority of respondents chose the answer "striving to do good deeds" (75%), the next most popular (60%) "getting a new experience". Self-realization is considered a motive by 55% of respondents, new acquaintances are important for almost 50% of respondents. Other motives were less popular: "career advancement" (40%), "broadening horizons" (35%), "the desire to find like-minded people" (30%).

When identifying interesting areas of activity, young people could also choose several answers. The most interesting areas of social activity for young activists are volunteerism (70%), patriotic (60%), and politics (55%). Less popular areas were sports and cultural (25% each), education and ecology (20% and 15%, respectively).

The overwhelming majority of respondents (90%) are convinced that public organizations should participate in solving social problems of society along with state institutions. At the same time, 70% of respondents spoke highly enough about the contribution of public organizations, giving a rating of "good", and 30% rated it as satisfactory.

In relation to which social problems the activities of youth public organizations are effective, the opinions of young people were divided: in which areas, in solving which problems public organizations can contribute, since no one option gained a majority (only one answer option could be chosen). According to activists, targeted assistance to those in need is in the lead (40%), followed by ecology and stray animals (15% each), patriotic education is in third place, migration outflow of young people to other regions is in fourth place, prevention of deviant behavior and "all social problems" are closing the list (I find it difficult to answer an analog).

Interestingly, political activity was in third place among the areas of interest to young people, but it is missing from the list of social areas in which public organizations can contribute. It is quite possible that the implementation of a political direction in working with young people is perceived by young activists as a game, which has no real influence on politics.

The contribution of public organizations to the implementation of patriotic education also did not receive as many votes as could be expected for the second most popular interesting areas of activity among young people. Most likely, it is only necessary to adjust the methods of implementing this direction, since there is a request from young people to implement this direction.

According to the survey "Topical issues of patriotic education" conducted in 2022 by the commission of the Public Chamber, the most effective ways to spread the values of patriotism are: active work in the information space:  popularization of the achievements of Russia and its heroes; holding patriotic actions and events, organizing meetings with famous personalities and heroes of Russia; patriotic education of the younger generation in the family circle.  The least effective ways to spread the values of patriotism are visiting military–patriotic clubs and participating in military sports games; using tools of coercion and pressure to spread the values of patriotism; reading lectures and patriotic literature.

The State is involved in creating conditions for the popularization and development of youth public associations. In December 2022, at a meeting of the State Council devoted to the implementation of youth policy in modern conditions, the President of the Russian Federation spoke about the role of such a policy in our country. At the beginning of his speech, the head of state shared his opinion that young people have always been called upon to go forward and make great breakthroughs, and the task of the state is to help and create conditions for maximizing their potential.

It is obvious that an adjustment of work with young people in the field of ecology is required, since respondents believe that within this area the activities of public organizations can make a significant contribution to solving the problem, but the direction itself is not interesting to active youth (only 15% of respondents indicated it as interesting). Public organizations contribute to solving environmental problems by holding clean-up days, collecting unnecessary things (batteries, waste paper, etc.), holding eco-forums that draw public attention to the problem, planting trees and many other eco-actions. It is necessary to further explore the position of young activists in order to increase the interest of the organization's members in this area.

Conclusion

In recent years, the number of such organizations and the members who belong to them has been increasing. Such dynamics can be explained by the popularization of the volunteer (volunteer) movement and the respectability of the volunteer status. It is worth noting that now youth movements exist not only independently, but also on the basis of educational institutions (trade union committee and other student organizations), commercial enterprises (youth council, volunteer council). Youth public organizations were able to prove themselves and show their ability to make an invaluable contribution to solving such problems.

The platforms for youth "activity" are youth public organizations, which differ in different types and types, ranging from simple "interest groups" to the youth wings of political parties.

Indeed, the creation of communications between society and government is impossible without the participation of public organizations. In turn, the support of such organizations is undoubtedly necessary, both from federal, regional and local authorities. There is grant support, thanks to which, if there is a well-developed project, the organization can receive the necessary funds to achieve its goals. In addition to grants, public organizations can take advantage of benefits, for example, preferential rates for renting premises for socially oriented non-profit organizations.

Volunteerism gained its popularity and momentum during the Covid-19 pandemic, when caring citizens began to help those who were in a difficult situation. Then volunteering became an integral part of our society. Nowadays, volunteers, engaged in their activities, participating in humanitarian missions, do not receive monetary compensation, since they all work with a sincere desire to help someone who really needs help. Daniil also stressed that the state does not forget about the work of volunteers and encourages them with various prizes and awards.

The main difficulty for all youth public associations is the problem of recruiting new activists. It is not always easy to find young people who are actively interested in public life, but, nevertheless, many public organizations find ways to solve such a problem by improving contacts with educational institutions, trade union committees, organizing events in educational institutions and, thereby, getting young people's attention to being active in solving social problems in the region.