Youth Participation in Civic Initiatives in Russia – Steps to a Sustainable Future

The project enhanced the effectiveness of responsible democracy in the Russian Federation through increasing the participation of young people in decision making at all levels.   We worked with Youth NGOs and young people to establish Youth Participation Groups (YGP) in St Petersburg and Novokuznetsk.  The YGP used participatory processes to create a Young Peoples’ Agenda 21 which was adopted by the rayon or city administration.  The YPG were then allocated funds to deliver improvements related to one aspect of the Agenda 21 they developed.  We also worked with local administration establishing a system that allowed for the formal adoption of the Youth LA21 document and allocating of a small sum of funding to deliver improvements.  The project involved training for young people, the local administration and local NGOs.