#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. Natalya Dunayeva, head of the Nornickel Polar Branch’s department of charitable activities and corporate community development, spoke about how the program has changed over this time, about its participants and the main directions of development in an interview with the Klyuch – Severny Gorod TV channel.
Nornickel’s charity program World of New Opportunities has been implemented since February 2014. The project is aimed at creating favorable conditions for the development of the areas where the company operates (Chita and Gazimur-Zavodsk district, Monchegorsk and Pechenga district, Norilsk and Taimyr Dolgan-Nenets municipal district).
At the start of the program there were three directions: development of local communities and support for their initiatives, child development, support for entrepreneurship development. In mid-2019, taking into account the accumulated experience, the program underwent a number of structural and substantive changes. In the new format of the program, four main directions are highlighted: Develop!, Create!, Act!, Make!.
“The first competition of social projects in 2014 was held in six categories. Geography of the competition: Krasnoyarsk region (city of Norilsk, Taimyr Dolgan-Nenets municipal district, Murmansk region: city of Murmansk, city of Monchegorsk, Pechenga district). The grant fund amounted to 100 million rubles, the pool for nominations ranged from 500 thousand to 5 million rubles. Later, there was a request from society to expand these nominations”, said Natalya Dunayeva.
Over ten years, the competition for social projects of the World of New Opportunities charity program got 3613 applications, of which 967 projects worth over one billion rubles were supported. Moreover, 2000 applications were received from the territory of Norilsk and TDNMR, of which 602 projects worth about 660 million rubles were supported and implemented. This is a significant amount that the company has allocated to support initiatives, so that the city develops, additional services, opportunities, spaces, communities appear, so that it is all alive and active. Every year, from 116 to 160 non-profit organizations and institutions take part in the Nornickel’s charitable program’s social projects competition in Norilsk and the Taimyr Dolgan-Nenets municipal district.
Natalya Dunayeva notes that there is now a trend towards monetization of services. Public organizations can do something themselves, offer it to the population and develop with these funds. This direction is currently monitored, she shared.
Among the most memorable and striking projects of the program, there is the creation of halls for mini-football, choreography, a dance space in the Olympus center, as well as the NA-Gora Museum.
“Some projects impressed me personally. For example, school No. 13 is implementing a program to support distance learning for children who are undergoing long-term treatment. With the help of the grant the space in the hospital is created where this educational program is being implemented. And it seems like this is a small project, but it is a very important story for children who are in hospital.
We also have an active volunteer who works at the Nornickel enterprise and is involved in all activities. Having experience in corporate volunteering, she created her own public organization and, on behalf of this public organization, works with children with disabilities and implements theater activities with them. The last project was about an inclusive musical”, says Natalya Dunayeva proudly.
In addition, the World of New Opportunities organizes social technology forums. This is a large platform for discussing the problems and opportunities of the territory with all interested citizens, with invited speakers and experts.
“There is a citywide large-scale event – the Picnic, which takes place annually. Its concept is very interesting: participants in our program come to some area of the city and present a palette of their achievements and the opportunities that citizens can take advantage of in these institutions.
There is a large IMAKE program. We are a mining and metallurgical company, a technological one, we, of course, need young people with technical, engineering, inventive knowledge and desire.
When we started holding the Arctic Wave festival of scientific and technical achievements, we saw how much attention young people, and even adults, paid to this festival. The idea of maker competitions was born, when children develop their inventions, then present a prototype to the jury, in the process a whole cycle of various developmental events takes place”.
The educational direction of the program gave northerners experience in writing grant applications and implementing projects; people believed in themselves and began to participate in any competitions, even presidential grant competitions.
The program is now awaiting an assessment of its effectiveness from independent experts. One thing is clear: The World of New Opportunities will continue its development for the benefit of society, because the program covers all activity areas: education, culture, volunteering, entrepreneurship, sports and the environment.
All non-profit organizations can participate in the program and receive financial support. In order to realize their idea, Norilsk residents should find like-minded people, an organization whose activities correspond to the idea, or create a new one.
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Text: Anzhelika Stepanova, Guzel Tabayeva, Photo: Nornickel’s press service
