The Vladimir Potanin Foundation at a Sports Conference

(en) Текст новости

Organizers: Roller Hockey Federation and Center Prityazheniye.

Eugenia Osipova, Director of the Center for City Communities Relations, HSE University, and Maria Golovchenko, Deputy Chair of the Moscow City Committee for Public Relations and Youth Policy, opened the plenary session. Maria Golovchenko told about potential and opportunities for NGOs in Moscow, as well as about the Moscow Mayor grants allocated for social projects with support of the Moscow City Committee for Public Relations and Youth Policy. Julia Beregovskaya, Head of the International and Interregional Relations Division of the Moscow City Department of Sports, welcomed the audience and emphasized the significance of physical culture and sports development, as they are drivers for demographic growth, and constitute one of the key directions of the national strategy of the country. Participants and guests of the conference represented different countries: Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Israel, Great Britain, India, Austria, Kazakhstan and Russia.

Oksana Oracheva, General Director of the Vladimir Potanin Foundation, told the audience about plans of the Foundation to develop a new sports program and presented the first findings in this area: “Sports eventually came up in our projects, linked with students, volunteers and even with museums. However, for the first time, we present sports as a separate program in the context of social change. The mission of the Foundation is to unite creative professionals who play a key role in solving current social issues and achieve sustainable social change. We are confident that such professional community may emerge as a result of combination of several areas: education, culture and, certainly, sports, due to the nature of this industry itself, as it shapes core leadership qualities and team building skills. This year we plan to launch specific events to promote sports as a driver for social change, an integrator of values and a medium for discussing complex matters using simple tools.”

A starting point for the initiative was a study of social effects of sports, conducted by the Foundation jointly with the “Platforma” Center for Social Project Planning. The study was done in November 2019 – January 2020 and allowed to explore the lifecycle of sport communities, differences between Russian and international sport initiatives, as well as potential incentives for project leaders.

Dmitry Lisitsyn, representative of the “Platforma” Center for Social Project Planning, made a presentation on Social Effects of Sports and Activities of Sport Communities.  

More details here.