CONCLUSION
The events of 2022 have convincingly showed that, in the face of global instability, generated by the systemic crisis of international institutions designed to coordinate the interests of individual countries, alliances, military-political blocs and ensure common security in the world, the issues of preserving and strengthening sovereignty, ensuring that leadership potential that can guarantee the future of the country, nation and society in an era of global change are coming to the fore today.
Modern times require us to set ambitious goals, implement new ideas, make bold decisions, and get even more united and consolidated when faced with the external pressures that we have today. 2023 will surely be the year of solving large-scale tasks, strategic goal setting and management.
Being a key institution of civil society, the Civic Chamber seeks to be a factor in systemic changes aimed at developing the country and achieving tangible and qualitative changes in the daily lives of our citizens. The work of the Civic Chamber in the upcoming year will be arranged based on these assumptions.
In 2023, the Civic Chamber will continue to develop the public valuation institution, one of the key mechanisms of direct democracy that has been consistently developing in Russia since 2014.241 Discussion of draft laws and draft regulations at the Civic Chamber site involving a wide range of public figures, representatives of the professional and scientific community and authorities will make it possible to provide a quicker response to current problems and demands of society, ensure a balanced consideration of the opinions of all interested parties, as well as protect legal rights and the interests of the citizens of our country in the adoption and subsequent implementation of legislative initiatives.242
Special focus will be put to preliminary hearings of socially significant draft laws and regulations.243 Considering the challenges of our time, especially those aimed at supporting participants in the special military operation and their families, residents of new regions, increasing the activity of the nonprofit sector, and the growth of entrepreneurial initiative.
In fulfilling the instructions of the Russian President, since 2020, the Civic Chamber has been engaged in public oversight over the implementation of national projects, ensuring the development of the optimal and most efficient solutions aimed at improving the quality of life of citizens. In the emerging social and economic situation, the implementation of state strategic planning documents, the achievement of national development goals call for special attention to the government decisions being taken. The Civic Chamber experience accumulated over previous years will make it possible to increase the efficiency of the work carried out and ensure that the opinion of civil society is taken into account to the extent possible when developing and implementing strategic planning documents in 2023.
The issues of ensuring demographic growth in 2023 are expected to be one of the key priorities in implementing state policy. Active work of the Civic Chamber in this area is underway. The implementation of projects of members of the Civic Chamber to support the pregnancy preservation in Russian regions will be continued. The Civic Chamber will host the discussion of the initiatives to improve legislation in providing free land plots to large families, and the long-term development of the state pension system in terms of improving the system of disability payments for large families. The issues of expert integration in child protection from the new Russian regions will become a topical work item.244 The Civic Chamber will pursue its efforts in elaborating proposals to support and encourage large families. Today, breakthrough solutions are required in this direction in order to revive the image of a strong and prosperous large family as a national idea of the Russian state.
Meeting on monitoring the implementation of national projects in Moscow. October 8, 2021. Sergei Pyatakov / RIA Novosti
Support for the development of the nonprofit sector will remain a top priority in the work of the Civic Chamber in 2023. Monitoring of NPO-related measures introduced by the Russian Government will be pursued. The major area of work will be to assist the regions in elaborating measures to reduce regional disproportions in the third sector development, including the new Russian regions where it is important to provide all the necessary assistance for the formation and development of nonprofit organizations, help create resource centers, promote in creating partnerships, to involve nonprofit organizations from other Russian regions in active interaction, and to implement educational activities for NPOs and government bodies at the system level.
In 2022, the Civic Chamber focused on the fact that, having faced new challenges, Russia now requires a new educational strategy that meets the needs of the state, as well as a system for assessing the quality of education, formed with the direct involvement of Russian society and considering the priorities of the national economy.245
Given the needs of the national economy, the expansion of the human potential in Russia is currently facing a number of barriers that exist in practice: the system of personnel training, the outflow of promising young people from the regions.246 In particular, the number of job openings for technologists-engineers and IT-specialists exceeds the number of graduates in these areas by 120 thousand. School graduates get less and less enrolled in the engineering areas of universities, opting for social sciences and humanities (Unified State Exams in physics and computer science are chosen by 4 times fewer students than social studies).247 In order to alter the existing trends and refocus on meeting the needs of the national economy and human development, it is necessary to continue the ongoing work on implementing breakthrough educational projects as part of the formation and strengthening of a unified educational system.
As part of the educational agenda, topical issues of patriotic education will be considered in further detail in 2023.
Today, this area lacks systemic decisions at the state level, strategic and methodological documents, and solutions to pressing staff-related issues. Given the high importance of the topic under consideration, we can also talk about the creation of a separate federal body dealing with the issues of patriotic education of the younger generation.248 Today, the Civic Chamber, as part of sociological research and expert discussions, collects initiatives and proposals on topical issues and solutions in promoting patriotism. Based on the proposals collected, appropriate proposals will be prepared to the public authorities.
The Civic Chamber notes that only the continued joint work of the public and the state can lead to truly efficient decisions on forming an integrated approach to the development of the system of patriotism promotion in in educational establishments.249
The key topic of work in the new year will be the issues of expanding inclusion in Russian society. Inclusion should be in leisure, recreation, education, the urban environment, as well as in the people communication. It is impossible to build such a society “by decree from above”. The issues of building an accessible society should be approached in a complex manner and in a broad sociocultural context that includes all possible forms of social relations of people with disabilities. Today, much is being done for citizens with disabilities, state support is provided, a system of social services is being developed, state pensions, benefits, and other guarantees of social protection are being established.
To further expand inclusion and the accessible environment for citizens with disabilities, it is important for Russian society to ask itself the question: what else needs to be done to make Russian society truly inclusive?
The AICESIS presidency remains one of the priorities of the Civic Chamber for 2023. As a result of the two-year presidency in the Association, a report “Living in the Online Age: Looming Challenges and Urge for solutions” will be prepared, which is planned to be presented at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, held under the auspices of the UN Economic and Social Council, in July 2023.
The Russian Civic Chamber agenda on the international track for the upcoming year includes the tasks of further development of multilateral and bilateral public dialogue.
Summing up the results of 2022, the Civic Chamber notes the major trend in the development of civil society in our country – the growing civic activity and the willingness of citizens to take a direct part in elaborating ideas and implementing initiatives that will determine its future. Today the big picture is seen clearly: The nature of the social development of our state will rest upon how active the civil society will be, and what its transforming activity will be aimed at.
We invite all Russian citizens, public organizations and associations to continue the broad public discussion that we are conducting at the Civic Chamber venue in 2023.
Our experience, multi-year track record of the Civic Chamber in building a constructive dialogue and efficient communication with the authorities makes it possible to say that many ideas and proposals expressed during our discussions are becoming part of state policy. And, as representatives of civil society, today we are granted all the opportunities and tools to control their implementation.
