Social projects archive

For five years the «100 Best Projects» contest was RUSAL’s hallmark in community investments. The programme was aimed at engaging children and their teachers in projects that benefit local communities.

The contests were open to students and teachers from secondary schools, gymnasiums, advanced schools, cadet corps and girls’ schools, boarding schools, orphanages, special education schools and supplementary education institutions.

The applications were processed by the Expert Council with the help from the Children’s Committees. The contest received applications from Karelia, Khakasia, the Krasnoyarsk region, the Volgograd, Irkutsk, Leningrad, Kemerovo, Murmansk and Sverdlovsk regions as well as Ukraine and Armenia.

The contest included the following categories:

• Kids’ first aid – providing emergency help for the people in difficult life situation

• Territory of creativity – organisation of creative activities

• CLASSNET.RU – extending the knowledge of IT technologies, creating educational computer games and Internet sites

• Our view – establishing and developing children’s mass media

• Promotion – taking forward the programmes that were earlier run by the project teams

• I Have an Idea! – a special nomination for the 6th grade pupils.

In September 2006, RUSAL issued the Book of the Best Records, which includes the contest’s most fascinating winning projects between 2004 and 2005. The book describes the projects, developed by schoolchildren who live in different Russian regions – from Irkutsk to Nikolayev in Ukraine.

The 100 Sport Projects contest was aimed at developing popular children’s sports in the regions where RUSAL operates.

The programme’s first important step was the construction of the Fitness Centre in Sayanogorsk (the Republic of Khakassia). The project investments exceeded USD 2 million.

The total area of the three-storey sports complex, which is the biggest sports facility in Khakassia, is 6,500 square meters. The complex includes a big gym (43х36m) with two grounds for basketball, volleyball or football, tennis and training halls, shaping premise, changing rooms, shower cubicles, multipurpose hall with 500 seats that can also be used for recreational activities and others. The complex’s technical equipment is meeting the highest international standards.

In 2003-2005, RUSAL built 7 and renovated 11 sports grounds in Achinsk, Krasnoyarsk, Novokuznetsk and Sayanogorsk. In 2006, the company expanded the contest’s geography increased the number of programme’s participants.

The six years of the contest’s lifetime saw 158 organisations receive grants for various projects implementation. 110 people visited sports facilities, joining over 450 sports sections and taking part in almost 800 sports events.

The programme called the School of Social Engineering was aimed at supporting and developing children initiatives, as well as engaging children and youth in various social activities through promoting the culture of social engineering.

The programme was an advanced stage in the development of Children’s Committees that helped processing applications under the «100 Best Projects» contest. The programme was launched in 2004. Initially it was intended for RUSAL employees’ children. However, since 2006 it became open for anyone. Between 2006 and 2007, 255 children participated in Children Committees with 107 of them being part of the children’s expert committee. The Children’s Committees organised 68 events and projects that involved 11.5 thousand children and teenagers.

How the participants described their experience:

«I discovered new capabilities in myself. I found new friends and learned to be organised and work in a team».

«My inner world has changed. I revealed new qualities within myself. I learned to understand others and take the surrounding reality as it is».

The School of Social Engineering included the following projects:

• Basics of Social Engineering – a modular programme for schoolchildren

• Selecting the best project members for taking part in processing applications for the «100 Best Projects» contest
• Arranging workshops on the basics of social engineering
• Following the implementation of winner projects
• Contest to select the most socially useful project, developed by the children's committees (part of the Spring Week of Big Hearts project)

Socially beneficial activities of children’s committees (involving the students of educational institutions located in the regions, where RUSAL operates)

The School of Social Engineering for adults was designed to train social engineering coaches and project assessment experts. The following trainings were conducted:

• Social engineering
• Training of social engineering coaches
• Improvement of coaching skills
• Examination, monitoring and assessment of social projects
• Enhancement of skills required for examination, monitoring and assessment of social projects

The contest geography: Achinsk, Boksitogorsk, Bratsk, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Nikolaev (Ukraine), Novokuznetsk, Pikalevo, Sayanogorsk, Yekaterinburg, Kamensk-Uralsky, Krasnoturyinsk, Mikhailovsk, Severouralsk, Segezha, Kandalaksha and Nadvoitsy village.

The ‘Takea Step Beyond the Horizon’ programme was aimed at encouraging the creativity of young people in the age from 14 to 30 and promoting sports.

The first contest was held in 2006. 219 ideas were submitted with 32 of them approved by the Expert Council. RUSAL allocated 300,000 rubles for each winner project. Between 2006 and 2008 the contest winners organised a number of expeditions to study folk, ethnic and cultural traditions of Russian regions and collect interesting facts from their history. The projects boosted the development of volunteer movement and helped young people to better understand the employment market and gain job interview skills.

The contest categories:

• Know your homeland – studying Russian regions, their ethnic and cultural values, developing tolerance, and preserving ethnical communities;

• Young professional – helping young people to understand their career goals and get relevant job experience;
• Direct involvement – encouraging young people to take part in the development of society, raising their sense of citizenship, teaching them how to work in a team and boosting their communications skills.

The contest geography: The Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Kemerovo, Sverdlovsk, Leningrad and Murmansk regions, Republic of Khakasia, Republic of Karelia, Nikolaev (Ukraine)

The Social Support programme was aimed at providing low-priced social and welfare services to retired and underprivileged citizens. The branches of RUSAL’s Social Programme Centre in Krasnoyarsk, Novokuznetsk and Sayanogorsk offered the services of hairdresser, tailor and shoe repair and provided relevant legal advice.

RUSAL’s Social Programme Centre carried out various charity projects and arranged leisure activities for the elderly. The leisure clubs in Krasnoyarsk and Sayanogorsk were open for senior citizens who wanted to express themselves in science, education, sports, handicraft, or just exchange opinions on the latest news.