Head of Rosmolodezh: “And we will definitely come to kindergartens!”

At the forum “Territory of Meanings”, the last shift “Act” is coming to an end, where the best participants from the previous seven shifts have been brought together. On the eve of September 1, in Senezh, where the forum is being held, the morning of the participants began with a speech by the head of Rosmolodezh, Ksenia Razuvaemaya, and ended with a speech by the first deputy head of the presidential administration, Sergei Kiriyenko.

Simultaneously with the forum participants, Razuvaeva was listened to by more than 80 heads of municipalities that are members of the All-Russian Association of Local Self-Government (VARMSU). They came to the “Municipal Dialogue” in “Senezh”, and representatives of local government were connected via videoconferencing.

Razuvaeva, in her speech, recalled the words of Kiriyenko, who said that the longest war is information-psychological, and this is a war for generations: “Our ill-wishers, to put it mildly, have realized that it is no longer possible to do with the current generation. This means that they will fight for the future – and these are young people.”

According to her, the department has three priorities in working with young people: working with them in the regions, so that not only their department is involved in youth, as well as building a full cycle of work and constant communication with young people. She cited sociological data that, for example, in 2018, 30% of young people believed in the possibility of realizing it in Russia, but now this figure is more than 80%.

Now in every federal department there is a person at the level of a deputy minister responsible for educational and youth policy, in each of the 700 universities there is a vice-rector for them, she said: “Each school has had an education adviser since September 1. Today, in every large company – about 150 companies – there is a person responsible for working with youth.” In addition, over two years, separate departments for youth policy have appeared in more than 60 regions. “There are no kindergartens here yet. But this is our next step – and we will definitely come to kindergartens!” she said.

Then Razuvaeva answered questions from schoolchildren and representatives of local authorities. For example, the head of one of the municipalities of the Nizhny Novgorod region was interested in what kind of infrastructure should be for young people in cities. Razuvaeva said that 5 billion a year is spent on the development of youth policy, including infrastructure – youth centers appear in the regions. “But youth policy is not only walls, but also people,” she added.

One of the participants in the “Act” session, originally from the Belgorod region, said that now there are apolitical youth who “could change a lot in the regions with the help of elections, but they don’t even understand why they should vote.” Therefore, she was interested in how Rosmolodezh is engaged in political education. Razuvaeva agreed with the thesis about apoliticality, but at the same time noted that young people are becoming more interested in politics every year: “Elections are an opportunity to come and influence [на процесс]. But for this there must be an environment in which you believe that you can influence and you are ready for action. And we create an environment for action.”

The head of one of the municipalities in the Sakhalin region was interested in projects to support rural youth. Razuvaeva said that since 2023, the Personnel for the Village program has been launched, which is associated with the training and attraction of personnel to rural areas. Then she began to argue that it is interesting to look at the village as “a new eco-friendly way of life”, and here the task of Rosmolodezh is to engage in “repackaging the image”.

Razuvaeva cited as an example one of the villages in the Rostov region, “next to which, as it happened, a huge amount of mushrooms naturally grows during the season.” “And this is such a mecca for mushroom pickers. By the way, I didn’t know that there is a huge movement in our country – many people love it, it’s just such a form of leisure, families go to the forest, pick mushrooms and so on, ”Razuvaeva shared her discovery.

According to her, the village was “completely fading”, but several young residents came to the Russian Union of Rural Youth, took part in the “Leaders for the Village” program and proposed their project – they opened some houses together with the villagers, began to cook dinners there and take guests: “And gradually, all this huge flow of mushroom pickers, sorry, went through this village, and not around.”

The head of Kemerovo, Dmitry Anisimov, asked how young people can be helped to develop entrepreneurial projects. Razuvayeva said that about 80% of schoolchildren say they would like to try their hand at entrepreneurship if not to become entrepreneurs. “And our task is to dissuade some of them from this, because this is not an easy path,” she said. But those who want to take the first steps need to be trained and immersed in the topic of entrepreneurship. “What is very important to understand for those who want to invest in entrepreneurship is that it is not a question of money and financial support. It always seemed to me that these were questions about funding, grants. No, the audience’s request says that they need an environment, the opportunity to communicate, to see the investor – they themselves will tell him and attract funding. Therefore, we develop a club of young entrepreneurs <…> and create platforms where they can present their initiatives,” says Razuvaeva.

Kiriyenko talked with the participants of the “Territory of Meanings” about management and his own principles, suggesting that they develop their own. According to him, real managers make decisions and take responsibility. And all decisions are made under the pressure of time and information, he said: “There is no right time to make decisions.” In addition, according to the Kremlin official, there are no people who always make the right decisions, so principles can serve as a fulcrum – approaches that you can rely on.

Kiriyenko spoke about his ten principles: 1. “this is my problem” (assuming responsibility) 2. “everything can be controlled” (you can’t hide behind lack of authority) 3. “trend is more important than state” (it’s more important where you are moving than where you are) 4. “any problem contains a solution” 5. “people do not obey the principles of mathematics” (well, a person does only what he believes in) 6. “we are different, and this is not a problem, but an opportunity” 7. “The scale of the goal matters a lot, the size of the first step doesn’t matter.” 8. “rejoice in difficulties” (any challenge is always an opportunity) 9. “the one who gives up two seconds later wins” 10. “ideas and wills change the world.”

Kiriyenko talked about these same principles last spring at the New Horizons educational marathon.

After that, Kiriyenko answered several questions from the forum participants. For example, one of the young people asked what steps he needs to take to join the presidential administration. To this, Kiriyenko recommended that he start not with the presidential administration, but gain experience by working closer to the people. And answering a question about the Russian education system and whether it will be new or Asian, Kiriyenko said that it “should not be an instrument of limitation”: “This is a question about freedom. We often hear the word sovereignty. What is sovereignty? For me, this is freedom of choice, from dependence, from what is being imposed on me.

At some point, there was a continuous borrowing in education, Kiriyenko said: “But this should not work in the opposite direction, that we will not take anything from someone else. The big breakthroughs in Russia, starting with Peter I, occurred when we looked for the best in the world, took away, rebuilt. But the most important thing is not to be dependent on anyone.”