Monitoring Data on the State of Civil Society is a Public Good
Researchers from the HSE Centre for Studies of Civil Society and the Nonprofit Sector, Irina Mersianova and Vyacheslav Ivanov, participated in a conference with foreign journalists as part of a press tour accredited under the IX International Humanitarian Forum "Civil Initiatives of the 60th Parallel Regions."
During the conference, experts in the nonprofit sector, alongside foreign journalists, discussed the specificities, development trends, and current state of the NGO sector.
Irina Mersianova, Director of the HSE Centre for Studies of Civil Society and the Nonprofit Sector, presented to foreign journalists the data obtained through the Center’s monitoring of civil society, conducted with the support of the HSE Basic Research Program.
Mersianova informed media representatives from various countries and world regions about public engagement in civil society practices (NGOs, volunteering, charity) and the development of the nonprofit sector in Russia.
In response to audience questions, Vyacheslav Ivanov, Lead Expert at the HSE Centre for Studies of Civil Society and the Nonprofit Sector, shared findings from his recent research on volunteering in the Arab world and North African countries. He presented compelling data on the involvement of Russian and Arab volunteers in addressing social issues. Additionally, he referenced his completed study on UN Volunteers in Central Asia, which highlighted the role of volunteering as a tool for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the region—particularly in areas such as economic inequality, demographic shifts, migration, youth unemployment, and climate change.
The journalists represented media outlets from China, Vietnam, Lebanon, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Brazil, Iran, Iceland, Hungary, Venezuela, and other countries.