Young Sociologists Engaged in Designing International Youth Programmes
March 2 marked the end of the XIV Sociological School, which is a special project by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) and RANEPA Presidential Academy. The event partners included the presidential platform “Russia – Land of Opportunity”, the “Senezh” Management Workshop and the World Youth Festival Directorate.
Dmitry Ivanov, Director General of the World Youth Festival Directorate took part in the event as one of the lecturers. He introduced young event participants to the key tracks of international youth cooperation, presented leading projects and the WYF-2024 sociological support system.
He highlighted the work of several youth-led research groups during the Festival, which included professionals in the field of education. They conducted focus groups, interviews with participants and project research sessions. Moreover, they studied the motivation, ambitions, and expectations of the young people, their understanding of the Festival mission, atmosphere within teams and teamwork, feedback on the programme and services, and much more.
In addition to the educational programme, School participants worked in teams and developed various projects, one of which was aimed at identifying the needs of Abkhazian youth. They presented the project results to Dmitry Ivanov and the Advisor to the Director General of the World Youth Festival Directorate Ilya Ovchinnikov, receiving feedback on the specifics of communication with international youth.
“Sociological research among event participants is an indispensable part of international events, which assesses their expectations, motivation, goals and experience gained. Surveys allow to measure the effectiveness of working with the international youth community and bolster programmes that are under development. This demonstrates the importance of involving young sociologists in our projects. To this end, a team of researchers at the Sociological School studied the needs and interests of their peers from Abkhazia. Their findings will help identify relevant programmes and tracks to develop the country’s youth policy”, said Dmitry Ivanov, Director General of the World Youth Festival Directorate.
The School brought together both aspiring and experienced specialists in sociology, consulting, AI, and trend watching, as well as master’s degree students, postgraduates, tutors of sociology and allied subjects, who apply sociological methods of data collection and analysis in their professional activities. 24 young researchers from across Russia took part in the School. Among them were young people from Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Tula, Rostov-on-Don, Astrakhan, Tyumen, Orenburg, Yaroslavl, Saratov, and Krasnoyarsk.
5 days of intensive training featured meetings with 28 School tutors and guests, bringing together leading specialists and corporate top managers.
Overview:
The World Youth Festival took place on March 1–7, 2024 in Sirius, according to the Decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the development of international youth cooperation. The WYF-2024 brought together 20,000 young leaders from 190 countries.
On the instructions of the President of the Russian Federation, the WYF will be held in Russia on a regular basis – once in six years. Also, every six years 10,000 young people from all over the world will get together at the International Youth Festival, and in between, international themed gatherings and events will be held under the auspices of the WYF. Festival events of various formats will be held in Russia annually.
According to the instructions of the President of the Russian Federation on the preservation and development of the Festival legacy, the World Youth Festival Directorate continues the work aimed at strengthening international youth cooperation.