Searching for a New Approach to Face Poverty on the Local Level, a Case Study in a Small Russian Town

Abstract

This paper re-examines poverty in a small Russian town, drawing attention to the public attitude towards the poor and the readiness of local society to be involved in the process of helping these people. The Russian official measurement and general approach to the study of poverty are not adequate to targeting the involvement of wider social groups in poverty reduction. This process needs a new approach for investigating poverty in Russia and the implementation of new social security services. A new approach could be based on interaction between people in difficult situations, local society, authorities and other stakeholders. This paper examines the opportunity to employ the idea of a participatory methodology for providing social security in the Russian Federation.

Paid and unpaid social work in Russia: Is women’s social work opening up opportunities for empowerment processes?

“…In the Russian case, low faith in formal NGOs might, however, indicate a low level of trust in formal organizations in general, regardless of whether these are governmental, non-governmental or private. This suggestion is supported by a survey from two small Russian towns in Nizhegorodskaya oblast, where a low level of faith in the state’s ability to solve social problems was indicated – but similarly there was a lack of trust in NGOs and private organizations (Ivashinenko, 2012). This is compatible with earlier research findings on how previous collaborative thinking (imposed from above) led to mistrust in the official institutions of co-operation (Ashwin, 1998).…”

“…Some of them have experiences of working in NGOs or in the social sphere. Among these there are examples of how individuals teach each other methods of coping with poverty, such as sewing (Ivashinenko, 2012). It appears that, in the Russian case, local initiatives of cooperation with others in a similar life situation are more about coping than actually about realizing agency for changing a particular situation.…”

Socially Oriented NGOs and Local Communities in a Russian Region: Ways to Build Up Their Relationship

“…In Russia the provision of social care and support has historically been perceived by the population to be a primary responsibility of the state. The majority of the population views the Russian government as a central actor in social services (Ivashinenko 2014). When governmental bodies attempted to transfer some of their previous duties to nongovernmental organizations, they were met not only with barriers to resources-such as lack of financial support and professional knowledge of NGOs-but also a lack of trust from the population towards NGOs (Mersiianova and Iakobson 2009).…”

Ngos’ And Local Business’ Collaboration For Socio-Economic Development Of Russian Regions

“…While analyzing of socio-economic regional development, it is important to consider the significant aspect of increasing of living standards and quality of life of the local population (Rimashevskaya, Bochkareva, Volkova, & Korchagina, 2012;Rimashevskaya, 2013;Ivashinenko, 2014;Malkina, 2017).…”