The Eurasian Peoples' Assembly presented the Best Projects for the Development of Rural Areas

On September 10, 2022, within the International Festival of Family Media Creativity "Sunflower" (Izhevsk), there was held a presentation of the final results of the project "Heritage of Eurasia: Cultural Practices of Rural Areas".

Project manager Yulia Shakhtina presented the participants of the event with the three best projects developed during the educational tour (June 1-5, 2022) and further supported by the expert community. They were the projects “The book is our true friend” (Kyrgyz Republic), “Local history family club “Researcher” (Russia, Udmurt Republic), “Grandmothers Sabalak” (Republic of Kazakhstan).

Following the event, all projects aroused great interest among children and youth. The participants of the festival took an active part in the discussion of mechanisms for strengthening cooperation and partnership between Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan on the basis of the presented projects. For example, the children of one of the orphanages in Izhevsk expressed an active desire to help in the implementation of the project “The Book is Our True Friend” and donate several of their own books to the children of Kyrgyzstan. The project of the “Zhuraveynik” Social Producing Center “Grandmother, teach me” could in future build a long-term platform for interaction between grandmothers of rural areas of Kazakhstan and Udmurtia.

In total, within the project, the participants developed ten projects aimed at actively involving more than 2,000 rural residents in the development of local communities and the preservation of cultural heritage.

According to the project team, the project “Heritage of Eurasia: Cultural Practices of Rural Areas” needs to be replicated and developed. The experience of the project implementation revealed that socio-cultural projecting is an effective tool for involving the resources of the rural population, which contributes to the activation of the local community, the formation of socio-cultural effects of development, as well as building partnerships between residents and local governments to jointly determine the vectors for the development of rural areas.

Cultural projects are one of the most important ways to develop small territories, which allow them to preserve and promote their unique history and cultural heritage. Cultural projects play a key role in shaping the local identity of villages and their residents: they preserve and transmit cultural traditions, influence the all-Russian, in our case, Eurasian, modern cultural process and form a cultural environment that considers local realities, the needs and interests of local residents. Therefore, it is important to further identify cultural practices, improve the competence of those activists and leaders-organizers who daily implement these initiatives and thus make a valuable contribution to the development and preservation of culture and history. It is important to build partnerships between rural areas and various social institutions, to strengthen the practice of coordinating and uniting the efforts of the administration, the state and non-state sectors, NGOs in various areas aimed at helping the local community in the preservation and development of cultural heritage.

Recall that the project has been implemented by the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly under grant support from the Presidential Foundation for Cultural Initiatives since January 2022.