Big Change
Project «Resource center»
Main values
Geography: Moscow
CSS contribution, rubles
Total budget, rubles
Implementation period, months
Project idea
The Big Change project is aimed at helping children who grew up in orphanages, children from low-income and foster families, and focuses on assisting in education, developing independence, and well-being. It also includes support for parents and guardians of children in difficult life situations and the scaling of the foundation's experience among specialized organizations.
The initiative received long-term support from CSS and became the first project of the foundation implemented outside of Moscow.
In its first year, Big Change plans to:
- Expand the team: the foundation will recruit new specialists to allow current experts to focus on helping the provinces without compromising the quality of work in Moscow. This will enable more coverage of orphans across the country. It is planned to hire up to three new employees in the Moscow office.
- Share experience with colleagues: publish a book with methodological developments based on the results of the Big Change conference, containing articles by specialists and partners of the foundation.
- Train and supervise a regional specialist: key staff of the Big Change Resource Centre will train a regional specialist in work techniques, prepare methodological materials, and provide support to the colleague during the implementation of the Foundation's practices with their audience.
- Support regional specialists: provide assistance and consultations to a colleague from Novosibirsk who is implementing Big Change’s techniques in the local Art Center, where they work with children from low-income and foster families.
Relevance
According to statistics, only 25% of graduates from Russian orphanages successfully adapt to independent life.
The Foundation aims to change this situation by expanding educational opportunities and helping children acquire the skills necessary for successful adaptation to life in the outside world. To achieve this, the Foundation's team develops and disseminates teaching methods that are tailored to the specific needs of children from orphanages and foster families.
Over 16 years of work (from 2002 to 2018), 558 young people in Moscow received support: 102 successfully passed exams, 128 entered educational institutions, 25 started families, and 64 acquired housing.
The Foundation's specialists train and support teachers working with this category of children, enhancing their competence and providing them with tools for effective work with orphans.
The techniques of Big Change are in demand in the provinces, but limited resources do not allow the Foundation's leading experts to travel frequently and provide consultation and supervision in the provinces.
The project will help restructure the Foundation's work and expand into the provinces with the Social and Educational Support program.
Social effect
Increasing the socialization and well-being of young people with orphanhood experience through the dissemination of unique educational support technique for children in difficult life situations.
KPI
KPI
Project Results
The main achievement of the project was the training of two specialists: in Moscow and Novosibirsk.
The specialist in Moscow showed excellent dynamics in developing their skills.
The leaders observed four interrelated factors influencing the formation of basic professional competencies.
Factor 1: Overcoming the employee's adaptation difficulties associated with entering a new field of activity.
Factor 2: Demonstrating the application of acquired basic competencies in independent practical activities with the foundation's target audience.
Factor 3: The dynamics of self-analysis skills and the ability to adequately self-assess the results of practical activities.
Factor 4: The ability to use educational support technique in real-life situations with educators, stimulating their interest and desire to master the technique in their own practice.
As a result, the leaders unanimously concluded that the young specialist showed high dynamics in developing the competencies necessary for a methodologist in educational support and the practice of social partnership.
He also mastered a range of legal and organizational-administrative competencies necessary for a Resource Centre employee and applied them in his practice. He demonstrated high creativity, resilience, and professionalism during the pandemic, showing a strong ability for quick self-organization and cooperation.
The colleague from Novosibirsk also has gained knowledge and support.
The leading consultants of Big Change provided the necessary support to the regional specialist and noted that the adaptation difficulties observed in the initial stage of mastering the activities were successfully overcome in the second stage. The main evidence of this is that the work of the colleague from Novosibirsk is now structured as an organized system, demonstrating continuity, depth, and broad implementation of educational support across various organizational structures in Novosibirsk and the surrounding region.
Project progress after CSS funding
Project will be continued with the grant funding and resources received from donors in Novosibirsk
