30%
of Russians do not trust any non-governmental organisations, and 24% of respondents couldn’t answer a question of which NGOs or nonprofit organisations they do trust.
Experts explain that this phenomenon is partly due to a low level of knowledge about NGOs and the outcome of their work.
Trust is highest for veteran, consumer rights, disabled people’s associations, and labour unions, whereas less trust is associated with various national-patriotic movements, youth political associations, ethnic communities, diasporas, expatriate communities, and informal youth associations.
These results were obtained from a survey of 2000 Russians, conducted as part of the Civil Society Monitoring by the HSE Centre for Studies of Civil Society and the Nonprofit Sector in 2013 with the support of the HSE Basic Research Programme. The data was collected by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM).
See also:
Discuss NGOs the Way We Discuss Mathematics
A conference at HSE on 11th & 12th November discussed the issue of relations between the state and non-profit organisations. In the column ‘An Academic’s View’ HSE Vice-RectorLev Jakobson considers how to approach this problem as subject matter for academic discussion.
65%
of Russians who know or who at least have heard about public, nonprofit organizations and initiatives in their city, village or settlement, learned about them through ‘word of mouth’.
29%
of Russians are prepared to work in nonprofit organizations and on civic initiatives as volunteers without receiving money for their work.
Civil Society: Competition of Ideas and Interests
On June 19th Charles Buxton, manager of regional programmes in Central Asia and post-Soviet countries of the International NGO Training & Research Centre — INTRAC, spoke at the HSE on ‘Civil Society at a Crossroads: View from the Development Sector’ at a seminar organized by the HSE Center for Studies of Civil Society and Nonprofit Sector (CSCSNS).