Future of Tatarstan’s youth policy: Personnel Reserve project launched in Kazan

“Our task is to prepare the young people so that they can work in a team led by the Ministry of Youth Affairs”

The Personnel Reserve is a six'month educational programme for young people from 16 to 35 years old, which is organised by the Academy of Creative Youth of Tatarstan with the support of the Ministry of Youth Affairs of the republic. This year the project is held for the 15th anniversary time.

“Every year the project closes various issues, because there are certain challenges, vectors of development. In 2013, there was a period of the Universiade, and the Personnel Reserve trained people who worked at the facilities, were team leaders among the youth and headed these facilities. In 2022, the young people were trained in projects that exist in the republic and where they could integrate. In 2023, the project formed the team of the Movement of the First, we trained the heads of departments for all municipalities of Tatarstan," Alyona Bakirova, the executive director of the Personnel Reserve, told Realnoe Vremya.

This time, the project faces a new challenge:

“In 2024, the Personnel Reserve is a platform for young people who want to integrate into the work of the state youth policy, into existing organisations and projects. Our task is to prepare the young people and give them the tools so that they can feel good and work in our large team of the republic headed by the Ministry of Youth Affairs.”

The educational programme is held from April to September this year. It consists of three face-to-face and two remote stages, within which work will be carried out in two directions: “Trying and creating” and “Scaling and developing”. The first is designed for those who are just starting out in youth politics, and the second is for young people who already have experience in this field and a desire to deepen their knowledge.

“At least 40 people will remain with us in the field”

According to Alena Bakirova, the educational programme is not limited to lectures alone:

“Success is impossible without practice. We all know perfectly well that when a person listens to some information, they learn only 30%. Our task is for the young people to be competitive, including in the labour market. A distinctive feature of the Personnel Reserve project, thanks to the support of the government of Tatarstan, is the opportunity to give practice at the expense of our remote stages. The young people will hold events according to the given scenarios and develop them independently with the help of curators. They will keep blogs, a positive agenda on social networks, integrate into the teams that are already there, and try everything in practice: write releases, organise the process, work with the media team...”

According to her, it is difficult to predict the exact results of the project: working with people is unique, it is not always possible to predict the result. “But we know that at least 40 people will remain with us in the field," said the executive director of the Personnel Reserve.

Residents of 18 municipalities of the republic seized the opportunity to get to know youth public policy better — and these are only those who have reached the full-time stage. Young people from Kazan, Naberezhnye Chelny, Almetyevsk, Nizhnekamsk, Yelabuga, Chistopol, Kamsko-Ustinsky, Leninogorsky, Mamadyshsky, Vysokogorsky, Yuatazinsky districts, as well as from Nurlaty, Pestretsy, Saby, Tetyushi took part in the Personnel Reserve.

“This is a step forward, which will then allow us to make two more”

Minister of Youth Affairs Rinat Sadykov came to greet the participants of the Personnel Reserve.

“You came here for knowledge, new contacts, communication formats, skills. This is a step forward, which will then allow us to make two more. Among the participants, I see familiar faces from the youth policy system of different cities, companies, and universities. This indicates that the project is growing, interest is increasing," he addressed the participants.

The minister held an open dialogue with young Tatarstan citizens and answered their questions. For example, he agreed that some higher education programmes were outdated and assured that positive changes were coming. Sadykov advised those wishing to communicate with foreign youth to participate in forum companies. Speaking about the negative statistics of divorces, he noted that the Ministry of Youth Affairs organises educational lectures to strengthen families, but there should be dozens of times more such events.

“I want to change my field of activity to a public one”

What are the goals set by the project participants themselves? A student of the correspondence department of the Kazan Cooperative Institute and the head of the local Young Guard, Angelina from Tetyushi, replied: “I came to realise and find myself, to try something new, while benefiting others.” As part of the Personnel Reserve, she would like to carry out a musical project, as well as to popularise youth movements in small towns.

Daria, a graduate student of KNRTU, is going to build a career in the field of youth policy.

“I want to change my field of activity to a public one. I chose the Personnel Reserve to prepare and find out what awaits me in the future, maybe even get a job," she said.

Daria has been playing in the student theatre for five years, so she plans to organise creative projects or events here.

And Anna, a student of KNRTU, the chairman of the trade union organisation of the institute, was looking for a new starting point for herself. The young woman is going to apply for an internship at the Youth Center of Tatarstan and, if everything goes well, become its employee.