MANAGERIAL MODELS OF YOUTH PARTICIPATION IN A RUSSIAN REGION: THE CASE OF THE SVERDLOVSK REGION

Abstract

This article examines the management problem associated with creating conditions for the implementation of social activity of the population in municipalities of a large Russian region. The authors argue that an important role in the development of the non-profit sector — non-profit organizations, the social projects and programs of which involve the local population, including young volunteers — is played by municipal employees. Having different experience of work in the system of state and municipal administration, municipal employees with different experience can implement their functions in different ways, for example, by introducing the federal standard of state assistance to volunteering. The methodology is based on the sociological theory of volunteerism infrastructure. According to it, the authors consider the professional activities of officials, who are supposed to promote social initiatives of the population in the framework of a normatively defined course of public policy, as a factor of the institutional environment that determines the variability of social activity management within local territories. The purpose of this work is to analyze the institutional characteristics of managing the social activity of the population of the Sverdlovsk Region and to identify the features of the models of managing the social activity of youth, due to the specifics of the activities of municipalities, whose employees have different length of service and practical experience in municipal service. This article analyzes the data of an expert survey of municipal employees of the Sverdlovsk Region responsible for interaction with socially oriented non-profit organizations (SO NPOs), interaction with children, teens, and youth public associations, whose powers are to create conditions for the development of volunteer activity of the population in municipalities (2018; n = 95). The authors have used correlation, comparative and chronological analysis to formalize the results obtained. Based on the research data, three models of managing social participation of the population, including youth volunteering, are identified and described, which are implemented in various administrative districts of the region. The first model of management is inherent in territories where a generation of municipal employees, who began their careers no more than 12 years ago, are responsible for this direction. Based on the totality of the revealed characteristics, the model was identified as youth-centric. The second model of management is implemented in administrative districts, where a large proportion of officials responsible for the analyzed area have more than 12 years of municipal service; it is focused on maintaining hierarchical relations with regional bodies and is designated as an institutional model. The third management model is distinguished by the orientation of municipal employees to interact with local social institutions, especially socially oriented non-profit organizations and to maintain their activity through subsidies from the regional budget. The third model of governance is designated as a paternalistic model.