Mobilizing youth for health: Politics and peer education in post-soviet Russia

Abstract

The mid-Volga city of Saratov, Russia, has been the location of an effective grassroots anti-drug volunteer youth movement in recent years, with similar developments in other Russian cities. This has taken place, with some support from foreign agencies, in the context of a particular official post-Soviet youth and drug policy that has been less than wholly successful in regulating drug use among young people. Establishing close working relations with local government structures was of key importance for realization of the project, rather than links to international agencies. The significance of youth and health in political discourse on both the local and national scale was also important, although it is not clear whether this helps or hinders project development and innovation in this field.