The Volunteering Center’s Head Raissa Nitsenko about grants, processing “electronic cigarettes” and the development of eco-volunteering

An eco – fest will be held at Moscow Polytech. Containers for collecting electronic cigarettes will be installed and, perhaps, a new extracurricular movement may emerge following the initiative. All this became possible due to the victory of Moscow Polytech students in a grant competition of “Rosmolodyozh”. A team of seven students received some 3,6 million rubles. The founder of the fest “ECORythm” and the head of the Volunteering Center Raissa Nitsenko spoke about the best ideas that may get funding and a secret of successful events.

What is the essence of your project?

We presented the project aimed at the development of ecological movement among employees and students of Moscow Polytech. It includes four events, which will be held fr om August to October. At the adaptive course, we plan to build an eco-pavilion, wh ere a quest-game will be held. New students will have opportunities to learn more about the environment, as well as to win eco-gifts: pencils with plant seeds, growing kits, glasses made of wheat fiber. It will be great to demonstrate things that are made completely of recycled materials.

In addition, many young people currently use electronic cigarettes, and only a few know that now the cigarettes should be recycled. In the framework of a grant project, we plan to place such containers for collecting electronic cigarettes at all the buildings of Moscow Polytech in order to pass them further for processing. Additionally, we plan to organize an open session with the invited experts.

How did the idea of creating the project emerge?

I am sure that currently ecological movement among youth is not well developed. I would like to remind students that it is important to take care of our planet. Besides, in the tenth grade I already won a grant under similar topic. The amount granted was not as big. Out team formed boxes that were located in office centers. The employees could put used paper into them. And we were involved in gathering it and processing. For the money received from its utilization, we purchased seedlings and planted trees in the park.

How did you come to know about this competition?

The Volunteering Center has been operating for eight years. Every year, our activists are submitting forms for grants, and they win them every year and realize their ideas. For us, grant competitions are not a new sphere of activity. We have always participated in various competitions.

Please tell about your biggest winnings

The biggest winning is our competition “Volunteer 360”, which happened at the forum “Mashuk”. It was implemented by ex-head of the Volunteering Center Xenia Irincheyeva. At that time, we understood that there was an opportunity to make the event more large-scale. The participants incouded students from MAI, The Russian University of Transport RUT/MIIT), MSPU and other metropolitan universities.

One more realized grant program is “I am a Volunteer”. Our guys conducted trainings for schoolchildren of the 9-11th grades around basics of the volunteering movement. 600 guys took part in it.

What was the most difficult in preparing an application for the grant?

The most difficult thing was making a cost-estimate, as upfront calculations for all you may need for the event are not easy. And the events themselves, to make them interesting for everyone, are not easy to think over either.

The amount of your grant is 289 thousand rubles. Is it sufficient?

We enlisted more than 250 people for the grant. But such a number of people is normal. The amount will be used for handouts, gifts and containers for collecting electronic cigarettes.

The initial amount of the grant was 360 thousand rubles. Our team envisaged this money for the project. Later on, our amount was reduced. It happens often, that some goods become cheaper, and you have some money left. In such a case, it must be returned.

What result do you expect from the event?

We believe the ideal result would be a new trend at our Volunteering center, namely, eco- volunteering. There is also one more idea – to develop our idea already within the framework of project-based activities at the University. This grant could become a separate project, for which we could buid a team of interested people and could continue developing this environmental idea further.

How to come to know about grant competitions?

To continuously monitor and follow various forums of Rosmolodyozh”. The biggest ones are “Ladoga”, “Ecosystem”, “Mashuk”, “Ivolga”, among others. Students can attend them with their projects and finalize them already on site. Upon the results of a competition, the most interesting ideas win. We found out that my grant won the competition offered by “Rosmolodezh”. But it turned out that it received support at these forums as well. But you can submit for a grant only once with an exclusive idea, therefore we had to choose.

What is the key to a successful event?

People and the ability to concentrate on details. Also, try to stay on a positive side and share positive emotions with people.

How to submit a grant application form correctly?

You should learn the process. There is a template, which is important to fill in correctly. Every student may submit for a grant. The main thing is to understand how to implement the idea after winning.

Why apply for grants?

It depends on a person. I want to instill environmental habits in people via my events. A human is always driven by an idea. Most likely, everyone focuses on what they lack. Someone establishes university libraries or establishes volunteering centers.

What advice would you give to people who have an idea, but do not know how to develop it?

The main thing is not to abandon your idea. Look how other activists implement this. Gain the experience of participating is such events; it will be easier to organize them in the future. Learn to take responsibility and make the first steps. In fact, there are no obstacles, look for opportunities, competitions and do not be scared.