Perm authorities shared experience of TOS (territorial public self-governing) development with colleagues from Minsk
Photo by Veronika Platonova Specialists from the Soviet District of the capital of Belarus presented their experience in organizing the work of territorial public self-government. The meeting was also attended by the chairmen of TOS of Motovilikhinskiy district of Perm.
The meeting was held as videoconference at the city administration. Sergey Troshkov, Deputy Head of the Perm City Administration noted that up to date 110 TOS had been registered in Perm, involving over 65 per cent of the city’s population into the activities. The unique practice in interaction with public organizations in Perm is establishing community centers. These provide premises for non-government organizations free of charge. Another innovative form of support for the NGOs is the competition «The City is Us» being held in Perm for 26 years now, the grant fund equaling to 25 million rubles. In 2024, 13 TOSs won the competition. Similarly, within the city districts, a competition is held to support local initiatives of NGOs in social sphere, the grant fund of which doubled since 2024. Proactive budgeting allows the residents to participate directly in local issues, which contributes to improving the quality of the urban environment. This year, 19 initiatives will be implemented for a total of more than 33 million rubles.
The Chairmen of TOS Motovilikha presented their work and gave concrete examples of projects implemented. Belorussian colleagues, in turn, spoke about their system of organizing participatory bodies of the TOS, which includes more than 100 people. They noted that the key goals and objectives of territorial public self-governments activity of the two cities are similar - the involvement of residents in public activities, including the younger generation, as well as assistance in resolving a number of local issues, for example, with regard to the territory improvement.
In the end of the video-meeting, Alexander Molokovskikh, Head of the Mayor’s Office of Perm City Administration thanked his counterparts for the interesting dialogue and invited the delegation of the Soviet district of Minsk to visit Perm again to get acquainted with the activities of the TOS, and discuss other cooperation issues.