Svetlana Modnova, founder and head of the Moscow Toy factory, highlighted the main points of 2022 and noted what the organization has achieved thanks to the evaluation.

“In 2022 we produced about 10,600 toys, won two grants from the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives to promote our projects in the regions, and launched the cotton toy museum, the only specialized museum in Russia, which is located on the territory of our factory. As for the evaluation, it brought to light things we had not been paying attention to before. We taught the craft of cotton toys to about 3.5 thousand women in Russia. Those who live near Moscow were attracted to work at our factory to fulfill corporate orders. The evaluation showed that women who live in remote regions are very willing to get involved in our work. We have developed a technology of the “artel” type for the production of cotton toys, which was popular in the 30's and 40's of the 20th century. Today 30 regions of Russia work with us,” says Svetlana Modnova.

The evaluation also found that one-third of the women who were trained in the project wanted to teach the craft and start their own business. Some in the form of a family workshop, some in the form of a club in a community center or in a small community.

“If we had not done the evaluation, we would not have seen this need. The evaluation pushed us to give new life to the project – we developed a methodological manual, where to start, how to teach, what materials to buy, how much money is needed to start this activity,” added Svetlana Modnova.

Yakov Samokhvalov, General Director of the Yugra Center for Civic and Social Initiatives Foundation, was awarded in the Best Program of Social Impact Assessment at the Regional Level category.

The prize was awarded for the development of a systemic solution to aggregate information about the activities of socially oriented non-profit organizations, volunteer associations and civic activists from various open sources, the formation of an open database on its basis and the creation of a mechanism for a single operator of grants from the Governor of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Yugra for socially oriented non-profit organizations and individuals implementing socially significant projects.

The Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Yugra is a region known for its achievements in the development of civil society. At the end of 2020 the Yugra Center for Civic and Social Initiatives launched a new solution, which aggregates information from volunteer associations and socially oriented non-profit organizations – the unified personal account of the activist of Yugra (abbreviated as UPAA or ELKA in Russian). This is an electronic service, by registering in which an NPO can tell about itself and participate in the ranking of regional organizations. The rating is calculated automatically based on data collected by the system from public sources and data provided by users themselves, but verified by the foundation's staff. Activists can thus position themselves favorably in the eyes of their colleagues, the authorities, and journalists.

Director of the Yugra Center for Civic and Social Initiatives Foundation commented on how UPAA works.