On the 26 of September, 2017, a press conference of the Non-profit Interregional Public Organization “Association of Mentors” took place at Russian TASS. The conference was devoted to the start of the mentoring system in Russia.
At the conference a suggestion was made to include Russian top leaders and officials into the system. Today the members of the mentoring system already include deputies, senators, representatives of federal and regional ministries, members of the Russian Federation Public Chamber, Olympic champions, scientists, representatives of state corporations and business associations and other eminent personalities of the country.
It should be recalled that a special assignment to work up the issue of mentoring system creation was given by Russian Government in May, 2017.
The press conference gave coverage to the perspective directions of mentorship development and was participated in by:
• Chairman of the Board of the Non-profit Public Organization “Association of Mentors”, Director of the Information and Analytical Centre of Russian Presidential Academy, Nikolay Kalmykov.
• Vice-Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Culture, Olga Kazakova.
• Member of the State Duma Committee for Youth, Sport and Tourism, Natalia Kuvshinova
• Chairman of the Board of the State Duma Youth Parliament, Maria Voropaeva
• Director for Business Development of Rambler&Co, Dmitriy Turkevich.
The participants discussed the results of the recent survey among government employees and the public legislation initiatives on recognition of the status of mentor at enterprises and public services. The subject of introducing professional standards for future mentors was also brought up. Particular attention was paid to the special projects for disabled persons, orphans and other social categories.
During the course of the survey conducted among government employees and concerning the impact of corporate culture elements, such an element as “heroes and personalities” took the leading position and got more than 4 points of 5 possible. New civil servants need role models and examples to be followed. 58% of respondents pointed to the fact that social sphere is definitely one of the top-priority spheres where legislative projects and programs should be prepared. Therefore, Russian public initiatives draw the legislators’ attention to the necessity of support for mentors and recognizing mentorship as an official social and professional activity with professional standards being worked up. Another problem is that young men (more than 56% - 6 months, 24% -
12 months) leave their first job after half a year or a year of working, despite being, in general, satisfied with the first place of work (76%) which means that the vocational guidance and adaptation systems are not effective enough. Mentorship is exactly what is necessary to solve the problem.
The project coordinators also announced the launch of a new social network for mentors, an online platform where young specialists can contact with experienced mentors from any sphere, present them their projects and get support. This way Russian Public Organization outran the foreign colleagues from “Facebook” who is now testing a similar service for finding mentors within a world-famous social network. The Non-profit Public Organization “Association of Mentors” considers Mark Zuckerberg’s idea in a positive spirit, however the members of the Organization pointed out that in Russia “Facebook” is already late with this initiative. Nevertheless, “The Association of Mentors” sent an official letter to the co-founder and CEO of “Facebook” in which the Organization invited Mr. Zuckerberg to join the mentoring system and support Russian project.
The specific nature of Russian project consists in its systemacy and scale. The initiatives on promotion of the institution of mentorship are now being discussed at the State level, the Organization negotiates with ministries and the biggest associations. The implementation of the mentoring system is being planned at all levels, from schools and universities to the administrative authorities.
The further workup of the issues connected with mentorship is planned during the course of the all-Russian discussion on the subject.

Contacts:
Company: Association of Mentors
Contact Name: Alexandra
Site: http://nastavniki.com/
Phone: 8(968)0833245
E-mail: [email protected]