• Home • About the Fund  • Partners • Contacts • Our Programs

News. February 2010

Citi Foundation Program Improving Communities Right Now! Creates New Jobs in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast

At a small-business development training workshop in Gorodets

October 13-15, 2010. Training workshops for local craftsmen devoted to legal and marketing issues related to small-business development were organized in Gorodetsky raion, Nizhny Novgorod oblast, by the Citi Foundation Program Improving Communities Right Now! The workshops took place at the local City of Craftsmen. The attendees displayed a special interest in the presentations of experts who described the procedure of obtaining patents by businesses operating in the sphere of traditional arts and crafts.

Oksana Zhestkova, head of the municipal Department for Economic Development, informed the audience about the possibilities of raising government funds for developing small-sized businesses in the raion.

Craftsman Sergei Sokolov used the results of the training to prepare a business project for developing the art of woodcarving, which he presented in February of this year to the local Employment Center, where the project was approved for funding (60,000 rubles) by a special commission at the raion administration. Mr. Sokolov intends to use these funds for acquiring sanding and woodcarving equipment for his woodworking shop.

This first experience of raising state budget funding for the development of arts and crafts is being utilized by other craftsmen of this community who are actively writing proposals for resources for their small businesses. The Fund for Sustainable Development is planning to continue to support such trainings at the Employment Center and to help local craftsmen to create advertising and marketing materials.

Engaging schoolchildren in the development of traditional Gorodets arts is another priority area of the Citi Program. It is important that experienced artisans pass their skills to the younger generation.

A teacher from a Youth Art School conducts a master class for Gorodets children

Under the Program, master classes in traditional Gorodets wood carving and wood painting, for which all necessary materials has been acquired, were conducted for local interested schoolchildren. This initiative will be carried on at the new tourist center The City of Craftsmen, where such master classes for tourists and students will take place on a regular basis.