On August 6-7, the IV international summer school "Bulgarian dialogue of cultures-2020" was held online. The theme of this year's seminar was "Youth volunteer movement: the experience of Russia and the Islamic world". During the intensive two-day work participants from different regions of Russia and countries of the Islamic world exchanged experience in the sphere of volunteer activity in their states, and met with new forms of work, participated in masterclasses from leading experts in the field of international relations and tried to create from scratch a personal brand of a volunteer.
A distinctive feature of the International school, which was held this year in an online format, was the presentation of successful practices of both Russian regions and foreign colleagues, who solve many issues and problems every day to improve the lives of people around them and make this world a better place. Among the participants who presented the work of their organizations in the field of volunteerism are the organizers of volunteer projects from Lebanon ("Victory Volunteers" and "Young leader School"), Egypt (Ministry of youth and sports), Tunisia (Women's volunteer movement), and Syria. Representatives of Russian charitable foundations "Solidarity" (Moscow), "Dom dobroty" ("The house of kidness"), "Zakat" ( Moscow), the environmental movement "Budet chisto" ("It will be clean", Kazan), Kazan) and representatives of the volunteer group "Delai dobrye dela" ("Do good deeds", Derbent) shared their practical experience of the volunteer movement in modern conditions. During unique master-classes, participants learned how to create a personal volunteer brand, learned about the activities of the public children's movement "Diplomats of the future", and why is it important to know the history, traditions, cultural and religious features of his companion, how cross-cultural competence, or lack thereof, plays into establishing an effective cooperation between the parties.
Summing up the results of the IV international summer school "Bulgarian dialogue of cultures-2020", the Deputy head of the center for interreligious dialogue of the Bulgarian Islamic Academy Irek Zigantdinov announced the results of the video contest. The first place was shared by the Volunteer Center of the Ilizarov Cultural Center and the Instagram blogger Narmayeva Endzhe, the second place went to the Academy of youth diplomacy, and the video of the "Budet chisto" volunteer movement closed the top three. The winners will receive nice gifts. Also, each participant of the School will receive a certificate, and especially active-branded t-shirts with the School logo.
According to Elmira Sadykova, despite the diversity of cultures, religious preferences and national identity, all volunteers are united by one thing – the desire to do good: "the goal of this School was to create the necessary conditions for youth communication, to strengthen the international format of cooperation. We think that during these two days, the participants managed to establish informal contacts, get and share a lot of experience, as well as learn and understand each other."
The event was organized by the Foundation for Strategic Dialogue and Partnership with the Islamic world and the Bulgarian Islamic Academy with the support of the Ministry of Youth Affairs of the Republic of Tatarstan. The event takes place as the first phase of the work of the Project office at the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs of the international youth cooperation "Russia – OIC". Partners of the project are the Academy of Youth diplomacy, Kazan, and Selet Youth Foundation.
Ilmira Gafiyatullina