For many years, women have been famous for their social work. Dozens of women were involved in charity work in the 19th century. In general, women’s charity work enjoys a distinctive and very rich history in our country. You know, women are brought up in such a way that they desire to help, sympathize, empathize becomes a part of our identity. We are ambassadors for a healthy lifestyle. We are able to combine all of these roles in ourselves in such a natural way. It turns out that we are responsible for the overall preservation of a healthy nation, a healthy family, and a healthy society in general. It is almost impossible to overestimate the work carried out by women volunteers, because we find ourselves in precisely those places where warmth and love are needed. It is these fundamental qualities that have led to 90% of women as leaders of NPOs (non-profit organizations – ed.) — Saniyam Koval, President, Podari Solnechny Svet Charitable Foundation.

National projects are, of course, first and foremost, projects for the nation. People must be engaged for them to be successful and effective. What do we mean by engagement? First of all, we mean the use of support measures that are provided for by national projects, participation in volunteer movements and campaigns, and the creation of ideas for our own projects. […] As concerns the role of women, everything is very simple and obvious: there are more women in our country, and women are the very translators of positive change. A special role is also played by women’s traits and qualities — Olga Starikova, Acting Head of National Project Support Division, Natsionalnye Prioritety ANPO.

As concerns regional projects, then, you know, I would say that we need to talk about administrative barriers, and probably that’s it. But there are difficulties in interaction, and there are difficulties with support. Moreover, in different regions, the problems may differ slightly. Somewhere basic infrastructure support is needed. […] Infrastructure is needed. Even events require some kind of accommodation to be held, some kind of infrastructure, and sometimes requirements can be quite specific. […] Support is the ability to move these projects around within the region and not hinder them. […] An equally important problem is the lack of interaction between the participants in the global process, because there are a lot of projects. After we announced our project, the Women’s Leadership programme, we began to receive requests from women [...] with stories about their projects in health preservation. It turns out that they know nothing about projects of this kind being implemented, for example, at the federal or interregional level — Olga Postnikova, Chief Executive Officer, Dobroe Delo Social Care Centre ANPO.

Our project is very new; it was initiated by our group as part of the Russia - Land of Opportunity Educational Programme at the beginning of the year. And now we have a digital platform ready to bring these women leaders together. Colleagues, […] all of today’s speakers have spoken about how there are projects, and wonderful women leaders, and no barriers, but there is no place where all of the possible projects and opportunities for women leaders can come together. Therefore, our project is dedicated to creating a digital platform for bringing together women leaders and their socially oriented projects. The platform is, first of all, a cyber community — Elena Aksenova, Director, Research Institute for Healthcare Organization and Medical Management of Moscow Healthcare Department.

We also have our own example. When we were establishing lines of communication on national projects, we realized that the target audience - women - occupied a very significant position. First of all, this is due to the fact that many measures are aimed at supporting families. For example, getting IVF, maternity capital. Also (measures – ed.) aimed [...] at achieving the national goal of preserving the population, health, and people’s well-being. These include proper nutrition, giving up bad habits, and playing sport. In all of this, as studies have shown, the driving role is still played by women, who employ measures and broadcast best practices within their family, community, and work — Olga Starikova, Acting Head of National Project Support Division, Natsionalnye Prioritety ANPO.