Begin It Now

Educational provision for children living in Psycho-neurological orphanages (orphanages for children with special needs) in the Russian Federation

Begin It Now is an organisation born of Project Baranovo, which has been working since October 2005 in location at Bel'skoye Ustye, Porkhov Region, Pskovskaya Oblast', Russian Federation. As Project Baranovo, we established an Educational Centre, materials and support for the staff, regular lessons for all the children, a domestic environment and increased specialist activity in the orphanage.

Our main objectives are:

• To the continue to improve the education provision available to the children of Bel'skoye Ust'ye, especially through heightened motivational and efficacy training for the staff of the orphanage.
• To further engage the local community in and around Bel'skoye Ust'ye in its involvement with the children of the orphanage, through, for example, open days at the orphanage, partnerships with local cooperatives and publicity evenings.
• The provision of specialist workers (e.g. psychologists, special needs educationalists, specialised therapists) to work in Bel'skoye-Ustye (both for staff-training and teaching/development purposes) and the involvement of specialist advisors to encourage greater communication and collaboration between NGOs working in Russia and between NGOs and national and regional authorities.
• To facilitate the process of introducing educational initiatives in all special needs residential institutions in Russia.
• Using Bel'skoye Ust'ye as a model and centre of activity, to push for positive change in public opinion on the educability and developmental potential of children living in special needs orphanages, and to work in conjunction with other NGOs to campaign for state-provided education for these children.

Areas of activity:

In Bel'skoye Ust'ye, we will:

• Open a new purpose-built Educational and Cultural Centre (with ample classrooms, full-time teachers and a fully qualified Director of Studies, separate accommodation for volunteers, minibus, library etc.).
• Include every child in its educational and developmental programmes and tailor-make a curriculum with a panel of experts.
• Provide staff with materials and specialist training.
  Employ and train local teachers and specialists to work with the children.
• Establish a praktikum (voluntary internship) scheme for local, regional, national and foreign volunteers to participate in our activities.
• Organise exchanges, workshops and seminars for the staff of BU to expose them to as much input as possible.
• Further engage the local community in and around Bel'skoye Ust'ye in its involvement with the children of the orphanage, through, for example, open days at the orphanage, partnerships with local cooperatives and publicity evenings.  

Nationally, we will:

• Visit as many similar projects in Russia as possible and establish forums (quarterly seminars and e-forums) to encourage communication between NGOs operating in this field.
• Co-operate with specialists, inside and outside of Russia, as well as various NGOs, to create, publish and distribute methodological literature for carers and practical in-class material (for distribution in all psycho-neurological orphanages, children's homes and correctional schools in Russia).
• Establish a fund for psycho-neurological orphanages in Russia that want to create libraries, train staff, employ specialists and so on.
• Tour the country with workshops and seminars for orphanage staff.

Why does the Bel'skoye Ust'ye psycho-neurological orphanage-internat need the help of an organisation like this?

There are 105-110 children at the Bel'skoye Ust'ye orphanage-internat for children with special needs (the number fluctuates slightly as children come and go). Of these children, 87% of current have living relatives and many would never be diagnosed as having special needs if they lived in the West.

Only 40% of the children in the orphanage are entitled to any educational input from the state. Moreover, this provision is far from satisfactory - lessons are infrequent, haphazard, repetitive and lack organization.

Without extra help, many of the Belsk'oye Ust'ye children will confined to lives spent in institutions after 18. This is unnecessary and an extremely miserable option.

All the children are entirely capable of intellectual and developmental progress. It is entirely possible to train these children in primary basics and beyond, giving them a much healthier foundation for development and much sounder preparation for life beyond the orphanage.

In order to equip these children for any sort of future outside institutions we need to start as early as possible.

Vital areas of support for the children who have endured much in their lives are missing: self-esteem, social skills, self-expression and emotional intelligence development are all lacking.

Both children and staff lack motivation; they are not engaged with the process of learning.