Engaging Communities in the Russian Far East

Just across the Bering Sea from Alaska, the Russian Far East—which contains almost 40 percent of Russia's territory—is rich with relatively unspoiled landscapes, unusual wildlife (like the Siberian tiger), and vast untapped mineral and oil reserves. Several indigenous tribes live here, and while a few urban centers dot the region, most of the 8 million people here live in rural and often isolated areas.

Given these tremendous assets, the people living here are under great pressure to exploit natural resources—or to allow others to do so—with little experience in coming together to take matters into their own hands. Six thousand miles from Moscow, the social and economic reforms that followed the collapse of communism have taken far longer to affect people here in this forgotten corner of Russia—in fact, people here pay more in taxes than comes back to them in funding from Moscow. Over the years since the Soviet Union's collapse, the region has faced escalating poverty, unemployment, and corruption, with weakening health care and education.

ISC came to the Russian Far East in 1996 to help people here tackle and find solutions to these problems on their own. ISC worked with 50,000 people across the region, helping grassroots groups and nonprofits launch environmental cleanups, social programs, and social enterprises, while giving 9 regional nonprofits the tools and skills they need to support this work in the future.