World Youth Assembly Festival Okays 450 Volunteers for Event

OMOARELOJIE Ernest, Abuja.

The much-anticipated World Youth Assembly has concluded arrangements to feature a 450-volunteer force in the scheduled September 20-21 festival billed for Nizhny, Novgorod, Russia. Organisers say the volunteers were selected from 54 regions of Russia as part of efforts to make the global event seamless and hitch-free. 

The importance of the volunteer force was underscored by the presence of the Director General of the World Youth Festival Directorate, Dmitry Ivanov, who was on ground to conduct the opening ceremony. An ecstatic Ivanov disclosed that event planners selected 520 very active candidates from the 3,700 people that indicated interest, out of which 450 will work at the venue while the remaining 70 be stationed at Moscow airports and designated train stations to meet and interface with expected guests.

Describing volunteers as the foundation of any event, Ivanov posited that they are saddled with the responsibility of creating the right atmosphere while also ensuring smooth service delivery operations and generally representing Russian hospitality as intended by the event organisers.

"The launch of the volunteer corps marks the imminent start of the World Youth Festival Assembly! We were impressed by your response: 3,700 people wanted to help organize this large-scale international youth event. We selected 520 of the most active candidates for the volunteer corps: 450 people will work at the venue, and 70 will meet guests at Moscow's airports and train stations. Volunteers are the foundation of any event: you create its atmosphere, ensure the smooth operation of all services, and represent Russian hospitality to our foreign friends. Your energy, responsiveness, and professionalism are the key to the success of our common cause,” Ivanov pointed out.

Also speaking at the launch, Minister of Youth Policy of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, Svetlana Anufrieva, explained that everyone is nt already feeling the pulse of the festival with the presence and calibre of volunteers selected from the 54 regions. 

“Volunteers from 54 regions of Russia have come to us in Nizhny Novgorod. And we can already feel their energy and their desire to help. It is very important to us that all volunteers feel comfortable and enjoy their time in our city, as they carry a great responsibility-to welcome and assist not only guests from other regions of the country but also, of course, a large number of international participants. It is the volunteers who are the face of the Gathering and those who interact directly with the participants, creating comfortable conditions for them. Therefore, we will support our volunteers and will always be by their side. We wish them strength, health, and good spirits for all the days of the Assembly,” she said.

The volunteers are expected to provide assistance in nine key areas of the event. The affected areas include transportation and logistics, media relations and accreditation.

Others are flow management, protocol service, catering, program implementation, language services, and information services. Before the start of the World Youth Festival, the volunteers had online training, basic volunteer codes, rules for interacting with different categories of guests and were generally immersed in the meaning of the event.

In addition, they will, upon their arrival at the festival venue, begin more training in their core functional areas by familiarizing themselves with the different tasks, which include practical interaction with participants and analyzing practical case studies.

The volunteers are scheduled to assist event organisers in nine functional areas, including transportation and logistics, media relations, accreditation, flow management, protocol service, catering, program implementation, language services, and information services.

Before the start of the World Youth Festival, the volunteers underwent online training and studied the basics of the volunteer code, rules for interacting with different categories of guests and also immersed themselves in understanding the thrust of the event. Upon arriving at the festival venue, they began training in their functional areas, including familiarising themselves with the tasks at the venue, practiced interacting with participants, and analyzing practical case studies.

The volunteer launch mood was lightened by the musical presentation, by the creator of the festival’s unofficial anthem for young people, of the Nizhny Novgorod Region this summer, Anastasia Mokrushova. She performed the song “V Nizhnem tvorit” (loosely translated as Created in Nizhny) for the volunteers who were also treated to another performance by a resident of the Vysota Art, Anastasia Baukina, who doubles as a participant in the All-Russian music laboratory for music authors “Dynamics,” Baukina. The winner of a special project of the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives for creators of audiovisual content, performed the song “Yasno Solnyshko”, which means, The Sun is Shining.

The Youth Assembly volunteer program is partnered by the “Volunteers 800” project, which provided coordinators that helped in the training of the volunteer corps.

Other partners include; “More Than Trip; (Excursion and Regional Programs); tech company, VK, (Strategic Partner); the Russian Music Union, Russian Railways, and Phygital Games while the general information partner and general media partners are international television channel RT, and ANO “Dialogue Regions” respectively. 

The Rossotrudnichestvo program (New Generation); the “Movement of the First”; the Presidential platform “Russia-the Country of Opportunities”, Sovcombank, the technology company, Avito; the state corporation, Rosatom; the Russian Society “Znanie” (Knowledge); the film studio, Soyuzmultfilm; the Government of the Krasnoyarsk Territory; the Central Bank of Russia, Rosmolodezh; Undertake and the Mashuk Knowledge Center, make up the list of other partnering organizations.

Information is provided by the“Rossiyskaya Gazeta”, the publishing house Arguments and Facts, the African Initiative, and the “Window to Russia” project of the TV-News Autonomous Non-Profit Organization. 

The volunteer programme is supported courtesy the partnership of the “Volunteers 800” project, which provided coordinators that helped during the training of the volunteer corps. Other general partners include the Russian Music Union, Russian Railways, and Phygital Games.

The international television channel RT, and ANO Dialogue Regions are general information partners while "More Than Trip" stands in as excursion and regional programme partners.

With the tech company, VK, acting as strategic partner, others like the Rossotrudnichestvo (New Generation); Movement of the First; Presidential Platform “Russia-the Country of Opportunities”; Sovcombank; tech company, Avito; state corporation, Rosatom; Russian Society “Znanie” (Knowledge); the film studio, Soyuzmultfilm; the Government of the Krasnoyarsk Territory; the Central Bank of Russia, Rosmolodezh.

Information support for the event is provided by the“Rossiyskaya Gazeta”, the publishing house Arguments and Facts; the African Initiative, and the “Window to Russia” project of the TV-News Autonomous Non-Profit Organization.

The World Youth Festival Assembly is organized by the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh), in conjunction with the Government of the Nizhny Novgorod Region and operated by the World Youth Festival Directorate.

It is being implemented as part of the national project “Youth and Children” in line with the directives of the inimitable Russian President, Vladimir Putin, to preserve and develop the legacy of the World Youth Festival.

The inaugural event took place at the Sirius federal territory in 2024 and brought together about 20,000 young people from 190 countries around the world.

Aimed at strengthening international youth cooperation, the next category is billed for 2030 with about 20,000 participants. However, a smaller version will be held in 2026 with about 10,000 participants. But between the two events are annual themed versions for only 2,000 participants.

Nigeria will be represented at the event by the wife of the Ooni of Ife, deputy head of the Educational Initiative for Africa, Olori Temitope Ogunwusi.