When m_gaidar said she was going to launch a local initiatives program in Kirov Region together with the World Bank, everyone laughed at her. Well, not exactly laughed, but they snickered sarcastically behind her back. Like, what World Bank? What local initiatives? What public village meetings? Just talk. The fantasies of Muscovites who don’t know the hard truth of provincial life. Maybe that works in Bolivia, but our people won’t get it. You don’t know them. Let’s not do anything at all—instead, let’s rub beet juice on our cheeks, put on valenki (traditional felt boots), and sprawl out on the stove bench with a nice plump woman.
Especially since the program was supposed to be launched in some truly godforsaken backwaters. I went with Gaidar a couple of times, as they say, “out to the districts,” and even I began to have serious doubts. It was hard to imagine that in some settlement in Tuzha District (800 people spread across three hamlets 5–10 km / 3–6 miles apart), it would be possible to hold public meetings, discuss the program, and—most importantly—get all the paperwork done properly.
But hellish persistence and the will to win carried the day. The project has been launched. People are showing up for the meetings. The local authorities are gladly supporting the effort rather than sabotaging it, as many feared. The critics have been put to shame. You can find the details here. And I want to congratulate m_gaidar, the guys from the World Bank, who may be bespectacled wonks but understand real life better than all those red-faced toughs, lesha_sitnikov, who “helped and inspired” (quote), and everyone else who took part and continues to take part in the project.