St. Petersburg, Russia — I arrived in St. Petersburg late Wednesday night and awoke to a city very different from Moscow. St. Petersburg’s proximity to Europe gives the city a much more European vibe and personality. While Moscow is decidedly the center of Russia, St. Petersburg reaches its arms more toward the European Union countries to its west. With these thoughts in mind, I visited several groups working with children and youth here in St. Petersburg. What was particularly interesting about my experience visiting groups here was that although the groups were all so completely different from each other, with different focuses and methods, they all had one common concern—the economy. The economic crisis is evident everywhere in Russia today and is perhaps even more pronounced within the NGO (nongovernmental organization) community, where groups are constantly vying for funding. The problem is that in what was already a difficult funding environment, many funds have now dried up, funders have disappeared, and options for new or continued financing are few and very far between.

The crisis could not be more obvious than with one group I visited today that runs a shelter/rehabilitation program for boys who were living on the street. Seventy percent of these boys are infected with HIV and tuberculosis. Due to the current global economic situation, this group’s funding, which primarily came from the city government, has disappeared, forcing the organization to close the center. Today I walked the empty halls of the center, which has the most dedicated staff and previously had great programs serving some of the most vulnerable children in the country. It was frustrating to see a center like this closed. Even in light of the current situation, the staff are still optimistic about funding and are desperately scrambling to find the money to reopen and provide these boys with the programs they need. As another example of the crisis affecting NGOs here, the organization I met with prior to the boy’s shelter also spoke of economic difficulties. That group’s budget last year was in the area of 700,000 euro, and this year it will drop to around 100,000 euro.

There is no doubt that the next year or even the next two years will be a trying time for all smaller NGOs operating not just in this region but in many other parts of the world as well. As I prepare to leave Russia, it is with the future of all of these groups and so many others like them in mind. The ability of organizations to receive renewed funding, like GFC’s, for three to six years could mean the difference between closure and survival.

Lisa Fiala is GFC’s Program Officer for Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States