On 22 October, the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Moscow, jointly with the VES MIR Publishing House, held a special presentation of a new book on the UN communications strategy by Tatiana Schors from the Moscow State University.
 
The event brought together over 40 participants, such as scholars, NGO activists, university students, acting and retired diplomats, librarians and the media.
 
UNIC Director opened the discussion by emphasizing on the main aspects of the study entitled “UN Public Information in the Face of Globalization”. He also stressed the challenge of assessing the effectiveness of the UN public information activities which has been examined in the study.

Later, Tatiana Schors, the book's author, described in more detail, singling out the culture of communications and transparency that permeate all levels of the United Nations. In her words: “communication increasingly articulates with governance since it has to do with content and substance of UN agenda”. She also dwelled on global vs. local levels of the UN information activities and the way those address different target audiences.

Oleg Zimarin, Director of the VES MIR Publishing House, observed that serious publications about the UN were, unfortunately, scarce in Russia. He also shared his impressions after his recent participation in the Frankfurt Book Fair and commented on sometimes difficult path in which major UN reports move to Universities and libraries in Russia.
 
Echoing his remarks, Grigory Kovrizhenko, vice-president of the UNA in Russian Federation, expressed a concern that the gap in access to information and ICT penetration between different regions of the country sometimes impacted adversely on the effectiveness of UN communications effort. That said, the new book is a good contribution to the UNA in Russia work and will be widely used by the Association, he stressed.
 
The discussion brought together more than two dozen media and public information professionals, and several students of the Moscow Lomonosov State University.

On 16 October, the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Moscow, jointly with the UN Resident Coordinator Office in Russian Federation and the Sholokhov Moscow State University of Humanities, organized a “Stand Up” campaign event at the University’s premises. Mr. Karl Kulessa, UNFPA Representative in Russian Federation, focused his opening remarks on the MDGs and the situation of women, in particular.

After Mr. Kulessa’s address, the “Stand Up”  video was projected on a large screen for the audience. Then the university students, active members of the Center of the Youth Programmes, introduced the attendance to projects implemented by volunteers, such as distance education for persons with disabilities and assistance to the families with disabled children.

The culmination of the event was the Bob Marley’s song “Get Up, Stand Up” performed by students, and the “Stand Up” action itself. At the end, students signed the pledge which they were going to send to Russian Parliamentarians.
 
On 17 October, another “Stand Up” event was organized at the Vykhino Campus of the Sholokhov Moscow State University of Humanities University. UNIC Director opened the event with remarks outlining the essence of the poverty issues.
 
According to the preliminary count and the “Stand Up” campaign coordinator in Europe, the registered number of participants in Russia was more than 4,500 persons in various parts of the country, including cities such as Moscow, Barnaul, Severodvinsk, Tumen, Novosibirks, Michurinsk, Togliatti.

The United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Moscow, jointly with the Embassy of Kazakhstan, and with support from the Russian Foreign Ministry, organized a presentation of two new publications dealing with the civilizational approach to current global realities.

The first study, "Civilization: Theory, History, Dialogue, Future", produced by a group of scholars headed by Professor Yuri Yakovets, President of Pitirim Sorokin - Nikolai Kondratieff International Institute, summarized the main outputs of many years of research and based on an original methodology of a multifactor model of historical dynamics. The second book set forth the Kazakhstan leader's ideas regarding the development strategies for the Eurasian space and the international community as a whole.
 
UNIC Director Alexandre Gorelik opened the ceremony by stressing the link between Professor Yakovets's work and the UN agenda. He also informed the audience that on 27 October 2009, Mr. Yakovets will be in New York in conjunction with the 64th Session of the General Assembly, to steer the roundtable discussion “The Future of Civilizations and a Strategy of Civilizational Partnership.”
 
Later, Prof. Yakovets presented his view on the evolution of civilizations: their historical path, interaction and the "decline of currently dominating industrial paradigm." He regretted that the prognostic mission of the United Nations, quite significant till 1970-ies, has later been marginalized and, although some agencies, such as FAO, UNDP or UNEP regularly came up with long-term forecasts, those did not replace a comprehensive and strategic UN prognosis).
 
H.E. Zautbeck Turisbeckov, the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Russian Federation, in his presentation stressed his President's insistence that only an innovative scenario based on technological breakthrough is capable of saving the humanity from multiple threats and challenges it is faced with. He reminded of President Nazarbaev's proposal, submitted to the UN General Assembly, to convene in his country in 2012 a World Summit for Sustainable Development.
 

In the ensuing discussion several experts and knowledgeable figures expressed their ideas. They raised demographic, environmental, social and energy-related factors, relationship between State and its citizens, interaction between society and nature, and several other subjects.

On 9 October 2009, a meeting at United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) Moscow was held regarding social networks and other uses of the internet. The guest speaker was Mikhail Umarov, Managing Director, of the Public Relations company, “COMUNICA”.

In his remarks, he stressed, among other things, that today, Internet is the only free platform bringing people together. In his words, the civil society, at least the most advanced part of it, is in its element on the internet.  In Russia, audiences of social networks total at least 26 million people, and an information avalanche is an everyday reality on the internet. He also stated that “cyberculture” is a new type of communications environment, where the content is generated by users themselves, and everyone can join a community in line with his or her predilection. 

According to Mr. Umarov, the internet as a whole is now perceived as the new Mass Medium - a combination of both "editorial" and "civic" journalism where not only media professionals but also bloggers have input. Mr. Umarov pointed out the importance of reaching out to civic journalists alongside professional columnists and political analysts, as "amateurs" initiate discussions and produce surveys which get a lot of feedback.

After his introductory remarks an exchange of views started in which our UN staff actively participated. A communications officer from one of the UN agencies said that at a recent meeting at its headquarters the issue was discussed in some depth, and the general feeling was the organization was not yet ready to engage in an online free-wheeling dialogue with Internet users. The idea emerged at that meeting to initiate, first, such an open dialogue on the agency's Intranet - as a pilot project.

Several participants tended to agree with their noting that the first step should be for a UN agency to start analyzing and monitoring social media with a focus on subjects central to its mandate. Only after that UN staffers should engage progressively in exchange of views with bloggers and other Internet-users.