Where did the idea of making 2009 Young Year come from? In fact, the idea came to me all by itself. I think that after Year of the Child and Year of the Family, Youth Year would be worthwhile and logical continuation. These are great opportunities to get politicians, the public, the media, the business community – in fact, you could say the whole country – thinking about the subject of family, children, and now – youth. I’m sure that Youth Year will provide that extra boost and produce new opportunities for some innovative youth support and development projects. It’ll also help to generate and run youth support projects across Russia and raise awareness in every region of our huge country.
When I first came up with the idea of Youth Year I spoke about it to my Duma colleagues and they were supportive. In early June, together with deputies Ildar Gilmutdinov, Arsen Fadzaev and Sergey Belokonev, I tabled the suggestion for debate in the Duma.
On 27 June our initiative was given unanimous support by the Chamber of Deputies. Of course we’d very much hoped that there wouldn’t be many objections, but we didn’t expect the ENTIRE Duma to vote in favour (only one deputy abstained). This is fantastic! We now await the President’s decision.
This story has convinced me yet again that if you really want something and try hard to make it happen, then things usually work out! Don’t be afraid to believe in yourself and your ideas. Don’t give up on your plans and don’t think that somebody else will do things for you!
PS. I’m pleased to announce that on 18 September Russian President Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev supported the State Duma’s initiative to declare 2009 Youth Year, and signed a decree “On Holding Youth Year in the Russian Federation” http://www.kabaeva-alina.com/press/ne...?year=2008