Social challenge and reasons for project’s initiation

Immediacy of the social problem

All the approaches used in social adaptation for orphans and neglected children can be divided into two categories: institutional ones (various sorts of orphanages) and family-based ones (adoption, various kinds of foster care, relative custody, etc.). For a long time, a system of state-run special institutions for orphans was prevalent in Russia. In recent decades, this system was often criticized by specialists and the general public for its callousness and inability to properly educate children, socialize them and adapt them to independent living. As a result, a fundamental shift in the social care for orphans happened, with more emphasis placed now on the family-based approaches. Today, the professional community, the Russian laws and government policies are all in agreement that family-based approaches should be prioritized. Through the efforts of citizen activists, NGOs, government agencies and the media, significant progress was made in recent years in promoting the culture of adoption. As a result, the number of children in orphanages was reduced by 60 percent. Currently, only 11.4 percent of the registered orphans reside in orphanages.^[1]

Yet it would be premature to say that orphanages may soon disappear in Russia. Currently, there are 1,341 orphanages and similar institutions in Russia, with over 73,000 children under their care.^[2] Orphanages remain the primary form of a temporary arrangement for orphans. In many cases, this “temporary” arrangement lasts until they become of age. As a rule, these are children with disabilities, migrants, siblings and teenagers, who are less likely to be adopted by foster families. Many children in orphanages were left there by their parents as a temporary arrangement. This means that officially, these children still have parents and thus cannot be adopted, which results in “hidden orphanhood.” Since we know that only 47,800 minors in orphanages have the official status of an orphan^[3], we can estimate the share of “orphans with parents” at 35 percent.

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^[1]As of 2017, based on the data provided by the Ministry of Education and published by the Statistics Bureau: https://www.gks.ru/folder/13807 (See Tables 1-12 and 1-20).

[2] As stated by Deputy Prime Minister for Social Policies Tatyana Golikova at a meeting of the Children Services Council on Feb. 1, 2019, and reported by TASS: https://tass.ru/obschestvo/6067284.

[3] The number of orphans in the Education Ministry’s database as of Sep. 1, 2018, as stated by Armen Popov and quoted by Izvestia: https://iz.ru/784916/elina-khetagurova/chislo-sirot-v-rossii-snizilos-do-rekordno-nizkogo-urovnia

External reasons for project’s initiation

Teenagers are a high-risk category among children in institutions for orphans. Potential foster families are turned away by difficulties related to their age, behavioral issues, problems at school and multiple psychological and social problems. Foster families prefer to adopt younger children. At the same time, the share of teenagers in institutions keeps growing.^[1] Over 50 percent of the children returned to institutions by foster families are teenagers. As a result, teenagers account for 78 percent of all children in institutions today.[2] Their number can be estimated at 36,600.[3]

A typical problem with teenagers is that, while in an institution for orphans (and, in many cases, prior to that, while living in dysfunctional families), they tend to develop significant problems with their school studies. Final exams reflect their academic underachievement, severely limiting their opportunities for the future. They are left with extremely short time for catching up in their studies and adapting to independent life.

There are a number of factors behind academic failures of orphans. In some cases, this is due to the lack of good teachers and proper conditions for studying. Often, this is because their teachers and counselors fail to explain to them how important education is, how knowledge and acquired competencies can help them make a career and pursue a successful strategy in life. In many cases, teachers and counselors do not believe that their charges are capable of mastering the curriculum in full or that it is important for them to graduate from school with good marks. They do not present their students with the full scope of developmental opportunities available today, guiding them to pursue the most primitive social models and professions which do not require particular skills. This kind of attitude demotivates students and creates an environment of peers who see no value in education. As a result, many high school students lack the skills of systemic learning.

Just like any other people, orphans are highly individual in their talents, and quite often the latter cannot be fostered during classes. At the same time, they have few opportunities to get personal help from adults: they don’t have parents to help them with their questions; they don’t have tutors. This problem is particularly obvious in remote parts of Russia.

As a result, one-third of all orphans in institutions take simplified courses for underachieving students. Less than 15 percent of them master the general curriculum, and only 8 percent are capable of completing the advanced curriculum. “Most of the children (77.3 percent) continue their indication at vocational schools. Less than 7 percent of orphans get college degrees.”^[4] As a result, orphanage graduates are much more limited in their career choices than their peers living in families. They don’t get the opportunities which would otherwise be available to them.

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[1] As stated by Education Minister Olga Vasilyeva on March 6, 2019 and quoted by TASS: https://tass.ru/nacionalnye-proekty/6189944

^[2] See 2018 Arifmetika Dobra Report, p. 4..

[3] This number does not include the children temporarily institutionalized by their parents.

[4] Veronica Oslon, “Orphans in Russia’s education system,” Psikhologicheskaya nauka I obrazovanie, 2016. Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 146-155. http://psyjournals.ru/files/81004/pno_2016_n1_oslon.pdf

Internal reasons for project’s initiation

Arifmetika Dobra has focused on helping orphanage graduates since its establishment. The Foundation has several programs helping to find foster families for orphans, offering training programs and consultations for foster families (Foster Family Club, Advisory Center), developing mentorship (Mentors). Chance is an organic part of our portfolio, filling the niche of helping teenagers, the category that has difficulties with finding a foster family.

Project description

There are four key parties involved in the workings of the program: a teenager, a tutor, a counselor at the orphanage and a manager at the Foundation. The outcome directly depends on these four people’s commitment to the program and willingness to work together.

Orphanages join the program voluntarily. Some learn about the program on their own and reach out to the Foundation; others are recommended to join by their superior institutions. In any case, an orphanage submits an application to join the program voluntarily and eventually signs a direct agreement with the Foundation.

Before the program is launched at an orphanage, the institution has to identify a counselor who will oversee it. Usually, it is one of the employees at the orphanage. This person coordinates teenagers’ participation in classes and is the contact person from the administration liaising with the Foundation and tutors. The counselor is familiar with each of the teenagers individual program of studies. The counselor coordinates the schedule of classes, monitors the teenagers’ engagement in the learning process, alerts tutors and the Foundation if a student is going to skip a class (because of illness or conflict of schedule). The counselor resolves all the organizational issues on the ground, making sure the teenagers have time, infrastructure and opportunities for studying properly. The counselor updates the Foundation about each student’s grades, as well as all the difficulties and issues requiring joint effort. The Foundation compensates the counselor for this work. At the same time, as a rule, the counselor continues to perform their regular duties at the orphanage; working with the program is an additional duty.

The staff of the Foundation and of the orphanage present the program to teenagers, and all those interested in joining it go through the initial testing to evaluate their current level. Students pick the subjects for extra classes on their own or together with the counselor, while the Foundation finds tutors and prepares individual study programs.

In 2015, tutoring started with two subjects: Math and Russian. Today, students can choose from the list of 15 subjects, from basic classes all the way to high;y specialized subjects like Latin or Chinese. Still, Math and Russian remain the most popular classes, with over 300 sessions happening weekly. These are followed by Biology, Social Studies and English, with about 100 sessions a week each.

As a rule, participants take extra classes in several subjects. Usually, classes on the same subject happen once a week; in some cases, twice a week. The fact that a student has a tutor does not mean that they no longer attend the same class in school. The intensity of extra classes and the number of those interested in them usually goes up in spring, before the exams. About 5 percent of the participants continue studying even during the summer break.

The learning process is based on free choice: students set goals for themselves. They are free to ask the tutor to increase or decrease their workload. They can also request a different tutor or decide to discontinue their studies.

Sessions take place on the online platform designed for remote learning, where all the participants have their own profile. Students and tutors can pick a convenient time for their session. The system uses this data to put together a schedule. If a session has to be rescheduled, you can make the change in the schedule, and the system will automatically send a text message to all the parties involved (the student, the tutor and the counselor). If the student is late to the class, the counselor will get a text message and find out why the student is late and if they are OK.

Classes always take place in the one-on-one format: a tutor talking to a student. Each session is 45 minutes long. During the session, the platform provides the tutor and the student with a video and audio link, an interactive whiteboard and a chat box. Also, students have access to an online library which has all the necessary books on the subject. Tutors can use the platform to leave home tasks, tests and quizzes for students.

The platform includes a CRM module where data about all the participants is stored. It has its own electronic document management and reporting system, which keeps track of attendance and grades, as well as feedback from tutors, counselors and students. The video of every session is archived and can be retrieved at a later time if necessary.

In addition to the platform, the Foundation has other communication channels for tutors and students. For example, we have a closed group on VKontakte. Also, they are free to contact each other using any other means.

As of September 2019, we had 117 teacher from Russia and other countries working with the program. Primarily, these are school teachers with hands-on experience of working at school and preparing students for final exams. They join the program voluntarily. Usually, teachers find out about the program online or from their friends. They go to the Foundation’s website and fill out an application form.

In addition to personal data, each applicant provides his or her qualifications and working experience. They also indicate their preferences regarding their maximum workload and schedule of classes. Before they start working, all the teachers go through a training program. The program consists of a series of webinars and workshops on children’s psychology and particularities of working with orphans. Teachers, counselors and program managers all have access to the services of therapists provided by the Foundation.

Initially, Chance worked with volunteer teachers. Today, we pay tutors for their labor. This way, we can get a long-term commitment from the teacher and expect them to take classes seriously. It is crucial to have a specific tutor assigned to each student for a particular class. First, it takes a while for the teacher to figure out the psychological difficulties of the student and find a proper approach. Second, it is important for orphans to have a regular personal contact with the teacher. They don’t just get used to the teacher; quite often, they become attached to them. The teacher becomes a significant adult for the student, a person who can support them, offer advice, or motivate to continue studies. A number of participants have told us that having regular “meetings” with the same teacher inspires them to continue with the program, and this has a positive effect on the results. The compensation that tutors receive for their work does not replace their value-based motivation; on the contrary, it only gets stronger. Many continue communicating with their students even after their paid sessions stop, coming to the orphanage to visit their former students and supporting them during the exams and when they make their first steps in their adult lives.

I have been working with Chance since the very beginning of the program. Initially, they had special training sessions for us, teachers, in order  to prepare us for working with children living in orphanages. But then we saw that actually all teenagers are the same, regardless of whether they live at an orphanage or in a family. Of course, not all of them are properly motivated and not all of them are eager to study. But this is an issue we are accustomed to, because you encounter all sorts of children at a regular school as well. With Chance kids, we often have heart-to-heart talks. The children trust us, and after some time they want to talk to us not just about lessons and homework but about their personal matters as well. Natalya Burtseva, math teacher, Chance tutor[1]

Auxiliary projects

Online classes are certainly the central yet not the only option available under the program. From time to time, teenagers may participate in offline events like motivational training sessions and mentorship meetings. The most successful and active participants get to attend the annual educational summer camp and even to participate in charitable runs, organized by the Foundation not only for fundraising purposes but also as an additional tool helping students with socialization.

Motivational training sessions

The Foundation has developed a motivational program specifically for teenagers in orphanages. Its key goal is to develop their personal capacities, provide career guidance, help with social adaptation and motivate them to continue with their studies. As a rule, each orphanage participating in the program hosts three training modules a year, with each module lasting a few days.

These sessions cover a broad range of subjects: how to choose a profession, how to plan your future education, how to budget your expenses, how to communicate with people, etc. We use these sessions to educate young people about the things which would be difficult to discuss online: specific personal recommendations on personal growth, skill development, role models. At the end of each session, a professional development plan for the next six months is designed for each of the students.

Quite often, psychologists simply share stories from their lives. Usually, children in orphanages know little about the world outside, which they soon are to enter. They don’t understand how this world works, yet it is very interesting to them. Such stories motivate them, help them to overcome their fears, present them with role models which will help them integrate with society.

Mentorship meetings

Mentorship meetings are another way we use to help highschoolers develop skills which they will need in their adult lives. At these meetings, program participants get a chance to meet with people of a certain profession. The meetings may take place in a one-on-one or group format. Individual meetings are arranged on the teenager’s request, giving them a chance to meet with a representative of a profession they are considering as their future choice, so they can be better informed before they make a final decision. In some cases, such meetings lead to a long-term relationship, which helps the teenager acquire a significant adult. Group meetings are arranged by the Foundation together with various businesses; sometimes, this may be a field trip to a production facility.[2]

Educational summer camp

On the one hand, the summer camp is a finish line; on the other, it is a new start. We take children to the summer camp for being diligent, for attending developing training sessions regularly and for active engagement in the Foundation’s events. Yet if we see that a child really wants to go, we take them as well, motivating them to be more active in the future. So, on the one hand, the summer camp is the end of one year, a chance to review where we are; on the other hand, we get children excited for the next one. Yulia Trofina, program director[3]

The summer camp is an annual end-of-the-year educational event intended to help with the socialization of orphans. We invite the most active and diligent participants who have spent at least a year in the program. The main selection criteria are as follows: a successful candidate should have attended at least 20 online classes and/or at least three training sessions a year; they should have a minimum number of skipped classes; and they should get good grades in their end-of-the-year exams.

The purpose of the summer camp is to use edutainment (education through entertainment) to help the children acquire skills of goal-setting and prioritizing, teach them to take responsibility for their actions and motivate them to seek self-fulfillment and personal development. To the teenagers, the summer camp is an exercise in social adaptation through being immersed in the environment of unfamiliar peers and adults as well as a reward for being a good student.

As a rule, the summer camp takes place at a camp facility near Moscow. Each rotation lasts 7 to 10 days. Since 2016, we have used Shashniki, an entertainment event-planning company, to help us plan the activities. In 2018, the theme of the summer camp was The World of the Future. Students got a chance to work in five different labs: intelligence development, body control, financial planning, effective communications and systemic motivation. In addition, they took part in entertainment events.

In 2017, 163 participants from 18 provinces of Russia attended the summer camp. In 2018, we had 137 teenagers accompanied by about 50 teachers from 20 different provinces. On the average, the top 10-15 percent of the total number of program participants go to the summer camp.

Colorful Run

In 2016 and 2017, the Foundation organized the Colorful Run at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium, an open running event where program participants competed along with other teenagers aged 14 or more. For teenage orphans, this was an excellent exercise in socializing, overcoming self-awareness and adapting to new people. Program participants planned their trip to Moscow on their own (overseen by Foundation staff): booked their own tickets, prepared all the necessary documents, arranged the logistics. In Moscow, they had a joint preparation session with professional athletes, a tour around Moscow and psychological training sessions. At the run, they had an opportunity to meet with charity runners who help raise funds for the program. As the highlight of the event, there were four colorful areas where the runners were doused with bright colors, similar to the Holi festival in India. In 2017, 15 teenagers joined the Colorful Run.

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^[1] Marina Lepina, “A Key to All the Doors: How Chance helps Orphans to Graduate with Honors”. RIA Novosti, Social Navigator, October 24, 2017, https://sn.ria.ru/20171024/1507461786.html

[2] “Servier partners up with the Arifmetika Dobra Foundation,” June 27, 2019, https://www.asi.org.ru/report/2019/06/27/moskeva-serve-arifmetika-dobra-sotrudnichestvo-deti-siroty/

[3] “Highschool orphans go to the Arifmetika Dobra annual summer camp,” August 6, 2018, https://www.asi.org.ru/report/2018/08/06/letnij-kampus-arifmetika/

Team and partners 

Team

Yulia Trofina, program director, Arifmetika Dobra Foundation

In addition to tutors, the team includes full-time managers, therapists and guidance counselors.

Partners

The program’s partners can be divided into three categories.

• Financial partners, especially the Moscow Marathon and SAP CIS, which annually organizes Run with SAP events to support the program.
• Methodology partners like Shashniki, the company helping with the summer camp, or Servier, which organizes some of the mentorship meetings.
• Orphanages and other institutions for orphans and children deprived of parental care, as well as charities helping orphans (e.g., SOS Children’s Villages).[1]

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[1] https://sos-dd.ru/press/news/programma-shans.html

Resources

Financial resources

Financial resources

As publicly reported by the Foundation, the annual budget of Chance for 2017 was 49.8 million rubles, and in 2018, 54.5 million rubles.[1] The program was funded through contributions by Russian and foreign, individual and institutional donors, grants and the Foundation’s own money. In 2017, the program’s investment development was funded through a donation by the Foundation’s founder.

In order to attract external funds, the foundation actively engages in fundraising, including special events and partnerships with both institutional and individual donors.

For example, collaboration with athletic events has become the program’s hallmark. Since 2016, the Foundation has been a charity partner of the Moscow Marathon. (In 2016-2017, it was the Marathon’s official charity partner.) Also, since the program was launched, the Foundation has been partners with SAP CIS in organizing Run Live, Run with SAP charity runs. Runners pay a registration fee which goes to the program, while spectators are offered a chance to make a donation by going to the Foundation’s website. In the Moscow Marathon, runners had an opportunity to become an ambassador for a specific teenager in an orphanage, raising donations for their education through a special page at the Foundation’s website. After two years of collaboration with the Moscow Marathon, the program received 3.7 million rubles; after three years of Run with SAP, 3 million rubles.^[2]

Another fundraising event the Foundation has been organizing since 2016 is our Christmas season drive called The Right Kind of Santa. A few weeks before Christmas, the Foundation displays an interactive map on its website where individual donors can pick a specific orphanage and give a personal present to a specific participant in the program by paying for his or her classes with a tutor.^[3] The event’s slogan is, “Education is a gift that stays with you forever.”

Children in orphanages receive dozens of gifts every year, from cute toys to sophisticated electronic devices. Yet what these children really need is personal care and support, help with their studies and adaptation to adult life. If anything, these gifts stop them from growing up and getting a proper perspective of the world and people around them. Besides, a toy usually lasts a month, a smartphone lasts a year, whereas true knowledge stays with the person for the rest of their lives.   Anastasia Lozhkina, Director for Development and Fundraising, Arifmetika Dobra Foundation[4]

Over the years, the Foundation has organized a large number of joint events with corporate partners: “Open the World of Knowledge to Orphans” together with Booking, Pirelli, PwC and other companies in 2016,^[5] “A Million Smiles” together with Lay’s^[6] , “Twice As Much Good” together with the Moscow Credit Bank in 2017,^[7] “Share Your Warmth” with Xiaomi in 2018,[8] and “Total Exam” with Maximum Education in 2019.^[9] These events were intended to stimulate individual donations and included gamification elements. In some cases, partners co-funded the program by matching donations from private donations.

The Foundation does not disclose the program’s spending structure. The recommended donation covering one session with a tutor was 690 rubles in 2019. Over the three years of the program’s existence, the recommended amount has grown by 17 percent.

Human resources

Currently, we have 104 tutors from various parts of Russia as well as from other countries working with us. Simultaneously, the Foundation has 23 dedicated staff members working on the program, including project managers, each of them monitoring over 100 teenagers.

Technology and material resources

In order to join the program, an orphanage has to meet minimal technical requirements. All that is necessary is a free class room and a computer connected to the Internet. Yet many orphanages, especially in remote places, don’t have even that. In such cases, the Foundation provides them with necessary hardware and pays for the Internet connection.

Classes take place on an online platform, which has been designed by the Foundation specifically for the program. It is based on Adobe Connect and opens through though any of the popular browsers. When launching the program, the Foundation had to make a decision whether to put the platform on its own servers at a data center or to use cloud solutions paying a time-based fee. The first option turned out to be too costly for the Foundation, and eventually a decision was made to use DigitalOcean and OVH cloud services, since no similar offers were available in Russia. In April 2018, the IPs of these providers were blacklisted by Roscomnadzor, and the platform was moved to Russian servers. Today, the platform and the infrastructure we use with it fully meet the needs of the program and have sufficient capacity in case the program is significantly expanded.

We designed and launched our own software for Chance and created a platform which works for kids aged 14 to 18. It’s easier now for us to collect data and administrate the system. Thousands of people support us, and now we feel happy for the children who got into college. We see how children appreciate the chance they got by joining the program. Nailya Novozhilova, Chairwoman of the Management Board, Arifmetika Dobra Foundation[10]

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[1] 2018 Arifmetika Dobra Report, p. 18: https://www.a-dobra.ru/wp-content/uploads/godovoj-otchjot-6.pdf

^[2] “A charity run in Moscow to support orphans,” August 6, 2019, https://www.asi.org.ru/news/2016/09/02/blagotvoritelnyj-probeg-dlya-vzroslyh-i-detej-run-live-run-with-sap/, “Run Live, Run with SAP raises a million rubles for orphans’ education,” September 19, 2016 https://www.asi.org.ru/news/2016/09/19/kompaniya-sap-i-fond-arifmetika-dobra-sobrali-1-million-rublej-na-blagotvoritelnom-probege/

[3] For more information about the event, please go to https://www.asi.org.ru/report/2016/12/06/fondarifmetika/

[4] “Arifmetika Dobra launches a Christmas drive to support its educational program,” December 6, 2016, https://www.asi.org.ru/report/2016/12/06/fondarifmetika/

[5] For more information, please go to https://www.asi.org.ru/report/2016/09/07/aktsiya-otkroj-mir-znanij-detyam-sirotam-fonda-arifmetika-dobra-sobrala-bolee-200-tysyach-rublej/

[6] For more information, please go to https://www.asi.org.ru/report/2017/05/10/fond-arifmetika-dobra-aktsiya-deti-siroty/

[7] For more information, please go to https://www.asi.org.ru/report/2017/04/04/moskva-arifmetika-dobra-deti-siroty/

[8] For more information, please go to https://www.a-dobra.ru/news/teplye-snegoviki-podarili-detjam-sirotam-95-onlajn-urokov/

[9] For more information, please go to https://www.asi.org.ru/news/2019/08/06/moskva-totalnyj-ege-registratsiya/

[10] 2017 Arifmetika Dobra Report: https://www.a-dobra.ru/about/#year-2017

Achieved results

Immediate results:

Over the course of three years, the program organized 88,665 one-on-one tutoring sessions with program participants. By 2018, 1107 highschool students in 101 orphanages have been tutored.^[1] The program develops dynamically. By 2018, the number of tutoring sessions in one year has grown more than ten times over compared to 2016. The number of teenagers involved as well as provinces and orphanages covered has grown approximately by 150 percent.

Running total	By the end of 2016[2]	By the end of 2017[3]	By the end of 2018
Tutoring sessions	6,000	25,120	88,665
Teenagers participating in the program	215	540	1,107
Orphanages involved in the program	43	85	101
Provinces covered by the program	12	27	31

The rate of the teenagers who have dropped out of the program is 19 percent. Approximately 11 percent of the participants regularly skip classes. On the positive side, 26.6 percent of the teenagers have stayed with the program for two years or more.

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[1] 2018 Arifmetika Dobra Report: https://www.a-dobra.ru/wp-content/uploads/godovoj-otchjot-6.pdf

[2] “Arifmetika Dobra raises over 200,000 rubles for orphans,” October 16, 2018: https://www.asi.org.ru/report/2016/09/07/aktsiya-otkroj-mir-znanij-detyam-sirotam-fonda-arifmetika-dobra-sobrala-bolee-200-tysyach-rublej/

[3] “Arifmetika Dobra’s education program for orphans turns two,” October 18, 2017: https://www.asi.org.ru/report/2017/10/18/moskva-shans-arifmetika-dobra-deti-siroty/

Social results:

“In Russia, only 1 percent of orphanage graduates get into college. For the graduates of our program, the rate is 54 percent.”[1] This headline aptly captures one of the key indicators of change that the program brings. In fact, this trend is growing: in 2018, 44 percent of our participants enrolled in universities after the eleventh grade,^[2] whereas in 2017 the rate was only 31 percent. In absolute figures, 316 program graduates got into vocational schools and colleges; 288 out of this number got into vocational schools and 28 into colleges. Some of the graduates were able to get into top Russian universities, like Lomonosov University (MGU), People’s Friendship University (RUDN) and the University for the Humanities (RGGU).[3] Final exams are also an important metric for assessing the program’s performance. For instance, in 2017 19 percent of the participants passed the final exams without “threes” (the Russian equivalent of C). Three of them graduated with honors: two with a gold medal and one with a silver medal.

We should also point out the program’s efficiency with teenagers in correctional classes. Thanks to the program, 36 percent of them were able to get a school diploma, which gives them a chance to continue with their education and master a profession.

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[1] “In Russia, only 1 percent of orphanage graduates get into college. For the graduates of our program, the rate is 54 percent.”, vc.ru, June 26, 2019, https://vc.ru/promo/72706-arifmetika

[2] “Arifmetika Dobra’s education program for orphans turns three,” October 16, 2018: https://www.asi.org.ru/report/2018/10/16/moskva-arifmetika-dobra-shans-tri-goda/

^[3] Russia’s Top 100 Universities, RAEX, June 5, 2019: https://raex-rr.com/education/universities/rating_of_universities_of_russia?fbclid=IwAR2ugQNvx6KtozuWKuv6IFtMxL70aQIZKPOSN7kuGE9s6kBlN1UcZIaF7UE

Internal project assessment:

The Foundation annually performs internal evaluation of the program’s efficiency by three key indicators: improvement in grades, the percentage of graduates getting into vocational schools and colleges, and improvement in participants’ social adaptation, communication skills, resilience. After each offline event, participants are asked to fill out feedback forms.

External project assessment:

In November 2018, the program underwent external evaluation by Natalya Freik, member of ASPPE (Association of Specialists in Program and Policy Evaluation) and the Children-focused Programs and Projects Evaluation Community.

The evaluation has identified the following social effects for participants:^[1]

• It boosts their confidence,
• It helps them develop communication skills,
• It improves their academic performance (as reported by 79.8 percent of the teenagers),
• It improves their chances of getting into college or vocational school (83.4 percent of the graduates in the 2018 class got into college),
• It helps them make a more informed choice when picking their future profession.

The Performance Review Report for the National Children’s Strategy for 2012-2017 calls Chance a “successful project.”^[2]

Feedback from beneficiaries

“When they asked me if I wanted to join Chance to get a better idea of which profession to choose, at first I thought this was going to be boring. I knew what I wanted to be. But after I went to the first training session, I realized I still had to learn a lot before making a choice. I knew too little about architecture. I attend all the classes with Moscow teachers. I picked Math and Russian, because these are the classes where I had problems and my grades were bad. Now teachers praise me. They say I’m doing better now” (Aleksandra K., Amur Oblast)

“This is my second year with Chance, and I’m glad I joined the program. I want to thank the people who organized this great initiative. At training sessions, we think, consider, talk to each other. Classes are always interesting; I always look forward to new meetings with our trainers. Chance has changed me; I take education more seriously now. I realize I waste too much time, I know too little and my life is empty. Now I spend my free time going to the gym, playing tennis and futsal. This year, I played in the regional tournament with our football team. We finished third. Also, this year I started learning drums and vocals” (Vladimir Z., Amur Oblast)

I spent 11 years at an orphanage in Kirov Oblast. I could never even dream of going to Moscow. Yet this year, I got into the Moscow State Pedagogical University. I needed good marks on the Standardized Test, and Chance teachers helped me a lot. My goal is to get a teaching degree and then get another degree in economics. I want to start my own business, perhaps a flower shop. I love flowers. When volunteers come with entertainment, they really help younger children who are bored spending all their days inside the orphanage. But older children need something different. They need education and proper psychological support. Valeria L., Chance graduate[3]

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[1] See 2018 Arifmetika Dobra Report: https://www.a-dobra.ru/wp-content/uploads/godovoj-otchjot-6.pdf

[2] https://mgppu.ru/about/publications/nsdid_report P. 108

[3] For more information, please go to https://www.a-dobra.ru/story/istorija-lery/

Challenges and solutions

Initial lack of motivation

When first joining the program, many teenagers lack motivation for extra classes. To get them engaged, in addition to personal guidance and introduction to tutors, we use motivational sessions and one-on-one meetings with our counselors. Gamification is an important part of the platform. Not only does it motivate children to study; it also saves money because children stop being late or skipping classes. As a result, the initial lack of motivation is often replaced with deep engagement and effective learning.

When we first launched our program three years ago, one of the directors told me, “They aren’t going to study. They don’t always attend classes at school. Who would they spend their time studying online if they can hang out instead?” Yet they do study. To them, this is their chance to make it. They appreciate that nobody scolds them here; on the contrary, tutors praise them for even the slightest progress.   Yulia Trofina, program director

Bullying from other children in orphanages

Sometimes we encounter instances of bullying when we first launch the program at a new orphanage. There were even cases of orphanage teachers responding negatively when some of their students asked for extra classes with another teacher. For such situations, the Foundation conducts psychological training sessions, where teenagers are taught how to cope with bullying and how to resolve conflicts with adults.

Unwillingness to continue school after nine grades

Children in orphanages are usually reluctant to continue their education after the ninth grade. This is mostly due to influence from their environment. It is easier for an orphanage to release a teenager than to put them through 11 grades. Teachers and guidance counselors often don’t have enough faith in their students to recommend them going to college. This is why it is very difficult to fill teenagers with confidence and persuade them that they can continue their education and perform a job that requires more skills. In fact, the program does not set such a goal. Yet participation in the program indirectly influences teenagers’ choices: the longer they stay with the program, the higher are the chances that they decide to go to college.

Issues with orphanage personnel

When we first launch the program at a new orphanage, personnel is often skeptical and wary. They don’t believe that their children would be interested in extra classes and they don’t see the need for better education. In some cases, they lack basic skills. (For example, they may not know how to turn on the computer or how to run the platform.) Over time, these issues get ironed out and personnel start to view the program more favorably.

Counselors at different orphanages may have different attitude to their duties. Some get inspired by this work, while some continue to view it as an extra burden. Such counselors may fail to respond promptly, do not monitor students’ participation in the program properly, or may not send in the grades that the students receive in the final exams.

Schoolteachers sometimes tend to neglect the children in the program, completely delegating their education to tutors.

The Foundation always pays counselors for their work, trains them, and provides them with support through its specialists. In case issues arise, the Foundation works in a targeted manner with teachers, counselors and orphanage administrations.

In some cases, the opposite situation causes problems. The counselor starts pushing the student and forcing them to study instead of supporting them. The tutor sees that the teenager is not interested in studying and that they were simply forced to come. In such a case, the tutor asks the student if they want to discontinue their sessions.

Dropping out of the program due to external factors

The biggest problem is when the orphanage gets closed or the student moves in with a foster family, and the administration of the new orphanage or the foster family don’t want the teenager to continue with the program. If we are unable to persuade them, we have to suspend this student’s participation.

Plans of further development   

External evaluation conducted in 2018 identified the following opportunities for growth:

• Finer segmentation of participants based on their starting level
• Working with orphanage administrators
• More personal approach to each child when planning their participation in the program
• Additional training for teachers considering children’s special situation

The Foundation is working on all of these matters. In addition to Chance, we are now designing another program, Chance+, which will be intended for teenagers who have graduated from orphanages. The new program will include online tutoring, social and psychological training sessions (at a different level as compared to school children), and assistance from lawyers and psychologists.

Recommendations

• Focus your activities on beneficiaries’ needs which will produce the best social results and change their lives for the better in the most efficient and sustainable way. For orphans, this certainly means finding a foster family, providing education and socialization.
• When working with orphans, take into account their special situation: be caring yet don’t encourage total dependency.
• Never impose anything on teenagers, even if you think you know what is best for them. Just make yourself available and let them know that they can reach out to you for help at any time.
• Remember that orphans need long-term contacts with adults. Recruit and motivate tutors in such a way that they stay with their students a long time.
• Use digital technology to help beneficiaries even in the most remote places. As a rule, they need your help more than others.
• Use gamification to make your interactions with teenagers more efficient.