The Implementation of the “Children of the Arctic” International Project Will be Discussed in Naryan-Mar

On 21 October, Naryan-Mar will host a roundtable discussion on implementing the “Children of the Arctic” International Project. The participants will discuss the concept of the project for the period 2021–2023 and identify partners and approaches for its implementation. The roundtable is part of the action plan of Russia’s chairmanship of the Arctic Council in 2021–2023. The Roscongress Foundation is the operator of all presidency events.

The project “Children of the Arctic: Preschool and School Education” was launched in February 2017 in Kotzebue, Alaska, USA. It is included in the action plan of the Arctic Council’s Sustainable Development Working Group for the period 2017–2019 and was subsequently extended for the period of the Icelandic and Russian Chairmanships. The Children of the Arctic project is supported by Russia, Canada and Finland.

The project aims to assess and research best practices by experts from the Arctic Council member countries in the field of free pre-school and school education for children of small indigenous minorities of the North, ensuring the study of national history, native and state languages, and the acquisition and preservation of knowledge about traditional natural resource use.

Among the participants of the round table are Russian and foreign speakers, including:

●      Abidat Magomedova, Chair of the Arctic Council Working Group on Sustainable Development, Deputy Director of the Department of International Cooperation and Technological Development of the Far East and the Arctic, in Ministry for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic of the Russian Federation;

●      Anna Polezhaeva, Advisor to the Head of Russia’s Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs;

●      Yuri Khatanzeisky, Deputy Governor of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug for Nenets and Other Indigenous Peoples of the North

●      Sarah Cox, Director, Office of Circumpolar Affairs, Organization for Northern Affairs Canada;

●      Anders Oskal, Secretary General, International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry); Executive Director, International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry in the Kingdom of Norway

●      Paavo-Petri Ahonen, Senior Advisor, Ministry of Education and Culture, Finland

●      Alexey Tsykarev, member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues from the region Eastern Europe, Russian Federation, Central Asia and Transcaucasia;

●      Mikhail Pogodaev, Deputy Minister for Arctic Development and Northern Affairs of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia); Special Representative of the Russian Chairmanship of the Arctic Council for Indigenous Peoples and Regional Cooperation.

The event will take place at the Arktika Palace of Culture in Naryan-Mar on 21 October 2021 at 16:00.