The Role of NPOs in the Socio-Economic Development in the Russian Region

The Russian non-profit organisations (NPOs) went through the long pass from political actors to social-oriented assistances and then to some drivers of socio-economic development [1]. Avoiding the engagement of the population in political actions, the Russian government pays significant attention to involving people in socio-economic decision-making processes and creating and developing a non-profit sector. The indicators measuring NPOs’ activities have been included in a wide range of official governmental documents and projects. However, the non-profit organisations remain invisible on the socio-economic landscape of Russian regions. One the one hand, there is a lack of theoretical understanding of the role of NPOs in regional socio-economic development. On the other hand, the official statistics do not have enough basic information on NPOs scope, structure, financing, and contributions in socio-economic development. As a result, some contradictions between official proclaimed targets of NPOs involvement in socio-economic development and measurement of these results occur. This paper provides an analysis of the situation on a regional level. Using the Nizhny Novgorod region as a case study, we explore how different governmental bodies operate with statistics about NPOs and how this information is collected by the official statistics office. The findings based on a set of interviews, analysis of governmental reports and plans for official Federal statistics work plan. These efforts point the way toward putting the NPOs on the economic map of the Russian region for the first time in a way supporting participatory mechanism of regional socio-economic development. All articles must contain an abstract. The abstract text should be formatted using 10 point Times or Times New Roman and indented 25 mm from the left margin. Leave 10 mm space after the abstract before you begin the main text of your article, starting on the same page as the abstract. The abstract should give readers concise information about the content of the article and indicate the main results obtained and conclusions drawn. The abstract is not part of the text and should be complete in itself; no table numbers, figure numbers, references or displayed mathematical expressions should be included. It should be suitable for direct inclusion in abstracting services and should not normally exceed 200 words in a singl