VEB.RF has won awards in a competition organised by the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP), in the Corporate Social Responsibility category, for realising a SIB project in education in Yakutia.
The SIB project on Improving Educational Results in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) was initiated by VEB.RF and supported by the Government of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The project began in June 2019, and is just one enterprise working towards the aims of the Education project, which involves approximately 5,000 students and over 700 teachers from 27 schools in the Khangalassky Municipal District.
In accordance with the Russian Government resolution, VEB.RF will be coordinating SIB projects in Russia for the duration of their pilot stage, until 2024.
“The mechanism of SIB projects combines private initiative, attracting non-budgetary investment and, most importantly, striving for a specific result – new technologies for solving socially significant tasks. The educational project in Yakutia is the first SIB project in Russia, and its goal is a 10% increase in the educational results of students, as well as results in all-Russia inter-school Olympiads. We anticipate active involvement from the regions in the implementation of similar projects, and by 2024 expect to launch at least 30 SIB projects in various spheres, with a commitment from private investors totaling 3 billion roubles. In implementing social projects, it is not the mere fact of providing services that is important, but the specific changes and social effects achieved,” said Svetlana Yachevskaya, Deputy Chairperson of VEB.RF.
The contractor for the project is the Higher School of Economics National Research University, the leading experts of which, alongside working on the project, additionally train management teams and teachers (both on-site and distance-learning), enabling the creation of communities of professional training schools, and the development of a data-driven management culture. Not only students, teachers, and heads of schools and municipal education facilities, but also parents and the local community are involved in the project.
An important condition of the project is the creation of a model such that, upon its completion, local teachers and administrators can develop their education systems by themselves, drawing on their own experience and non-local innovations. Thus, reliance on the local workforce is one of the project’s chief principles. The enterprise is being realised in close cooperation with the best specialists and centres of excellence in the Khangalassky Municipal District and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).
In the first year of the project implementation, over 900 people took part in academic and educational events, including parents, school students from years 7 and 9, directors and teachers. Students’ individual academic progress in Russian language and mathematics was monitored; students of years 4, 6, 7 and 8 were tested; all teachers and students were provided with recommendations for improving educational results; and all teachers were tested. An analytical School Passport was developed.
The project organiser is the Far East and Arctic Development Fund (a member of VEB.RF Group), which has provided the contractor (the Higher School of Economics National Research University) with at least 60 million roubles for the project. If the result is achieved by 2022, the project originator (the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) Ministry of Education and Science) will pay the project organiser a grant in the form of a subsidy to reimburse expenses.
This year VEB.RF won awards in two categories at ADFIAP. Aside from the Corporate Social Responsibility category, VEB.RF won the Territorial Economic Development category for developing, in collaboration with the Monotowns Development Fund, the Focal Point project.
"Every city must have its focal point: a street, square or embankment, which teems with life in all seasons, attracting locals and tourists. A place where you want to spend your free time with your friends. Our task is to help towns create such places. Which is why the Fund, together with VEB.RF, launched the Focal Point project in monotowns. We attract to these places small business, which today has access to 27 franchises on favourable terms, help keep them busy, and develop concepts of improvement. Implementing the project allows for a comprehensive approach to the development of urban spaces, the pooling of resources and the creation of modern, comfortable areas for people to relax, and the development of small and medium-sized businesses and the non-profit sector. Together we want to energise the streets of our monotowns! And I am glad that such initiatives are being supported at international level,” said Irina Makieva, Deputy Chairperson of VEB.RF and General Director of the “MONOGORODA.RF” Fund.
So VEB.RF now has six ADFIAP awards. In 2016 a special diploma For Outstanding Achievements in Implementing Sustainable Development Principles in the Working Practices of the Organisation was presented to VEB for designing a Roadmap for Sustainable Development. In May 2016 VEB won in the Infrastructure Development category for its participation in the project to build the Boguchany Hydropower Plant. In 2014 VEB was awarded a diploma The Best Project in the Sphere of Industry and Infrastructure on Sustainable Development Principles for participating in the construction and rehabilitation of small hydroelectric plants in Karelia. And the VEB Group report on sustainable development for 2011 won the ADFIAP award in the Best Report in the Sphere of Sustainable Development category.
The Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific was established in 1976. Today it is one of the largest international associations of development institutions, numbering 131 organisations from 45 countries. VEB.RF has been a full-fledged member of ADFIAP since January 2013, and is on the ADFIAP Board of Directors. The work of the Association is focused on coordinating the actions of financial development institutions, with a view to the social and economic development of the countries of the region.
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VEB.RF Invests RUB378.40bn in the Russian Economy during the COVID-19 Lockdown
In the first two months of lockdown, VEB.RF invested 378.40 billion roubles in the Russian economy. This facilitated the continued realisation of priority projects in industries such as pharmaceuticals, gas-to-chemicals, infrastructure, municipal solid waste processing, and digital economy.
“While restrictions were imposed, VEB.RF did not stop financing a single project. The work of the Project Financing Factory also continued. In partnership with commercial banks, VEB.RF provided an inflow of investments to the economy, fulfilling its commitments to partners and clients. We are also actively putting into place governmental measures to support enterprises, providing surety bonds to guarantee soft loans to retain jobs and resume activity. As a development institution, it is important for us to help enterprises navigate the most acute phase of reduced demand, and quickly reach a stage of recovery and development,” said VEB.RF Chairman Igor Shuvalov.
Among the projects that VEB.RF financed during the lockdown are:
- The construction of four plants for the processing of municipal solid waste (Energy from Waste) in line with the completion of a comprehensive waste treatment system in the Moscow region. During the period in question, VEB.RF provided 11 billion roubles. A banking syndicate involving VEB.RF minimalised risks for the investment stage of the project, providing credit facilities for conversion into hard currency to pay for foreign long-lead technological equipment, which will prevent cost overrun in case of future exchange-rate changes.
- The provision of over 6.4 billion roubles to finance a project to obtain and lease out modern “Moscow” trains (produced by CJSC Transmashholding) for the Moscow Metro. This is VEB.RF’s second project, supplying 768 carriages, and VEB.RF’s commitment amounts to 38.30 billion roubles, of an overall project cost estimated at 63.50 billion roubles. Previously VEB.RF had financed the supply of 664 carriages for the Moscow Metro.
The first such trains were rolled out just over three years ago, in April 2017, when a gradual replacement of old trains with modern trains began. In June of this year, renewal of the fleet of trains on the Tagansko-Krasnopresnenkaya line of the Moscow Metro was completed, and now only “Moscow” trains run on the purple line.
The “Moscow” series carriage design was customised to meet the Moscow Metro needs. The new carriages are noticeably different from their predecessors, having a walk-through connecting all the cars, improved soundproofing, interactive metro maps to plan routes, and USB-ports to charge gadgets. Each carriage has two climate-control systems with an ultraviolet air-sanitising function. - Financing of a large project, the construction of the Amur Gas Processing Plant, totalling 2 billion roubles has begun. VEB.RF, in collaboration with a syndicate of Russian, European and Chinese creditors, signed an agreement to finance the project. VEB.RF’s commitment in the Amur GPP project has played an important role in the formation of proposals from Russian and foreign financial institutions participating in the syndicate.
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