SIBUR supported an inclusive blog tour in Moscow
21 november 2022
A unique inclusive blog tour took place in Moscow between November 15 and 18 as part of the You Can Do Anything! interregional project of SIBUR's Formula for Good Deeds social investment program.
In April 2022, an inclusive City of Opportunities blog was launched on the VKontakte social network. The blog features training materials on how to present disability on social networks, best practices of inclusive projects, stories of community members, information about inclusive events. An important component of the City of Opportunities is its training course: throughout the year the blog has been broadcasting live, with each broadcast followed by a homework assignment to the audience. Those authors who did their homework regularly and with the best possible quality between April and October were offered an opportunity to take part in an inclusive blog tour.
The issues of diversity culture are definitely an important focus for the company as part of its sustainable development strategy. It is hard to foster an inclusive society without creating an accepting and receptive environment, without debunking social stereotypes, including those of people with disability. The City of Opportunities blog brings together people who are strong in spirit, who never give up, who are bright and talented, who are endowed with a strong will and confidence that you can do anything you want! The format of our interactions on Friday not only gave us all a boost of energy, but also elicited a lot of positive emotions in response to the participant’s brilliant sense of humor as well as to the comfortable, relaxed atmosphere of our social time together, Marina Medvedeva, Member of the Management Board - Managing Director of SIBUR LLC, noted.
It was hard for us to choose who the participants of the blog tour would be because the City of Opportunities community already numbers more than 650 VKontakte users. Many of them regularly did their homework, improving the quality of the content of their pages and communities. We are glad that the choice of the participants of the blog tour was unanimously approved by the subscribers of the City of Opportunities. We tried to put together a program that would combine learning and entertainment so that our bloggers would get the most out of it, Alexey Trantsev, the blog tour’s organizer and development director with the Interregional Inclusive Resource Centre, commented.
The program of the blog tour included a business game and group activities, individual photo sessions, and a series of cultural and athletic events. The inclusive bloggers visited the Blagosphere public space, the Museum of Russian Impressionism, the Quartet I theatre, and even tried their hand at driving go-karts.
I am very happy that I was able to get on this blog tour. Throughout the year I tried to do all the homework assignments offered as part of the City of Opportunities training course. The course gave me a boost in spurring the development of my social networks. The event was very well designed, it was a combination of learning activities and entertainment, being both useful and enjoyable. I really enjoyed my visit to the Blagosphere and for the first time in my life I tried my hand at go-karting, Oleg Denisov, a blog tour participant from Birobidzhan, noted.
I often help as a volunteer with organizing cultural events in Voronezh because I work in the field of culture. This past April, I took part in putting on a motivational meeting of the You can do anything! project, I am a member of the city's 1+1 volunteering community. The meeting in general and our speakers’ stories of bravery became a revelation to me. I had the desire to help, so I started to publish more posts about disability in my social networks. Thanks to the course available on the City of Opportunities blog, we have developed an inclusive community where we support each other. There are now more people with disabilities among my followers. The blog tour encouraged me, gave me a lot of ideas and opened me up to many new opportunities, Inna Murashova, a participant of the blog tour from Voronezh, emphasized.