From September 11 to 17, the Good Deeds Track organized by Dobro.rf will take place at the International Festival of Youth in Ekaterinburg. It is structured as a single journey – starting with an introduction to the Dobro.rf platform and a first good deed on-site, and leading toward deeper involvement in volunteering – built around the principle "Do good, lead others." The Festival is being held as part of the Youth and Children national project.
"The International Festival of Youth brings together young people from all over the world, and for many of them, helping others is already part of daily life. In Russia, more and more people are getting involved in volunteering, and behind that is a whole infrastructure – the Dobro.rf and Dobro.org platforms, a network of Dobro.Centers, and #WeAreTogether hubs across the country. The Festival's charitable program is designed as a single journey: participants get introduced to the Dobro.rf ecosystem, complete their first good deed on-site – from environmental cleanups to messages of support – and come away with a clear path for continuing to help after the Festival ends. Its symbol is the Lighthouse, filled with light from each participant's good deeds. We want everyone to take this experience home with them – to their own city, their own country – and keep helping the people around them," noted Artem Metelev, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Youth Policy and head of the Dobro.rf ecosystem.
At the center of the Dobro.rf area will be a Lighthouse art installation, where every participant can "light up their own light" by leaving a sticker representing an intention to do a good deed. The site will also host a quiz and a vote on updates to the international declaration on volunteering. In the consultation zone, specialists will explain the opportunities available through the Dobro.rf ecosystem, helping participants set up profiles on the Dobro.rf and Dobro.org platforms and apply to take part in humanitarian missions and outreach programs.
Another way to join the volunteer movement is through the Learning through Service federal program, in which students tackle real social challenges brought to them by non-profit organizations as part of their studies. Over the past three years, 628 universities, more than 900,000 students, and over 9,000 faculty members have joined the program, together with partners solving more than 35,000 social challenges. This year, international students will join the program for the first time. At the Festival, they will be able to learn more about the project and register in the volunteer registry.
As part of the lecture program, participants will discuss what drives the decision to help others and what values underlie volunteering. The central format is the Values game, based on the methodology of the Tvoy Hod (Your Move) project and adapted for a volunteering theme: participants will put together their own set of values, rank them by importance, and explain their choices in conversation with other participants.
Every participant will have the chance to do a good deed right on the Festival grounds — all of these activities are brought together under a shared Good Deeds Track, run jointly with the Drugoe Delo (Another Thing) project. An off-site program will also take place: participants will clean up the shore and waters of Lake Shartash as part of the nationwide Waters of Russia initiative, joined by regional leaders and renowned athletes; harvest crops at a horticultural breeding station; and plant saplings in the Grove of Youth.
A separate initiative within the program is the TEBE (To You) service for messages of support. At the Dobro.rf stand, anyone can record a 20-to-40-second message, which will go into a library of voice messages for people who especially need support. The project will launch at the Festival and will go on to become part of the #WeAreTogether culture, where support is passed from person to person and lives on beyond a single event.
Another joint project is a Kind Cartoon about people who help others. Festival participants will together color in five thousand frames, which will come together to form a complete short film. Its premiere will take place on the Festival's main stage on September 16.
Overview:
The World Youth Festival took place in Sirius on March 1-7, 2024, according to the Decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the development of international youth cooperation. The WYF-2024 brought together 20,000 young leaders from 190 countries.
In line with the Russian President’s instructions to preserve and further develop the legacy of the World Youth Festival, festival events are now held annually across the Russian Federation. In 2025, the World Youth Festival Assembly was held in Nizhny Novgorod, bringing together 2,000 young people from 120 countries. In 2026, the International Festival of Youth will welcome 10,000 participants. The next World Youth Festival for 20,000 participants will take place in 2030.
The World Youth Festival Directorate continues its work to strengthen international youth cooperation and develop a global community of young people committed to shaping a better future.