The Foundation for Civil Society Development (Russian: Фонд развития гражданского общества) is a non-governmental organisation whose main focus of research is in the fields of politics, regional development and contemporary media.
Its ultimate goal is to bridge the gap between academic research and practical politics, to ensure that its work is relevant and that the conclusions are easily applicable.
Leadership
The foundation is headed by Konstantin Kostin (born September 17, 1970 in Pushkin, Moscow region) — Russian political Consultant. Up to May 2012 — deputy head of the internal politics of the presidential administration of Russia.
After leaving the Kremlin Kostin remains in good relations with the first Deputy head of the presidential Administration of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Volodin, is his Adviser.
Mr. Kostin told Izvestia daily the essence of his foundation: 'We align ourselves closely to the RAND Corporation, a leading research ‘think tank’ in the USA. We are an institution that helps improve policy and decision-making through research and analysis'.
Vision
Observers noted that the Kremlin changed the format of cooperation with the expert community: it was decided to attract specialists to work on government projects special funds-operators. It was emphasized that it is connected with the desire of the authorities to independent information in the analysis, including the electoral behavior of the Russians.
Director of Fund of effective policy Gleb Pavlovsky believes that Konstantin served as one of the most important links in view of the Kremlin with the realities. Political analyst notes «the incredible efficiency of the head of the new structure. The sense of the FCSD, in the opinion of Pavlovsky, is as follows: ‘we are talking about a relatively independent structure that is affiliated closely with the office of internal policy, but still it does not’.
According to the Director of the National Energy Security Fund Konstantin Simonov, an Appointment of Konstantin Kostin head of the Civil Society Development Foundation ‘creates a very good tradition, when such a high-ranking official did not jump out of one chair into another, but goes out from the midst of state administration to join an environment of «intellectual management», even more, to the nourishment of the political system’. In our country, says Simonov, there is a lack of thoughtful and reliable analysts, because quite often analytical structures do not do what they have to'. In this sense, an expert believes, the Kostin’s Fund could be a producer of meanings for the Kremlin’.
The establishment of the Fund welcomed the Deputy of the State Duma, political scientist Vyacheslav Nikonov, who in an interview with PRAVDA.Ru, in particular, said: 'I have suggested to create a Fund for the support of civil society, because in this respect, Russia is lagging behind all the developed Western countries. And we have the level of support for our civil institutions from outside of Russia is more, than inside Russia. Therefore, I believe'.
Activity
The Foundation implements scientific and research projects as well as distributes grants for other NGOs and R&D organizations covering the similar themes.
Research
The Fund released five major reports in 2012-2013: August 2013 – Research: '2013 Elections of Governors and Head of Regional Administrative Centres: campaign scenarios and forecasts' May 2013 – Research: President Putin’s Year: results and prospects May 2013 - Report: Filtering Content on the Internet: Challenges, trends and techniques. An Analysis of International Practice March 2013 – Report on the Development o Civil Society in Russia Dec. 2012 - The New protest movement: myths and reality Oct. 2012 – Elections under new rules: main result and trends Oct. 2012 - Elections under new rules: intrigues and forecasts Sept. 2012 – RuNet today: research on the Russian Internet
Away from the Kremlin to the created Fund in May 2012, Konstantin Kostin in an interview to the magazine «Expert» predicted the development of the political activity in Russia for the period 2014–15 years: «Starting from 2014 is a series of very complicated regional elections," he said. "And if our opposition leaders will pass from spells and outdated slogans to real political work, right now realize that this is for the regions, and begin to act, then in 2014-2015 years they have somewhere will have good chances».