Novosibirsk, Russia - The Universal Peace Federation-Siberia, together with the regional grassroots organization “Women’s Initiative Creative Association,” took part in celebration of the Novosibirsk City Day on June 26. The Administration of Novosibirsk invited the city grassroots organizations to take part in the “Grassroots initiatives-2011” festival and granted them a special place with tents and equipment, including tables and chairs.
The people who approached our presentation stands were invited to participate in the project “Recipe of happiness”: they were to write down their individual recipes of happiness in a special book that is to be published on the 120th anniversary of Novosibirsk. Elderly people willingly shared their recipes of happiness, their faces beaming with joy and goodwill.
Sixty-seven people offered answers to the question: What is Russia's rating in the Global Peace Index among 144 nations? Only 15 people guessed almost correctly. In reality, we take the 136th place. The majority chose to think our rating to be very high, like that of island nations such as Japan and New Zealand. As soon as they heard the real data, they immediately started inquiring about how they could join the UPF activities; very often they expressed a desire to know more about peacemaking initiatives aimed at raising up the level of our peaceableness, considering Novosibirsk to have a key role as the geographic center of Russia.
A festival jury evaluated the decorative design of the grassroots organization stands. We handed to the members of the jury the UPF draft educational program “Good Governance and Millennium Development Goals” aimed at spreading a new vision of moral leadership, promoting the idea of good governance for creating world peace and sustainable development founded on universal principles and values, and expanding awareness among the population about the process of fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals. All layers of society should be mindful of good governance, including companies, NGOs, the private sector, and individuals.
On behalf of the mayor, the jury members handed Festival Diplomas to the participants in the event. The initiators of the celebration were given a special gift card from the Tableware Center, where from now on we will be able to acquire more dishes for our seminars and other programs.
NOTE: To see your nation's ranking on the 2011 Global Peace Index, click here.