About Us
Russian version
HAF - Русская версия

About the Fund

 The St. Petersburg charitable community fund of medical social programmes “Humanitarian Action” is one of the largest and oldest charitable organizations in St. Petersburg that provides comprehensive medical, social, legal and psychological care to homeless and neglected children and teenagers, drug users, female sex workers and HIV positive individuals. The main area of our work is HIV prevention in these risk groups.“Humanitarian Action” was officially created in July 2001, when it branched off the French international humanitarian organization “Medicins du Monde,” which started medical and social programs in St. Petersburg in1995, including the programme “Street Children of St. Petersburg”. In 1997 the “Harm Reduction” programme for HIV prevention among drug users was founded.  A Harm Reduction programme specifically for female sex workers was started in 2001.  In 2003 in connection with the opening of the “Center for prevention of HIV/AIDS and other socially significant diseases,”  Humanitarian Action started working in partnership with the Botkin Memorial Hospital for Infectious diseases and the programme “Providing Access to Medical care for injecting drug users and sex workers” was founded. In 2006 the case management service became an independent programme of the Fund.

In our work we strive to assist the most vulnerable members of society to take advantage of their legal rights, who are otherwise unable to do so due to their circumstances and social isolation.  The employees of Humanitarian Action make every effort to motivate their clients to change their behavior and increase their quality of life.  In doing so, we are always tolerant, understanding and respectful to our clients and do not preach or moralize. “Humanitarian Action’s” main principle is “the lowest possible threshold,” which means simplifying everything for the clients as much as we can, so they can have the easiest possible access to the Fund’s services and to other services available to them.  Our goal is not to replace the governmental structures in place, but to be the bridge in between the vulnerable members of society and those structures that are already in place to help them. Collaboration with other governmental and nongovernmental organizations is one of the main missions of Humanitarian Action, as this sort of work would be impossible without the combined efforts of these organizations.

For our active participation in the war with HIV/AIDS and Protection of Human Rights the Fund “Humanitarian Action” received an international award from the Canadian Organization Human Rights Watch in 2005. 

Our Mission

  Our mission is to decrease the transmission rate of HIV and other socially significant diseases, to provide access to complex medical, social and psychological care, and to help vulnerable members of society integrate into society, especially those living with HIV/AIDS, homeless and neglected children and teenagers, injecting drug users, female sex workers and those at risk for human trafficking, violence and discrimination. 

Main Areas of Fund Activities

·        The prevention of HIV/AIDS and other socially significant diseases.
·        Helping our target groups receive access to medical, psychological, legal and social help.
·        Training specialists from governmental and nongovernmental organizations in approaches to work with target groups. 

 Target groups include:
·        HIV positive individuals.
·        Homeless and neglected children and teenagers (an estimated 15,000-20,000 in St. Petersburg).
·        Injecting drug users (an estimated 120,000-150,000 in St. Petersburg).
·        Female sex workers (approximately 8,000 women involved in street sex work in St. Petersburg) and their partners.
·        Specialists of governmental and nongovernmental organizations. 
Employees of the Fund
The “Humanitarian Action” team is made up of highly qualified specialists, such as doctors, psychologists, social workers and teachers.  In all there are 29 full time employees and 32 specialists that work with us, more than half of them have a higher education. Our specialists have many years of experience and use a multi-disciplined approach.  This approach is based on bringing together specialists with diverse backgrounds – medical and social workers, lawyers, psychologists and teachers, so they all work together in providing the necessary care for the target groups.Employees of the Fund are recognized experts in working with vulnerable groups of the population and lead training programmes for specialists in NGOs and for government employees as part of the “Learning Center.” Some members of the organization also work as experts in some of the world’s leading organizations, such as the “Open Health Institute”, the “Russian Harm Reduction Network”, the Harm Reduction Network of Central and Eastern Europe and other organizations.
 

Organizational Structure of the Fund

 The General assembly, which meets no less than once a year, is the highest decision-making body of the organization.  It is in charge of establishing the organization’s agenda and priorities, appointing the members of the governing board, appointing the general director, approving the reports, etc. The governing board, which meets often, is in charge of managing the Fund and consists of ten members and is lead by the chairman of the board.  As general director, Aleksandr Tsekhanovich is responsible for general oversight of the organization.  In addition, Igor Piskarevim is in charge of day-to-day management as the executive director.  Andrey Sobennikov leads the financial division. As development director, Pavel Semyenov is responsible for fundraising and programs for community involvement.