Kelajak ovozi Youth Camp

July 22, 2010

This summer will linger in memories for a long time and will be the beginning of new achievements for around 500 young boys and girls who participated in Kelajak ovozi (Voice of the future) Summer Training Camp, a youth-oriented project devised by the Fund Forum and the Youth Initiative Centre. The address by Gulnara Karimova, the author of the project, at the closing ceremony read: “This is not a one-day project. I hope that the true results of the Summer Camp will be seen when the ideas born here are embodied and in the success of the camp’s participants. I would like all of you, brought together by the Fund Forum, to stick together and support each other in spite of the fact that you live in different regions of Uzbekistan.”

The summer season for the project participants in Kashkadarya region started on July 8 and lasted until July 21. This period allowed the youth to combine recreation with training sessions, master classes and seminars taught by trainers from the UK, Italy, Japan, Germany, Korea and Uzbekistan.

The camp agenda was comprised three parts: educational, cultural and sports. Last year the camp focused on economic models and the children studies the subtleties of doing business under the circumstances of the global financial crisis while this year the theme is more interesting and more ambitious. Emphasis will be on the study of issues related to international cooperation, humanitarian, cultural and economic links. Young people devided into teams, had been presenting different megapolises of the world, learning the culture and way of life in different countries.

The participants learned information on the activities of a number of international organizations which sent their representatives and did presentations at the camp. Among them are the Representative Office of Nagoya University in Tashkent, the British Council, UNFPA, UNDP, and the Indian Cultural Center among others. The Social Initiative Support Fund jointly with DVV International organized a Health Day while the National Association of Microfinance Organizations and Credit Unions in collaboration with the EU provided special training sessions on financial education.

In addition, the camp included contests, sporting competitions, cultural tours, meetings and games. Kelajak ovozi Press Centre issued a daily mural newspaper covering life at the camp while young journalists from youth TV studios from all regions covered the camp events in news programmes.

This year the collaborative project of has been supported by a number of foreign partners such as the British Council, UNFPA, Korean International Cooperation Agency, Japanese International Cooperation Agency, UN Volunteers, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Korean Internet Volunteers Program, DVV International, Nagoya University (Japan), Westminster University (UK) and Management Development Institute of Singapore in Tashkent.

During the closing ceremony for the Summer Camp the most active participants, trainers and guests were awarded diplomas and prizes by the organizers and partners. The Fund Forum, for one, gave up-to-date computers to each regional branch of Kelajak ovozi Youth Initiative Centre. The British Council made available books for regional Resource Centres. The director of the Indian Cultural Centre in Tashkent announced an allocation of grants to study in Indian universities for several volunteers of the YIC. While almost everyone received presents and prizes, the main acquisition for the young participants was new friends and knowledge.

Related links