Project Updates

More than 45 Georgian media professionals and NGO workers came together for specialized training by IREX Europe through the “Making Waves – Community Radio Project,” funded by the European Union. The workshops in Tbilisi and Batumi were designed to help journalists, editors, and civil society professionals better understand each other, and to tap each other more effectively as sources and resources.

David Tkeshelashvili, a Muskie alum and graduate of Emory University, was recently appointed Minister of Labour, Healthcare and Social Affairs. Following his participation in the Muskie program in 2005-2006, Mr. Tkeshelashvili was tapped by Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili to hold the post of  Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.

Nelea Lupu had no idea what she was getting herself into when she agreed to lead the Moldova Citizen Participation Program (CPP) project to renovate a senior citizens’ home in the western Moldovan city of Ungheni. Despite having minimal experience running such a home and even less experience with community development, Nelea threw herself into the project for the simple reason that no one else was willing to take the lead.
 

The Media Development Program (MDP) in Egypt marked its first anniversary with a daylong conference on the impact of industry innovations. Attended by several hundred media professionals, the Cairo event focused on changes within the media sectors of Egypt, the Middle East, and worldwide. Many of the innovations discussed are the subjects of training, consultations, and other support provided to Egyptian media partners through MDP.

Raised in the industrial city of Magnitogorsk, Tanya’s* life was deeply affected by her parents’ alcoholism. Having spent much of her youth in the streets, by the time Tanya was 21, she was diagnosed as HIV positive from intravenous drug use. Her mother was living on the street, her father was in prison, and her older sister was a drug addict and prostitute with nowhere to turn for support.

The eighth annual International Education Week took place November 12-16, 2007.

The final score of the football (soccer) match on October 27 was four to one. But that hardly mattered, because the real victors in Bishkek’s Spartak Stadium were Kyrgyz orphans who will get winter clothing and boots as a result of the money raised that day.

The United States Embassy in Georgia, in association with IREX, recently hosted a celebration in honor of the 15th anniversary of the Edmund S Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program in the country.  Since 1992, the Edmund S Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program (Muskie) has been sending professionals from the countries of the former Soviet Union to the United States for graduate study.  The program promotes democratic principles, supports local leaders, and forges lasting friendships.  Mo

Young women in Yemen are securing professional, economic, and leadership opportunities that were unobtainable to them before their participation in the Young Women’s Leadership Program (YWLP).

One of these women, Enas Nathier Kalusi, was tired of working in a local factory and dreamed of becoming a teacher. When rejected for a teaching position, she applied to YWLP, a rigorous two-year program that she was unsure she would enjoy.

There is an important relationship between the direction of media outlets and their strategies for viability. A strong marketing division allows editors and journalists to fully focus on journalistic excellence. In late January, 16 sales and marketing managers from various Jordanian media outlets attended a training to enhance their skills.