Project Updates

In the asphalt courtyard outside Zarqa Preparatory Boys School #2, Samer Abu Koush watches 22 young boys chase after a bright red soccer ball.  As their teacher and coach, Abu Koush knows that many of the boys have grown up in a refugee camp.  They live in the northeast corner of Jordan, under the sponsorship of the United Nations Relief Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), and most will return home from soccer practice shivering because they can’t afford warm winter coats.

Little-discussed topics in Yemen are about to see wider dialogue through creative film projects by the country’s youth. Films will address complex issues that can contribute to radicalism—including globalization, anti-Westernism, modernization, alienation, and community disadvantage.

It’s not easy to broadcast a film festival over radio airwaves, but that’s just what IREX partner City Radio did for the open-air film festival in Nis, Serbia. City Radio, with the help of IREX Serbia, provided a seven-hour remote broadcast of the festival’s opening ceremony and first day, including live interviews with actors and other participants by using 3G mobile systems to broadcast the event. The live broadcast also attracted new advertisers intrigued by the broadcast’s high-quality sound.

In the wake of the recent political unrest in Kyrgyzstan, longtime IREX alumnus and Stetson University professor Eugene Huskey provided expert testimony to the US Congress on April 22.

When Ashwaq Anbar first arrived for civil-society and leadership trainings—organized by IREX Europe and its partner Youth Leadership Development Foundation (YLDF)—in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a, her fellow trainees were not sure what to make of her. Although her family comes from the conservative tribal area of Arhab, she was not wearing a veil across her face. Instead, she wore only a scarf covering her hair. As a result, many of her fellow trainees thought she was from a less traditional area, such as Taiz or Aden.

Muratbek Kuskulov, a cheerful young man from Kazakhstan, radiates optimism despite having faced many hardships in his 20 years. He’s supported himself since the tragic loss of his parents several years ago, and graduated from a vocational high school last spring with excellent grades. The first in his family to attend college, Muratbek is now working full time towards a degree in information systems at Almaty Technological University.

In the nearly 20 years since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, numerous Russian media outlets have become dynamic multimedia organizations, while others have struggled with how to incorporate new technologies.

Tensions between ethnic group and nationalities in the Balkans existed long before the conflict in the 1990s; since then, the relationship between Serbs and Kosovars has not markedly abated. An estimated 70,000 registered Serbian refugees fled Kosovo during the conflict leaving those that remained the largest minority in Kosovo, at only 7% of the total population. Those who remain are largely concentrated in the north near the border with Serbia and live in the areas of Leposavic, Zvecan, and Zubin Potok.

When Katya Borisevich first heard about the prestigious Potanin Scholarship, which supports students from across the Russian Federation in designing social and entrepreneurial projects, she dreamed of applying but never imagined she could win. The bubbly 18-year-old student had focused more on getting good grades than developing her leadership potential. A chance encounter with an IREX representative led her to apply for the 2009 Youth Leadership Camp, which gave her the knowledge, skills, and confidence to apply for the Potanin Scholarship.

Congratulations to Aleksandar Stojkovic for his winning photo of his colleague Srdjan Ilic on an improvised anchor chair during an in-house training IREX arranged for their television station, TV 017 in Vranje (through the Serbia Media Assistance Program). We at IREX love the can-do, grassroots feel that this image conveys. As one commenter stated, “improvise – adapt – overcome.” Aleksandar will receive an HD flip camera for his prize.