Stories of IREX

“President Rahmon of Tajikistan, like other regional leaders, is caught between a rock and a hard place: he cannot indefinitely extract resources from the electricity sector while keeping tariffs low without sacrificing the long term sustainability of the sector,” writes 2010-11 US Embassy Policy Specialist Program (EPS) fellow Michael J. G.

“Zakaria’s personality and approach inspired me to register for the dinner,” explains Muskie fellow Ani Ter-Mkrtchyan.  Ter-Mkrtchyan met journalist and international affairs specialist Fareed Zakaria at a dinner event during his visit to the University of Oklahoma campus.   She also attended his public lecture on America&rsquo

In early December 2010, Anna Tsapok (UGRAD 2009-2010) and six other UGRAD and Muskie alumni coordinated a project called "Books. Supplies. Toys.," which aimed to gather donations for underserved children in orphanages across Ukraine.

Oil and gas fuels Azerbaijan's economy and keeps the overall unemployment rate low compared to many of its neighbors. However, finding meaningful employment remains more difficult in the regions of Azerbaijan, particularly for women. Sheki, a city of 63,000 two hundred miles north of Baku in the Caucasus mountains, hosts one of IREX’s f.y.i. Community Information Centers that provides provides local residents with IT skills, citizen journalism training, and access to the Internet.

As protests escalated in Cairo and across Egypt the last week of January, with phone and internet soon to be cut off, a Cairo-based blogger changed plans and reverted to his cell phone to present a long-planned webinar to over a dozen Iraqi journalists gathered in Irbil, Iraq as part of a longer training to discuss the role of new media for professional and citizen journalists.

Sixty-four teachers from 20 countries around the world are about to embark on a learning experience of a lifetime.

Muskie alumnus Samat Panov was honored as the February 2011 State Alumni Member of the Month. State Alumni Members of the Month are selected for implementing new ideas, exhibiting strong leadership skills, strengthening the alumni community, increasing mutual understanding, and demonstrating a commitment to community service.

With President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s signature in October, Liberia became the first country in West Africa to have a freedom of information law. The bill-signing ceremony itself was an unprecedented event – with the government, the media and civil society groups all celebrating a major accomplishment together.

While Azerbaijan’s independent media sector struggles with government restrictions and a decreasing number of outlets, Azerbaijanis increasingly turn to new media as a source of news and information. Social media sites such as Facebook have seen recent annual growth rates of up to 50%, the number of blogs has exploded, and news and information sites continue to expand. Azerbaijan's youth increasingly voice their own opinions and produce their own reporting using these tools.