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International Year of Youth: Inclusion of Youth at All Levels July 12, 2011 by Rachel Surkin The extraordinary power of youth to change their own worlds and the world around them strikes me anew every day.I see this power manifest in diverse forms and settings – from the Russian program participant who created a break-dancing school to engage at-risk youth in her small town, to the two teenagers from MetroTeenAIDS who, last week, addressed more than 70 international development professionals about their role in educating thousands of other youth in Washington, DC, about STDs and HIV testing.	Brighter Colors and Brighter Futures for Scholarship Recipients May 11, 2011 by Ashley Snell While university scholarships provided to Kazakhstan’s disadvantaged youth will certainly help them towards brighter futures, there is still an important component necessary for becoming an empowered and successful individual. That piece is the development of the life skills necessary in order to “effectively improve the economic and social situations of their families, communities, and nation."
Bringing Messages of Peace to the Border May 3, 2011 by Susie Armitage “I am a citizen of Kyrgyzstan,” Suhrob Ergashev says proudly when asked about his nationality. Ergashev is ethnically Tajik, one of scores of minority groups in this diverse country. A history teacher in a village near the Kyrgyz-Tajik border, where violence often flares on ethnic lines, he strives to link his Tajik-speaking students with the rest of their country and the outside world. Ergashev’s students now engage communities and lead dialogue through Drama Clubs he founded with help from IREX’s Youth Theater for Peace (YTP) program.	Local Solutions Equal Lasting Change April 29, 2011 by Susie Armitage As aid budgets shrink, donors want to see more than just the immediate impact of their dollars – they want to know an investment will be sustainable, continuing to affect people’s lives for years to come. To achieve sustainability, a project has to introduce tools that truly serve local community needs. That’s what I love the most about our Youth Theater for Peace (YTP) programs—they present a flexible methodology, Drama for Conflict Transformation (DCT), which beneficiaries can use to address a range of conflict issues they feel are relevant locally.
Creating Connections to Change Education for the Blind April 15, 2011 by Amy Bernath Electricity shortages provided an unlikely beginning to Elnura Emilkanova’s career as an educator for the blind. After experiencing the challenge of functioning without light, Emilkanova started to think about the challenging conditions for the blind in Kyrgyzstan. Inspired to act, Emilkanova then sought out a blind student who taught her Russian Braille. That student’s desire to learn English motivated Emilkanova to study English Braille and eventually become an English teacher for blind and visually impaired students.	Celebrating Women Year Round March 23, 2011 by W. Robert Pearson Annual observances such as Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day are useful tools for highlighting some of the many accomplishments of women as well as drawing much-needed attention to gender-based disparities around the globe.
Bride-napping Drama Engages Boys in Gender Discussion March 17, 2011 by Anne Johnson Sixteen-year-old Marat pauses, anticipating his moment to take the stage. He’s performed in Youth Theater for Peace skits in Kyrgyzstan before, but today he’s doing something different: he’s playing the part of a girl.	Penn State Profiles Muskie Law Fellow March 15, 2011 by Amy Bernath Sardorbek Abdukhalilov, a 2010 Muskie law fellow from Kyrgyzstan, is increasing his knowledge of mediation and negotiation through his studies in Penn State’s LL.M. program.
Youth in Kyrgyzstan Bring Offline Citizens Online March 10, 2011 by Mehri Karyagdyyeva “The most important thing that you can learn at any age is how to use a computer,” remarked training participant Julduz Sydykova, who had never used the internet before. Julduz wasintroduced to the online world in Kyrgyzstan through the IREX implemented Global Connections & Exchange (GCE) and Digital Youth Dialogue (DYD) programs that bring information technology and internet to schools and libraries throughout the country. As part of the program, students and teachers receive training on computer skills and have open access to the internet at school.	US Scholar Analyzes Challenges in Central Asia February 23, 2011 US Embassy Policy Specialist Program (EPS) fellow Michael J. G. Cain writes on the domestic and international challenges faced by the leadership of Tajikistan and other Central Asian countries in meeting their energy needs.