News & Impact

Find stories about:

Sort by: Type | Date
July 24, 2012
Druzhkivka librarian helping to register a patron

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the central bank was dissolved and millions of citizens of the former USSR lost their savings.  The Ukrainian government has subsequently made several attempts to index and reimburse these savings. In April of this year, “Oshchadbank” launched an online system that allows citizens to register, update their data and book an appointment at the local branch of the bank to receive a reimbursement.

July 23, 2012

Seventeen scholars and professionals are set to advise the U.S. government on key policy issues. From a look at "corporate raiding" in Ukraine to understanding why some of Russia's young Muslims join religious extremist and violent organizations, the fellows will inform key decisions on a wide variety subjects.

July 20, 2012

Across Azerbaijan there are 19 Community Information Centers newly graduated from United States government support to being fully operated by local NGOs. Although Internet access in Azerbaijan is growing, Internet services, particularly in the regions, remain expensive and much of the country’s Internet usage takes place in Internet clubs or at the workplace. To help bridge the gap, IREX, with support from USAID, partnered with local organizations and equipped 19 centers with computers, internet access and Wi-Fi spots. The centers offer courses and internet access to users, free of charge.

July 18, 2012
Children Use Computers

IREX is very pleased to announce the launch of its new Center for Collaborative Technologies (CCT) to better serve our beneficiaries by enhancing our existing skill set in our seven focus areas of media, civil society, education, conflict resolution, youth, gender, and technology.  The Center establishes autonomous space for the consolidation and sharing of our more than 15 years of ICT expertise, both across IREX as an organization and externally. 

July 5, 2012
A librarian assists a patron at a Bibliomist-supported library

As more and more librarians use ICT and internet in their daily work, their vision of their role shifts from traditional book-lending to community-centered knowledge management. This change is evident in the second Bibliomist survey of hundreds of Ukrainian librarians intended to measure the impact of the program on librarians’ perception of their own capacity, as well as that of their institution over the past two years.

June 26, 2012
by Julia Hon

Human trafficking, drug trade, police reform, and corporate graft were among the diverse topics debated and discussed by ten up-and-coming scholars at the 2012 IREX/WWC Regional Policy Symposium, "Transnational Crime and Corruption in Eastern Europe and Eurasia." Transnational criminal networks, and the domestic corruption that feeds them, represent one of the major foreign policy challenges facing the United States today.

June 22, 2012
by Amy Bernath

Among the nearly fifty recipients of the CAPS award over the last five years, Omurbek Ibraev of Kyrgyzstan stands out as an innovative leader promoting effective use of technology in the public sector.   In his work at Kyrgyzstan’s National Statistics Committee (NSC), Ibraev is coordinating a country-wide effort to promote open access to information through the digitization of local government statistics.

June 18, 2012

IREX congratulates Lia Putkaradze, a 2009 Global UGRAD student, on being honored as the June 2012 State Alumni Member of the Month. Putkaradze, one of more than a million State Department alumni, is currently serving as one of Georgia’s first young Corporate Social Responsibility professionals at the Alliance Group Holding company.

June 18, 2012
by Anne Johnson

“Strangers used to scare me, and it usually took quite awhile before I would talk to new people,” explains Jarkynay Yrysbek kyzy, a high school student from Tokmok, Kyrgyzstan, a city that experienced violent ethnic clashes during the country’s 2010 coup. “But a year has passed since I joined YTP,” she notes, “and I can hardly recognize myself!”

June 13, 2012
Hennadiy Serheyev

Hennadiy Serheyev and his crew at TV Chernivitsi have come a long way to become one of the premiere news resources in their city, thanks to a partnership with WFIE in Indiana. It's just one of 28 similar partnerships that grew out of an effort to strengthen Ukraine's media sector.