IREX
International Research & Exchanges Board

State

Regional Library Information Centers (RLIC) Program

March 2007

Citizens Share Enviromental Concerns
Citizens Share Enviromental Concerns

Azeribaijanis Use RLIC Forums to Get Answers and Action from Top Environment Official

An RLIC initiative to bring together high-ranking government officials and citizens is demonstrative of the advantages brought by connecting stackholders with technology.

Over 40 participants posted questions to an online forum on ecological issues with Ministor of Ecology and Natural Resources Hussein Bagirov.

The topics discussed, ranged from the composition of ground waters, deforestation and erosion, to the impact of the recent construction boom on the environment and protection of endangered species. The Minister showed a genuine interest in the concerns of RLIC users through rapid responses to the participants.

During the online meeting, the Minister stated his intention to take action in response to a question from Imishli district. A recent flood of the Araz River in that region, resulted in the partial destruction of the forest along the banks of the river. Mr. Bagirov asked his assistant to take a note of the location and send a special group to investigate the situation. Local residents in Imishli stated that before the forum they had written letters and made phone calls to the Ministry of Emergency Situations in Baku, but nothing had been done. At the end of March the ministry sent the aforementioned team to Imishli to assess the flood damage. RLIC staff has been in touch with the Ministry of Ecology and will continue to monitor the situation in Imishli.

RLIC will continue its series of online discussions with top Government officials in April with planned guests from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

 

Friends reunite Online
Friends reunite Online

RLIC Helps Friends Stay in Touch and Brings more Users to Local Libraries

The RLIC project is a diverse undertaking that uses its centers to provide IT trainings, to develop the resources of local libraries, to promote civil society development and to bring people from all over Azerbaijan closer together. In addition, the centers play a crucial role in bringing more people into regional libraries by giving local users access to technology that is often inaccessible to the average citizen living in the regions of Azerbaijan. Below are some examples of the purposes RLIC holds and impact it makes in people’s lives:

  • An employee of the Neftchala Culture Department had been looking for a friend that moved to Israel for the last several years. He had lost contact of his friend when he moved, but did recall which city he was moving to. After searching the Internet at the Neftchala RLIC he contacted the city administration and found an e-mail address for his friend. The two friends were able to reestablish there friendship after years of silence.

Nigar Alekberova
Nigar Alekberova wrtites to her family

  • Nigar Alekberova’s relatives have lived in Turkey for several years. Over the years Nigar has stayed in touch with them by sending letters. Although communicating through the local postal office was slow, there were simply no other affordable options available. This all changed however when Nigar visited the RLIC center in Salyan. Nigar learned about the opportunities provided by the Internet and quickly learned to use e-mail. She and her family are now in better contact. “I used to contact my aunt via mail or phone which are really expensive. I was so happy when I heard that there was free Internet access at RLIC in Salyan and that I can receive training in IT free of charge. This was a unique opportunity for me since all other Internet and computer centers in the city are costly.”

Mr. Sharatov
Mr. Sharatov shares pictures with
family in Russia

  • Mr. Sharatov from Mingachevir is another beneficiary of the free Internet access provided by RLIC. Mr. Sharatov of Russian decent, was born and raised in Mingachevir. His family and many of his friends moved to Russia after Azerbaijan’s independent, but Sraratov stayed, as he put it, “Although most of our relatives and friends moved to live in Russia I decided to stay here. Mingachevir is my home.” He recently started to use the RLIC sources to contact his family and friends in Russia. Like others he previously was only able to communicate via the mail. He says use of the Internet has completely changed communication with his family, “now we are sending e-mails to each-other… I can send to them pictures of my family, my town, and receive pictures from them, which is great!”

RLIC is one of the few providers of free-Internet access in the region and in many regions, is the only free provider. In addition to providing IT trainings and hosting a variety of events, free Internet access has become an integral asset and significant part of the lives of many community members.

 

RLIC is the Center of Community Activity

Meeting
Meeting of Democracy Learning
Public Union held at RLIC

A critical function of the RLIC network is providing a center for community activity. Residents often call upon RLIC’s human and technological capacities to increase the effectiveness of local initiatives, to reach new audiences, and to make a greater impact.

On March 4, RLIC hosted an event initiated by the Democracy Learning Public Union, which was founded through Democracy Learning, to support effective dialogue between citizens, members of the Parliament and government officials. The event was attended by 14 representatives of the local government and community members. Participants of the meeting raised questions related to different aspects of community life and other problems that needed local authorities’ involvement. At the end the representatives of local agencies took note of issues that had been raised during the meeting and promised to generate solutions or comments for the next meeting.

  • On March 6, RLIC Ismayilli brought together 30 English language teachers and local authorities for an English Language Teaching (ELT) seminar. The goal of the seminar was to bring together 6 participants of British Council’s INSETT training participants from Ismayilli to share their experiences and new skills with other teachers. The participants of the INSETT training shared new teaching methods with the audience. RLIC Site Administrator, also a participant of the training, together with other participants presented booklets on “Speaking through dialogue” and “Guided Writing”.

    Child Mortality Meeting at RLIC in Mingachevir
    Child Mortality Meeting at RLIC in
    Mingachevir

  • On March 16, RLIC staff assisted OXFAM and the Youth Education Center in Mingachevir to organize and conduct a meeting on the topic “Child and Maternal Mortality.” Local experts and nearly 20 participants discussed adolescent mortality rates and the how to overcome this problem. As a result of the meeting, 7 of the most active RLIC visitors were chosen as volunteers for an upcoming project.

 


Tech Age Girls from Kurdemir Utilize their newly gained IT skills

TAG presentation
TAG Girls review Presentation

On March 9, Kurdemir TAG participants Konul Amirova and Narmin Huseynzade organized an event “Women are the Leading Force,” which presented and stressed the skills they gained from the TAG project. The event, attended by 32 students, teachers, and local government representatives, included a slideshow presentation of Azerbaijan’s most prominent women, including the role they played in history and their legacies. The presentation was followed by a speech in which the girls elaborated on the lives and achievements of these women. Narmin Huseynzade, one of the TAG participants mentioned the importance of the TAG project and skills that they gained at the trainings, “Presentations with slideshows are helpful for communication and easy to use. This was my first experience presenting to a large audience and I am thankful to IREX for this. We will continue organising similar presentations in future”.

 

TAG Girls gain Voice in their communities and Employment

Although the TAG project is new in Azerbaijan and participants are young they are gaining recognition from their communities. Their presentations are attended by more and more people, and they are invited to many events organised by libraries and schools. Recently, two TAG participants from Kurdamir were offered jobs based on their IT qualifications.

  • Konul Amirova was offered an internship at the local electricity office for the summer where her computer skills are needed. Another TAG participant, Narmin Huseynzade has been invited to teach her classmates computer skills. She said, “I am really very happy to be a part of TAG project, because it gave me an opportunity not only to develop my leadership and IT skills, but also to take the first steps in my future career.”

  • Sabina Gaziyeva from Mingechevir and Jamila Pashayeva from Ismayilli are now finalists for the FLEX exchange program, which would allow them to study for a year at a US high school. Ms. Sabina Gaziyeva plans to continue her IT training at the university level.

TAG participants network and share their thoughts in online forum/chat

On March 14th, 37 girls from 10 regions participated in an online forum to share their experiences during the program so far and to discuss problems in their communities. The discussion was also an opportunity for the girls to before attending the Spring Leadership training in Baku. The forum was so successful that TAG participants decided to organize and hold the forum on a weekly basis on their own.

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