IREX
International Research & Exchanges Board

State

Regional Library Information Centers (RLIC) Program

June 2007


government official

RLIC On-Line Forum brings together Government Official and Regional Citizens to Discuss Tourism in Azerbaijan

Mahir Gahramanov, head of the domestic tourism sector development department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Azerbaijan, went online with RLIC users to the development and future prospects of tourism in Azerbaijan on June 19th. 

During the online forum Gahramanov was able to share a great deal of information from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism with the forum participants.  He mentioned the adoption of a special state program in 2007 that had planned for the development of 7 major tourist routes in Azerbaijan over the next 10 years and the opening of 6 tourism information centers across the country.  Gahramanov also engaged in a more extended conversation with participants from Gabala and Salyan about the abundance of resources in Azerbaijan conducive to tourism.  The moderators and participants agreed that Azerbaijan has great potential to develop a thriving tourist industry through its areas of natural beauty and historical value.  

Gahramanov concluded the forum by thanking the participants for their questions and input.  He also stressed that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism was always looking for reliable partners to work with to promote tourism in Azerbaijan.  Both the moderator and participants left the forum with a fresh outlook and new ideas for tourism in Azerbaijan.

 


celebration

Salyan Celebrates International Day of Children’s Rights

On June 1st, 35 children, parents and teachers marked the International Day of Children’s Rights at the Salyan RLIC. The goal of this event was to focus attention on issues that concerned today’s youth in Salyan.  The event also included presentations on non-traditional teaching methods, including use of the Internet for in-classroom learning as well as other inter-active learning tools. 

At the end of the presentations Salyan site monitor Sevda Guliyeva introduced the participants to the website:  http://childbook.aznet.org/childbook/, an Internet page focused solely on Azerbaijani language literature for children.
 
At the conclusion of the event one of the children’s parents noted:  “This was a unique event. Usually we take our children to events that we are invited to, but this time they took us to their own event.  We liked the discussions and activeness of our children, their growing interest in learning more about computers and developing themselves,” said one of the parents.

 

Young RLIC Users Continue to Grow and Achieve:

RLIC User Wins Runner-up in the Azerbaijani Republican Essay Competition

Ilaha Abbasova is one of RLIC Khachmaz’s most active users.  The RLIC center has become like a second home for her and she can often be found there using the Internet or reading books donated by the US Embassy.  Recently Ilaha participated in an Azerbaijani National Republican essay competition on The Differences Between the Rich and the Poor.   In her essay she argued that equal rights need to be provided for everyone including the poor as well as the rich. She prepared her essay at the RLIC after extensive research on the Internet. 

Ilaha was rewarded for her hard work and received second place in the competition.  Ilaha was invited to Baku and presented with a diploma, digital camera and much praise at a reception for the Ministry of Education.  Ilaha even had a chance to meet the Chairwoman of the State Committee on Family, Women and Child affairs and she described the event as the biggest success thus far in her life.


website

User Learns Web Design, Introduces Self and City to the World Online

RLIC users are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their usage of the Internet. In June, Telman Abulayev published his personal website in Salyan, http://telman.iatp.az.  Telman has been a regular RLIC user and was trained on website development by the RLIC site monitor. Together with the site monitor he created his first website and is hoping to create many more in the future. 

Telman hopes to use this website to let other people in the world know more about himself and also about Azerbaijan and the city of Salyan.  He hopes to meet and get to know people that read his webpage and make new friends through the Internet.  Telman is one of the first users in the city to create their own webpage and the RLIC Salyan site monitor, Sevda Guliyeva, hopes that many more will follow in his footsteps.


presentation

Mingachevir Tech Age Girls (TAG) Participant Attends Peace Corps Summer Camp

As a participant of the TAG project Mujgan Mustafayeva not only gained new IT technologies but she also improved her leadership and communication skills.  Mujgan was able to demonstrate her skills in a Peace Corps organized Girls Leading Our World summer camp.

The skills that Mujgan gained through the TAG project not only helped her write an essay that assured her participation in the camp but also gave her the tools to be a leader at the camp:  “Before the GLOW project I took part in the TAG project, where I learned many useful tools to become a leader. GLOW also gave me lots of many experiences and ideas - I think every girl should participate in this type of project once in their life.”

 

RLICs Act as Hubs of Civil Society Development in the Regions:


training

Mingachevir Public Advocacy training

More than 20 residents of Mingachevir submitted recommendations for addressing key local concerns to the regional government after a two-day training entitled “Advocacy in the Public Interest”, hosted by the Mingachevir RLIC center. The training was a part of a project being implemented by the Mingachevir Education Center for Youth called “Creating Advocacy Skills in Refugee and IDP Communities of Azerbaijan”, and completed on July 21st.  It was designed to reach Mingachevir’s sizeable IDP community, mostly refugees from the Karabakh War, who still experience some difficulties adjusting to life in their new homes.

During the training, participants were taught about the advantages of advocacy work and how to develop advocacy strategies and campaigns.  The participants broke into smaller groups and worked out a list of problems that their communities currently faced and prepared advocacy strategies to address these problems.  The training concluded with the participants drafting a document listing some of the difficulties that they faced and recommendations on how to resolve these difficulties.  The document was later delivered to the office of the Mingachevir Executive Committee.


training

Ismayilli Youth Receive Training on Business Development

In June, the RLIC in Ismayilli assisted the UN Development Programme and the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection to organize a three-day workshop for youth on business opportunities. 

The objectives of the workshop were to teach young people about business forecasting and mapping.  During the workshop the participants painted an economic map of Ismayilli and the nearby Lahic settlement including natural, historical, labor and communication infrastructure aspects of the district.  RLIC provided workshop participants on uses of technology in business, establishing RLIC as a useful tool gain more information about business opportunities in Ismayilli.


Mingachevir English Video, Discussion, and Action Club

On June 21st, 2007, 12 members of the local community in Mingachevir gathered to take part in the first meeting of English Video, Discussion, and Action Club.  The club was organized by Peace Corps Volunteers in Mingachevir who are hoping to establish a group of young people who would be interested in discussing different aspects of their lives and community through movies and discussions.  The discussions will focus on issues related to economics and ecological as well as other aspects of community life specific to Mingachevir.  The project will also serve to improve the participants English by watching English language movies and engaging in discussion in English.