"Raising civic engagement of the youth through non-formal education"

Contracting Authority:

Donor of the project: BMZ

Budget line(s):

Financing (amount): 130 000 EUR

Institute for International Cooperation of the German Adult Education Association / (DVV International – IIZ/DVV)

Level

Regional project/ Piloting Curricula/

Contacts:

Baratov Ravshan, DVV International in Central Asia,  Project Coordinator

E: baratov@dvv-international.kg

Tel: +996 312 323 901, 0558 858758

Objectives of the action

To promote leadership and strengthen certain key competencies of young people to make them able to be self-confident active citizens oriented on social development and changes.   

OVERALL OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT      

To contribute to raising of civic engagement of youth and young adults aiming wellbeing of the societies in Central Asia.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE

To elaborate and pilot a comprehensive curriculum for the training of young leaders/activists in the two countries of Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan) and to promote regional networking.   

Target group(s)

MAIN TARGET GROUP

At the beginning of the project, 20 people from each country were selected, but according to the results of all Modules, the certificates could be obtained:

Kyrgyzstan: Osh - 20 people, Bishkek - 12 people

Tajikistan: 19 people

Description of the group: Young people aged 18-25 with knowledge of the Russian language, having an interest in learning, self-improvement and a commitment to non-violent communication, striving for creative self-expression for the wealth of society. Gender parity was observed, in its absence the imbalance in the group did not exceed 70%.

ADDITIONAL TARGET GROUP

Non-formal education providers in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Member Countries

Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan

Exchange form between the countries:

Online consultations during preparation work for the trainings, exchange of reporting information, online discussions of organisers after completion of the project.. Developing joint recommendations for the implementation of the modules. Publications in social media.

Main activities

The following activities were carried out within the project:

 A curriculum has been developed with the approval of further training

 A summer camp for youth representatives has been created

 Development and implementation of social projects

 The network of project participants (Internet, social networks, instant messengers, etc.).

FORMAT AND DURATION

Short-term periodic trainings (for 3-4 days) during 6 months.

AMOUNT AND THE CONTENT OF MODULES

One introductionary module and 5 thematical modules.

Overall amount of face-to-face  In total: 25 training days (approx. 200 hours) and additional 10 days for self-study. List of learnin Modules:

I. Module-Leadership and I as a leader. Exploring her-/himself

II. Module - Successful communication, rhetoric and mastering presentation

III. Module- World of digital communication. Media-literacy/ -competences

IV. Module - Me and the world surrounding (politics, economy, personality, society)

V. Module -  Social project making

* On the base of the Curriculum GlobALE  3d Module "Communication and group dynamics in Adult Education".

VI. Implementing 9 small-scale social projects

LEARNING METHODS

Small lectures, brainstorming, testing and diagnosis, exercises and psychological technics, self-reflection,

Practical application of leadership skills, role and situation games, group discussions,

teamwork, individual work on exercises, recommendations of the trainer.

HANDOUTS

Feedback questionairies, short readers, presentations, photos, drawings, schemes, diagrammes, etc.

After completion of the curriculum was:

1. Provided consulting and methodological support for social design

2. Demonstration, analysis and generalization of the experience of participation in public life, civic initiatives in terms of achieving social effects

3. Final event for participants: participation in the final discussion on the topic: “Problems of modern youth and ways to solve them” was held in Akun boarding house, Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan

4. Implemented mini-projects of selected teams

Description of the action

The Regional Youth project started in December 2016 with the selection of participants and the following implementation of the Module 0 in two locations in Kyrgyzstan - Bishkek and Osh, and one location in Tajikistan - Dushanbe. This and the following two modules  were organised in partnership with three local youth organisations: the Institute for Youth Development in Bishkek, Youth of Osh, and Youth House in Dushanbe. They also assisted participants in proposal writing and implementation of the
small-scale social projects.
Module 1 After completion of this module 60 young people gained knowledge in the field of theory basics of leadership, developed leadership skills and are able to effectively integrate and use the knowledge and skills in their daily life, in youth communities in conditions of rapid changing environment. Module
1 was implemented in each of the locations separately by invited trainers and with the assistance of partner organisations.
Module 2 is aimed at developing skills of effective communication and public speaking. After the successful completion of the Module 2, youngsters obtained knowledge in the field of effective communication, developed skills in arguing  their points of view, convince people, participate in discussions, and respect opinions of opponents. Now they are able to efficient integrate and use gained

knowledge and skills in daily life overcoming conflicts and misunderstanding problems. The training on this module was also conducted by invited trainers in the respective project locations separately.
Module 3 was designed to transmit basics of media literacy and informational security. After the successful completion of this module, youngsters obtained knowledge on media literacy, developed critical skills of analysing incoming information and skills in using media space of their own content with the aim to solve social and personal problems or creative self-expression. In terms of its relevance, internationalism and complexity, it was decided to involve international trainers with the relevant practical experience in implementing similar trainings. After a call for tenders, a group of experts from the non-governmental organisation Media Education Centre (Serbia) led by Mr. Miomir Rajcevic was selected. The training for 40 participants from all the three locations took place in March 2017 in Bishkek and included both theoretic and practical knowledge on orienting in the media space and creating and placing own media contents. As the added value element, trainers from all the 3 partner organisations were invited in order to gain new knowledge in implementing media literacy trainings. After their arrival they implemented the training for the remained participants.

Module 4 provided basic knowledge in the feld of political, economical and social settings  in the world, as well as in the feld of global challenges - environmental, demographic, gender and others, which may serve as menace for further development of human beings. Participants of this module are able to solve own problems and contribute to solving problems of the society, and know how to approach state bodies for problem solving or how to efciently interact with other structures when necessary. They also can serve as positive change makers, promoting inter-cultural and international tolerance, environmental conscience, healthy lifestyle. This module was implemented on the regional level in Bishkek with the participation of 40 participants from three locations by May 2017. In order to assure impartiality of the training on these sensitive topics for the region, the organisers engaged international Russian speaking trainers from the partner organisation MitOst e.V. (Berlin, Germany) led
by Mr. Maxim Stepanow.  Also here, trainers from all the 3 partner organisations were invited for participating in the training in order to multiply gained knowledge and skills after their arrival for the rest of the  participants.
Module 5 was designed to sum-up the previous modules‘ results. The objective of the Module was to provide general principles of elaborating and managing projects, including social. Promote social entrepreneurship, engage youth in social business. The training was organised for all the 60 participants of the project at the lake Issyk-Kul‘ (Kyrgyzstan) to enable them to meet each other and contribute to team building and tolerance. The trainer team was composed of both international and local experts as well as multiplicators from the three locations. As the result of the training, participants obtained knowledge in the feld of theoretic basics of social project management and social entrepreneurship. They  developed their goal setting and goal achievement skills, based on efcient planning of activities and team  facilitation. Participants of this module were enabled to efcient integrate and use gained knowledge and skills not just in the framework
of projects but in their daily life, youth and local communities in conditions of rapidly changing nvironment. By the end of the training participants were divided into three initiative groups per location and elaborated their own smallscale social oriented project proposals. The organisers of the project as well as the partner organisations revised and provided recommendations on its improvements. Thus, by the end of August 2017 some of the initiative groups started implementation of their own projects.
Implementation of small-scale social oriented projects. The idea to enable the initiative groups to implement their own projects was realised in order to provide participants with a platform to apply in practice knowledge and skills gained by the Curriculum. Each of the selected project was granted with
1.500,- EUR.

Partners of the project

1. Public Association “Youth of Osh”, Osh, Kyrgyzstan
2. Institute for Youth Development, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
3. PO "Youth House", Tajikistan

Results:

RESULTS OF THE PROJECT

1. A comprehensive curriculum for the training of young leaders/activists is elaborated and piloted;
2. Ca. 60 young people (ca. 20 in each of the countries) graduated from the program, strengthened their certain key competencies and interacted with each other on the regional level;
3. Selected partner organisations from the three countries increased their capacities to implement comprehensive youth programs;
4. Project experience is documented and ready for further multiplication by all interested partners and offices of  DVV International.