Ashgabat, February 17, 2023: The Public Association “Yenme” launched the Volunteer Academy youth project under the grant program of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Turkmenistan intended to support youth leadership.

The Volunteer Academy project is aimed at developing the volunteer movement as an effective tool for civil and patriotic education, creating a mechanism for promotion and popularization of values and practice of volunteering in the society. The project provides for creation of a platform for exchange of experiences, gaining new knowledge and skills in the area of volunteerism for implementation of ideas. The project will offer an opportunity to communicate with like-minded people and coordinate the activities of volunteers to achieve positive results in solving social issues.

As a launch event, the Volunteer Academy project held the Volunteer Forum'23 in an online format, bringing together 30 young activists from Turkmenistan. The forum reviewed the experience of the volunteer movement in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, discussed the role of volunteers in society and development of intellectual volunteering. The forum participants also shared their professional observations. The forum laid the foundation for development of interaction between volunteer organizations, public associations and young leaders.

It is expected that by the end of the project, more than 100 young people will get acquainted with the volunteer movement, more than 50 young people will join the ranks of volunteers and will actively participate in the life of society.

The Volunteer Academy project is being implemented by the Public Association “Yenme” under a grant program to support youth leadership within the framework of the project “Building Youth Resilience through Community Engagement” implemented by IOM in Turkmenistan in partnership with the Eurasia Foundation (EF) as part of the Social Innovations in Central Asia (SICA) program with the financial support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Strengthening the capacity of young people for improvement of well-being of local communities is one of the goals of the project.

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For additional questions, please contact:

Dovlet Chariyev

IOM Communication Focal Point

E-mail: dchariyev@iom.int

Tel:+99312 488407