Ashgabat, 31 January 2023 - The youth project “Blindness is not a sentence” was kicked off at the Social Rehabilitation Center of the Blind and Deaf Society of Turkmenistan (BDST) under a grant program of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Turkmenistan within the framework of the project “Building Youth Resilience Through Community Engagement” aimed at supporting youth leadership.

The youth project “Blindness is not a sentence” was initiated by young leader Shabibi Osmanova, Chairwoman of the Youth Committee at BDST, which successfully passed the selection process. The project aims to help late-blinded people overcome emotional and psychological barriers and develop their skills for adaptation and integration into society.

The project “Blindness is not a sentence” will involve 50 late-blinded people who find it difficult to adapt to the social environment, need psychological assistance, social adaptation and integration into society. In this regard, the project will organize trainings for target groups in the cities of Ashgabat, Dashoguz and Balkanabat. Trainings participants will review specific methods for overcoming domestic problems, get acquainted with the methods of orientation and finding direction in space and mobility, learn the types and methods of relaxation, and also dig deeper into the information technology. The uniqueness of the project lies in the fact that the trainers themselves are late-blinded people, and training materials will be presented using the peer-to-peer method.

By the end of the project, the training participants will be able to work independently on removing emotional and psychological barriers, overcoming their phobias, reconsidering their prejudices regarding the use of a cane for blind people, not be ashamed of their current condition, learn the basic computer skills adapted for a blind person.

This project is one of the nine Youth Leadership Grant projects aimed at building capacity of young people through strengthening their leadership qualities and involving young people in social projects supported by public associations together with young leaders that contribute to social, economic and environmental development in communities.

The project “Building youth resilience through community engagement” is implemented by IOM in partnership with the Eurasia Foundation (EF) within the framework of the Social Innovations in Central Asia (SICA) program with the financial support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Strengthening the capacity of young people to participate in local community projects is one of the goals of the project to develop and improve the well-being of local communities.

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For additional questions, please contact:

Dovlet Chariyev

IOM Communication Focal Point

E-mail: dchariyev@iom.int

Tel:+99312 488407