Ashgabat, 10 February 2021: The regional project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) “Strengthening Community Resilience and Regional Cooperation to Prevent Violent Extremism in Central Asia” funded by the government of Japan convened for a final Project Board meeting with implementing partners.

The meeting was opened by Ms. Halbibi Tachjanova, Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Protection of Population of Turkmenistan, Ms. Natia Natsvlishvili, UNDP Resident Representative a. i., Mr. Yoshino Shuntaro, Second Secretary of the Embassy of Japan in Ashgabat and Mr. Begmuhammet Meredov, representative of the Youth organization of Turkmenistan named after Magtymguly.

The event was also attended by representatives of respective authorities and other stakeholders: Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population of Turkmenistan, Youth Organization of Turkmenistan named after Magtymguly, UNDP, the Embassy of Japan in Ashgabat, as well as hakimliks, local councils of Youth organization and Labor and Employment Departments of the pilot cities of Ashgabat, Tejen, Mary, Turkmenabat, Turkmenbashy and Dashoguz, Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkmenistan, Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkmenistan and Women Union.

“Amid the global pandemic, our collaboration has brought impressive results. It has unleashed the power of young women and men, especially in regions, to create the future of their own, as the precondition for prevention of violent extremism.  We are ready to build on the achieved results and further expand our collaboration with all partners towards our shared objectives”, emphasized Ms. Natia Natsvlishvili, UNDP Resident Representative a.i.

During the meeting Mehri Karakulova, UNDP Project Coordinator presented achieved goals and results. She noted the main two objectives of the project were empowerment of young people and creating employment opportunities for them.  The main focus of the project was job seeking young people who need support at the labor market. Focusing on the results of the project, Mehri noted that the total number of young people involved in the project activities was over 2,000 people and 52% of them were women. The project made special efforts to encourage women participation in the project activities.

Employment opportunities were created for 1,224 people (with 50% women participation) by applying active labor market methodologies of profiling and case management. Over 900 young people, 53% of them women, received profiling interviewing with the specialists of local Labour and employment departments; 700 young people, 63% women, received a profession in formal professional schools, lyceums, and colleges; 189 people, 59% women, received work tools to start their self-employment activities; 23 young people, 39% women, received equipment and started their own businesses that created additional 60 jobs in 6 pilot cities.

The project’s contribution to digitalization of the national partners included launch of an Online school project that includes video and text lessons for young people on various topics according to their interest. Moreover, 2 mobile apps were developed to offer young people tools to stay informed of the activities of Youth organization and assist in job searching.

UNDP continues to play a key role in Prevention of Violent Extremism efforts globally in close cooperation with the UN Office for Counter Terrorism (UNOCT) and in close partnership with other UN agencies, international development partners, national governments, civil society and the private sector.