Studying in Virginia thanks to Demigeluu Jashtar

Aidai Kadyralieva

Perception of youth in Naryn
Every person has ideas. However,
sometimes adults are not ready to listen to the youth because of its lack of life
experience and knowledge.
Aidar is an activist at
the school-gymnasium #2. Therefore, he always wanted to prove himself outside
school life, to contribute to Naryn’s development.
Nevertheless, he did not
know how he could get involved more, if he could go to the City Hall with own
suggestions and ideas.
Changing stereotypes about youth
Frequent problems between
adults and youth stem from mistrust of young people as equal partners. Different
research studies all over the world show such stereotypes as young people are
lazy, irresponsible and unsociable.
Through his school activism,
Aidar wanted to show the determination and readiness of young people to change
their environment for the better. However, he had no idea how to become a
changemaker in his community outside of the school yet.

Capacity building in civil activism
USAID’s youth project,
known as “Demilgeluu Jashtar,” enables youth to contribute to the social,
economic, and civic life of their communities.
After seeing an announcement about the launch
of the Demilgeluu Jashtar project,
Aidar decided to apply to get more experience in cooperation with local
authorities and development soft skills. As a result, he entered the youth
initiative group of Naryn.
Aidar took participation in the social makeathon – a forum
for socially important projects’ developers, where youth inspired by ideas
worked together for 48 hours to solve problems in their communities.

During that event, the initiative group from Naryn
proposed a social project related to a co-working center creation, which would
gather young people and build their capacity in civil activism. From March 2021,
it welcomes everyone to attend sessions on forum theater, debate technologies,
chess, etc.
“Now I see what benefits
I bring to society. There are already
results, which means it
is time to set new goals!” – Aidar.
Acceptance to exchange programs
Aidar wrote about his participation in Demilgeluu
Jashtar project applying for the FLEX exchange program and PASCH-JUGENDCAMP youth summer school. In his motivation letters he
mentioned about skills, knowledge and achievements gained on different project
stages.
As a result, he got accepted to both programs. Even
though, studies in the USA will be online,
he is not upset. As Aidar said, “this is also
a new experience”.
“I will study in Virginia, thanks to the Demilgeluu
Jashtar project!” – Aidar.

The Demilgeluu Jashtar project is funded by USAID and is focused on increasing civic participation of youth and preparing them for the labor market by creating various opportunities.