The Uluchay Social-Economic Innovation Center will use renewed Endowment support to encourage the participation of young people in public life in Sheki. Uluchay will organize twice-monthly events, including a speaker series and debates, and administer a small fund to support youth civic initiative projects. The organization will train a select group of young journalists to write articles for a newsletter, contribute to a blog, and film a short documentary.

In the first of the program, the organization will hold regular events at its office in Sheki. Twice each month Uluchay will host an event, either an information session or a debate. Information sessions will feature guest speakers, such as professors, human rights activists, international visitors, or local artists, who will be invited to give lectures about their specialties. Debates will engage the youth themselves in discussing issues, such as gender equality, community service, education opportunities, the rights and responsibilities of citizens, the history of democratic movements, and human rights. Uluchay anticipates approximately 30 participants ranging in age from 16 to 30 years to take part in each event.

In the four years that NED has been supporting Uluchay’s civic awareness program, the organization has become a meeting place for a group of active young people who are interested in taking on projects within their communities. In order to enable these young people to design and implement their own projects, Uluchay will administer a small fund to support youth civic initiatives. Proposals will be solicited on specific topics, including gender issues, youth and local government, the environment, and youth activism. Interested students will prepare applications, which will be evaluated based on their relevancy and the capabilities of the youth in question. The organization will grant eight to ten awards (with a maximum of three per topic area) of no more than $350 to cover costs for publishing or meetings. Uluchay will provide technical assistance as the youth carry out their projects and use existing processes to monitor and evaluate the progress of the projects. Possible projects could include reporting on gender equality and other human rights issues, organizing environmental or public health campaigns, or encouraging youth participation in local government.

Finally, Uluchay will organize an intensive training for six to eight young journalists, ages 15 to 30. The students will attend two 1.5-hour trainings per month for three months, during which they will learn basic journalism techniques, such as conducting interviews, journalistic formats and styles, and documentary filmmaking. The trainings will emphasize the use of new media and social networking. As part of the course the students will publish a monthly newsletter, maintain a blog, and complete a short documentary film. The content of the blog and the newsletter will focus on current events and local politics, as reported by the young journalists. Uluchay will conduct a competition at the end of the program for the best blog post from the participants. The journalists’ work will be publicized through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social networks and online platforms.