Youth and Adults. A dialogue about the past, present and future.
A three-day training for trainers was held for 40 young and adult participants in the city of Jalal-Abad
«Last time I sang 4 years ago, and recently I became a little bit depressed, life turned into routine - work - home. But today, next to these guys, I felt myself so young, I wanted to sing again, I have not been so happy for a long time», - shared her impressions Kalys, a participant of the ToT.
Various studies show that one of the main reasons of the radicalization of society in Kyrgyzstan is the gap between the adult and the younger generations. In fact, these two generations were born and grown in two different countries, hence the different views on life, and a different type of thinking. Often parents and children can not come to the common, having completely opposite opinions about the same issue.
The Youth United for the Future (YOU) project is aimed to reduce the gap between younger and older generations in society and create a more cohesive community in which young people have their voice and are resistant to extremist rhetoric. In the framework of the project, a three-day training for trainers was held for 40 young and adult participants from June 28 to June 30, 2018 in the city of Jalal-Abad.
«The main purpose of this training is to create a platform where youth and adults get to know each other and exchange their views on societal challenges, become aware of and minimize their mutual prejudice, while building mutual trust, and also discover differences and similarities in many aspects and find common features, overcoming the gap between generations. Previously, we held a separate training for youth and a separate training for adults, now we have united them so that they could create a good basis for future cooperation», - noted Daniya Baisubanova, the YOU Project Manager.
The main difference of the YOU project trainings is that there are no lectures, brochures and other standard attributes of such events, everything takes place in the form of exercises, which makes the learning process fascinating and interesting. For example, an exercise in which young people and adults express their opinions and feelings about the opposite generation, while not criticizing, but justifying their opinion.
“At first I even got angry when the young people started to say what they would like to change in the behavior of adults, but I thought about it and realized that I myself do not like it,” - said Gulsara, a participant of the ToT. “We adults became accustomed to consider ourselves always right and do not even allow the possibility that this may not be so. Today, I understood a lot about my behavior, and also understood many moments in the behavior of young people, which previously seemed strange to me, but today, when I heard the explanation of these moments from the young people themselves, I changed my attitude,” – Gulsara noted.
Many participants of the project expressed a desire to share the gained knowledge to their friends and relatives. Some asked the project representatives to help them organize such trainings in their villages, schools, universities and work places, which is an absolute indicator of the success of the event.
In the future plans of the project - the development of trainings on topics that were requested by the participants themselves - volunteering, leadership, writing projects, religion, etc. In addition, the project will assist in the development and implementation of small joint initiatives on the integration of generations in order to increase youth resistance to extremist rhetoric, i.e. participants of the trainings will be allocated small grants for the implementation of group projects in their communities. The results and achievements of young people, supported by their adult mentors, will be presented at the stakeholder meeting, which should be the culmination of the first phase of the project.
«It was a very useful event, we exchanged views, worked in a team, spoke about what we think about both good and bad, and it was all in such a friendly manner that we did not feel any embarrassment or fear, we were free. And even despite the difference in age, I felt myself on the same page with all the participants», - expressed her feelings Tattybubu, the participant of the ToT.
«At first it was a little uneasy, because there were not only my peers around, but also people who are the same age as my parents, but gradually, working in a team, these awkward feelings disappeared somewhere, I began to feel myself equal, people listened to me and I was heard, I understood that my words are taken seriously. At the same time, I heard the opinion of adults and realized that I perceived a lot of things a little bit wrong, now I understood a lot, and this, I think, will greatly help me in my life», - said Bekbolsun, the participant of the ToT.
Youth United for the Future (YOU) project is funded by Helvetas and implemented by Youth of Osh and Progress Aravan public funds.
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