DUSHANBE, September 20, 2011, Asia-Plus — The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is fostering youth leadership in Tajikistan through a series of summer camps and workshops organized by participants of the Youth Theater for Peace (YTP) program, the U.S. Embassy reported on September 19.
This program uses an arts-based approach to engage communities in identifying and finding solutions to local problems. Youth and adults trained in these innovative methods are organizing training sessions for young people in their communities in Sughd and Khatlon.
To date, YTP grant recipients have conducted 20 “Drama for Conflict Transformation “ training sessions that reached more than 300 young people in both Sughd and Khatlon. These skills will allow young leaders to establish drama clubs in their own schools. The organizers and trainers are youth and adults from the same communities who were trained by YTP last summer. They have applied the training methodology to develop stage performances that spark discussion on local issues.
One participant said, “I liked the games because we did not know each other and it helped us to have a dialogue. Therefore, I am glad that I was selected for this training. I will be able to use my art skills in the drama club which will be created in our school.”
Another training participant remarked, “It was my dream to get into this group of youth leaders since attending a Youth Theater for Peace performance earlier this year.” Through the performances they have staged, YTP participants have reached over 10,000 people in more than 80 communities in Khatlon and Sughd.
The Youth Theater for Peace project is one of the many assistance projects the American people, through the United States Agency for International Development, support in Tajikistan. Since 1992, the American people have provided approximately $984 million in programs that support Tajikistan’s democratic institutions, health care, education and economic growth.
