DUSHANBE, November 1, 2011, Asia-Plus — The United States Embassy recently hosted the first Community Policing Youth Camp in Tajikistan, “Youth for Safer Communities,” the U.S. Embassy reported on November 1.
Thirty youth leaders aged fourteen to twenty, together with ten police officers and civil society leaders from the pilot communities of Gharm, Dusti, and Qairoqqum, participated in the camp. The purpose of the camp, implemented by The Emergence Group, was to further strengthen the partnerships between youth and police, develop community policing knowledge and skills, and identify and develop responses to common youth problems.
A youth leader from Qairoqqum remarked, “It was useful to discuss what we can do together, as young people, in partnership with the police, to solve youth-related problems and to make our communities safer.”
The program included educational sessions on discrimination, partnerships, collaborative problem solving, creative conflict management, and leadership, as well as entertaining teambuilding activities. Participants created a model representing their vision for a safer community and worked on a project to address youth-related problems, including access to education for girls, prevention of anti-social behavior and drug use, and youth involvement in environmental protection. The projects were presented to a panel of Community Policing Partnership Team leaders from each community, who will implement them with support from the Community Policing Centers, established through the U.S. Embassy’s International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs project.
Addressing the participants, the Deputy Police Commander from Dusti emphasized, “We need to find better ways for the police and youth to cooperate. The solution to the problems is not yours alone. We must support and work with you.”
The Youth Theatre for Peace (YTP) from Sarband, a U.S. Agency for International Development grant recipient, also attended the camp. The YTP used a participative, arts-based approach to challenge the youth participants to find solutions for the interrelated problems of gender inequality, lack of access to education, forced marriage, and family violence. Deputy Chief of Mission Sarah Penhune attended the event. The YTP and youth camp participants had the opportunity to talk with her about their experiences and the problems they face, and she emphasized the importance of dialogue among communities in order to find solutions to common problems. The YTP members participated in two days of camp sessions, alongside the youth from Qairoqqum, Gharm, and Dusti, which resulted in the creation of additional partnerships for peace.
The U.S. Government is committed to supporting Tajikistan’s law enforcement agencies and justice sector institutions and looks forward to continued close cooperation in future projects. Since 2003, the U.S. Embassy’s International Narcotics and Law Enforcement program has provided more than $52 million to support security and justice for the people of Tajikistan.
