Youth Affairs Agency of the Republic of Uzbekistan

Youth - The Builders of a New Uzbekistan

Over 2 billion of the world's population, or more than 25 percent, is made up of youth. In our country, the youth demographic constitutes nearly 60 percent of the total population. Hence, Uzbekistan is recognized as a country of youth. Imagining the next decades, this segment will become a decisive force in the governance of state and society. The importance of focusing on the education and upbringing of the youth, solving their problems in a timely manner, creating conditions for their development as individuals, and shaping professional skills becomes evidently critical.

Our country's leader emphasizes that "Any task related to the future of the youth holds primary importance," and this approach is also reflected in the "Uzbekistan–2030" strategy. For instance, the first direction of this significant document, titled "Creating appropriate conditions for every individual to realize their potential," consists of 44 points, more than 25 of which are directly aimed at the interests of the youth.

No matter how attractive and vibrant our plans and programs in the field of youth policy might be, their widespread implementation in life is of decisive importance. Particularly, if responsible government officials strictly adhere to execution discipline, ensuring the fulfillment of every task and duty within set deadlines and to a high standard, the benefits of reforms for the youth will be tangibly felt by every young individual, who will enjoy and benefit from them.

In this regard, the Youth Affairs Agency has a system for monitoring and accountability for the implementation of our President's decrees, decisions, directives, and assignments. Specifically, the execution of each assignment is monitored through an electronic system, and the performance of leaders and responsible employees is continuously assessed based on the most critical Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

As a result, last year, the Agency successfully organized the execution of tasks set by our President: 40 tasks outlined in 11 decrees, 162 tasks in 34 decisions, 24 tasks in 2 directives, and 65 tasks in 18 meeting minutes. Consequently, our youth gained unprecedented privileges and opportunities on their path toward their noble goals.

What do the youth want?

So, what do our young people want from the state today? Naturally, they desire freedom and favorable conditions to realize their creative and intellectual potential without any obstacles, equal opportunities, and solid guarantees for the future.

Currently, the state policy on youth is fully directed towards these goals. From providing legal guarantees to the younger generation, to ensuring quality education, mastering professions and crafts, engaging in entrepreneurship, personal development, and, in essence, mobilizing all opportunities for them to work and build a prosperous future.

In particular, in the past year 2023, unprecedented large-scale efforts were made to support and ensure the interests of the younger generation in the history of our country. Naturally, this is absolutely normal for our homeland, which has chosen the path of rapid democratic development. This is because, in a world where science and technology are rapidly advancing and global competition is increasing, the future destiny of countries remains dependent on the intellectual potential and talent of the youth.

In the Address to the Oliy Majlis and our people on December 29, 2020, our President set clear tasks regarding taking the state policy on youth to a new level and finding effective solutions to the issues of working with youth. I am confident in saying that the work carried out over the past period has been directed towards the implementation of these tasks.

“Youth Balance”

"In our country, the mechanisms for implementing state policy on youth are being perfected year by year, continuing in new and effective directions. To create equal opportunities for all our boys and girls, in 2023, based on the 'Youth Balance', our youth were divided into three categories – 'good', 'average', and 'difficult'. Extensive assistance was provided to nearly 400,000 young people in the 'difficult' category, who are unemployed and in need of the state's attention and care. Specifically, they were assigned to 133 ministers and deputies, and 6,622 governors, sector, and organization leaders. Based on this, a schedule for organizing meetings of leaders with young people in the 'difficult' category was developed."

The Republic Commission for the Coordination of Work with Youth in Neighborhoods studied the state of youth work individually in 208 districts (cities), 832 sectors, and 9448 neighborhoods. As a result of practical measures, 146,000 young people in the "difficult" category were transferred to the "green" category.

Specifically, the issues of 185,000 identified youths were resolved for 181,000 of them (98 percent). Employment was provided for 51,379 of them, material assistance was given to 30,847, 31,910 were medically examined and treated, and various socio-economic issues of 66,816 were resolved.

Based on the guarantee of the youth leader and the assigned responsible leader, 6,293 (45 percent) youths under probation control and 13,567 (61 percent) under preventive control were discharged ahead of schedule. 5,552 (60 percent) youths who regularly missed classes were returned to education, 166 (20 percent) youths using narcotics and psychotropic substances were returned to a healthy lifestyle, and a positive environment was stabilized in 5,204 (81 percent) troubled families.

18,148 youths (29 percent) who returned from foreign migration were provided with jobs. 3,791 (51 percent) young families on the verge of divorce were reconciled. 25,709 young people with disabilities were treated, 2,644 were provided with disability rehabilitation equipment, and 13,395 were provided with jobs.

Youth leaders conducted household surveys, forming a balance of 268,000 young people abroad and establishing constant communication with them. Through labor migration, 11,335 youths were placed in high-income jobs. To ensure the employment of youths returning from foreign labor migration, 54,075 hectares, including orchards (16,485 ha), vineyards (6,840.4 ha), reserves (3,066 ha), and arable land (27,684.4 ha) were studied, and 1,605.9 hectares were allocated.

Based on the "Kokand City Experience," 50,506 young individuals prone to committing crimes were identified, and a targeted "action plan" was executed for them. Of these, 3,860 were engaged in the "Courage School" military training camp, and 2,860 were involved in the "Patriot" educational camp, where they were instilled with love and loyalty to the homeland. Military service fees were paid for 7,605 unorganized youths, who were then incorporated into "Shield" community groups in neighborhoods.

With the aim of nurturing patriotism among the youth through military-sport games, the "Amir Temur Followers" military-patriotism Spartakiad was conducted, encompassing a total of 1.2 million young participants. A special training module for combating youth delinquency was developed, with 180 trainers prepared at the Ministry of Internal Affairs Academy. They trained 47,634 representatives of the "neighborhood quintet" using a cascade method.

As a result, no unemployed youths were left in 3,286 neighborhoods, and no crimes involving youths were committed in 2,831 neighborhoods, showcasing the productive effort of a significant collective within the system.

The "Youth Ledger" – a ledger of opportunities

The "Youth Ledger" is a database developed for identifying, addressing, and monitoring the problems of unemployed youth who need and desire social, economic, legal, psychological support, as well as education and vocational training. The types of assistance provided through the "Youth Ledger" have reached 30, and the period for reviewing applications has been reduced from 30 days to just 5 days.

With the recommendation of youth leaders, assistance worth 444 billion UZS was provided to 338,000 young men and women. Specifically, students' tuition fees were paid, and the costs of learning foreign languages and modern professions were covered. Unemployed youths were provided with labor tools. As a result of the assistance provided to date, youths are now engaged in entrepreneurship, farming, and business.

In every neighborhood, the "Youth Employment Program," approved by the community, was implemented. In 2023 alone, employment was secured for 236,120 unemployed youths and 189,085 school graduates. Within the framework of family entrepreneurship development programs, 150,000 youths were provided with 3.2 trillion UZS in preferential loans, and 163,000 youths were allocated 67,000 hectares of agricultural land. Self-employment was facilitated for 662,000 individuals, and 56,000 were trained in professions and secured employment.

"Five Initiatives Olympiad"

From 2023, the "Five Initiatives Olympiad" has been organized in four directions at the neighborhood, school, vocational education, and higher education institutions, covering a total of 11.7 million young people, which is 5.5 million more compared to 2022. Sports fields were built in the neighborhoods of the winning youths, numbering 623 in total. For the first time, the "Professions Competition" (in directions such as cooking, sewing, craftsmanship, confectionery, and men's barbering) brought together a large number of young people.

Furthermore, for the participation of more than 4500 young people, including those with disabilities, in need of social protection, and talented individuals, 2.3 billion UZS was allocated to organize free trips to historical and noteworthy cities such as Samarkand, Bukhara, Khorezm, and Shahrisabz under the slogan "Inclusive Uzbekistan." To date, 17 trips have been organized, involving over 3500 young people with disabilities.

Additionally, more than 5 million young people were engaged during the Youth Month organized in connection with June 30 – Youth Day.

In accordance with the instructions given by the head of our state during the meeting held on June 30, 2022, on Youth Day, and other regulatory legal documents, the "Five Initiatives Olympiad" is being held annually in two seasons, covering a wide range in sports, culture and arts, reading, and vocational directions. In particular, the President's decree of April 11, 2022, "On measures to elevate mass sports among youth in neighborhoods to a new level," and the Cabinet of Ministers' decree of February 16, 2024, "On organizing and conducting the 2024 season of the 'Five Initiatives Olympiad' aimed at meaningful organization of young people's free time, and further support of their talents and abilities" were implemented to ensure the execution of this year's competition calendar plan, promotion, and registration of interested young people for participation in the competitions.

The largest projects of the year

To support talented youth, a creative park was inaugurated at the Youth Creativity Palace in Tashkent. A “Creativity” bookstore with 150 seats was opened on the first floor of the palace. For over 97,000 young people studying in higher education institutions, a special stand promoting state policy on youth in 239 student dormitories, a "Book Caravan" project consisting of a stand with 23,900 pieces of fiction from 50 titles and QR-coded books was organized to develop reading. Within the framework of the "Exemplary Children" project aimed at teaching foreign languages, more than 1800 video lessons in 22 languages were created, covering 2 million youths.

To implement the decision of the President of Uzbekistan dated January 20, 2022, a separate building for the "Zakovat" intellectual club and an Intellectual Games Town were constructed. The "Zakovat" intellectual game, Rubik's cube, mental arithmetic, mnemonics, and other games were organized at the republic level, turning into a mass educational movement among the population. 2 million youths were involved in "Zakovat" and other intellectual games, declaring "Karshi city as the intellectual region of 2024".

The number of articles created in Uzbek on the Wikipedia internet network reached 239,000, ranking first in Central Asia and 45th in the world. Examination expenses of 21.7 billion UZS were covered for 12,359 youths who scored above 70% in 18 international examination systems for learning foreign languages. Projects like "Smart Reader" and "100 Million for Knowledge" were implemented to shape the intellectual potential of the youth.

To study the heritage of ancestors, a collection of 7 books discussing the scholars of the Renaissance period and their scientific heritage was published under the "Awakening" section. The texts of the books were formed based on scientific sources related to the life, activities, and creativity of the scholars of the early Renaissance period by distinguished scholars of several higher education institutions and prepared for publication.

Currently, in accordance with the decision of our President dated November 28, 2023, "On measures to implement the 'A Thousand Books for Youth' project", practical work began on the "1000 Books" project to translate and publish the best scientific-popular and fiction literature from foreign languages into Uzbek. In particular, contracts for copyright acquisition were signed for the first 10 books.

Supporting the Activities of Youth Leaders

The activities of youth leaders in 9,448 neighborhoods across our republic are continuously supported with methodological and practical assistance. In May 2023, a national training seminar on the "System of Individual Work with Youth" was organized at the youth camp in the Bostanlyk district of Tashkent region, resulting in the development and distribution of a methodological guide on organizing individual work with youth. Additionally:

Two video tutorials encompassing the "7+2" most important tasks were developed for youth leaders;

The "Side Notebook," containing all statistical data related to the activities of youth leaders, was developed and distributed;

A system for weekly work planning and reporting for youth leaders was established;

Four active leaders were sent for internships to Turkey and seven to Russia;

Tuition fees for the second semester were paid for 474 youth leaders admitted to distance learning programs at higher education institutions, totaling 3 billion 159 million UZS;

The "Best Neighborhood Youth Leader of the Year" national competition was held. In December of the previous year, within the "Youth Forum," meetings with hundreds of thousands of youths across all ministries and departments were organized to strengthen dialogue between youth and leaders, resolving numerous issues.

Considering 2024 has been declared the "Year of Supporting Youth and Business" in our country, a more extensive approach to ensuring youth interests will be implemented. Undoubtedly, youth are the decisive force of the state and society, and business and entrepreneurship form the foundation of our modern economy. This year's theme underscores the priority of training youth in modern professions, developing their entrepreneurial skills, implementing their initiatives, and ensuring their employment.

Specifically, a separate program to ensure the employment of 5 million people has been adopted this year. As our state leader has firmly stated, "Creating permanent income-generating jobs is essential to significantly reduce poverty." In 2024, a comprehensive and continuous system will be established to support youth in finding their rightful place in life, providing even broader opportunities and privileges for citizens interested in business, especially entrepreneurial youth.

As highlighted earlier, the "Uzbekistan-2030" strategy also prioritizes enhancing social protection for youth and reducing unemployment as a primary task. The goal is to secure employment for 400,000 youths and resolve their issues, aiming to reduce the youth unemployment rate from 14% to 11%. These tasks will be systematically executed during the "Year of Supporting Youth and Business."

Additionally, through the "Ibrat's Children" project, which has been eagerly anticipated among the youth, measures will be taken to increase the number of young people learning foreign languages to 1 million and young readers to 1.5 million through the "Reading" program. Additional infrastructure will be developed in the regions to create wider opportunities for meaningful organization of youth's free time and realization of their talents and abilities.

Extensive plans are also in place to support business. As a starting point, a special grant was announced for girls wanting to start their own business, where 50 girls will learn practical methods to start a business from 10 experienced experts for free over two months. The first phase of the project will consider candidates aged 18-30 who live in or can reside in Tashkent city.

It is clear that this year will be a year of significant opportunities for more than 19 million youths in our country. Great attention will be paid to creating broad opportunities for business and entrepreneurship, developing science, innovation, and information technology sectors. The advanced ideas and initiatives of the youth will be further encouraged.

Therefore, all leaders and responsible employees in the vertical system of the Youth Affairs Agency, from the neighborhood to the republic level, including youth leaders, have been fully mobilized to ensure the high-quality execution of each task and objective outlined in the state program for implementing the "Uzbekistan-2030" strategy in the "Year of Supporting Youth and Business."

The video conference meeting on execution discipline held on November 21, 2023, outlined by our President, lays a solid foundation for achieving final effectiveness in executing the following requirements:

• Creating a system;
• Establishing order;
• Ensuring iron discipline;
• Drastically changing the worldview of leaders and management system employees.

Alisher SA'DULLAEV,

Director of the Youth Affairs Agency