OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan

Enhancing electronic media

Since 2011, the Project Co-ordinator has been co-operating with the National Association of Electronic Mass Media (NAEMM), an association of non-governmental television and radio stations, in order to enhance the quality of media production. A series of training seminars have been conducted for journalists and technical staff such as camera operators, editors, and lighting technicians. The project is being co-ordinated along with other OSCE projects that aim to support media development, and it is linked to state reforms aimed at improving openness and public access to governmental information.

Communication of press services and public organizations

This project, which was implemented in 2011-2012 jointly with the Foundation for the Support of Printed Media and In-service Training for Journalists, included a number of capacity-building events in the form of specialized workshops and training seminars for 120 representatives of the information services of ministries and key state agencies, civil society institutions, and NGOs in the capital and at the national level. Training activities were aimed at improving professional skills by studying the working methods of an active press service and also acquiring journalistic and public-speaking skills. Tailor-made programmes were specifically developed for each group of trainees to enable them to increase their transparency and improve their credibility and relations with the media.

Increasing public awareness on environmental issues

Public information on environmental matters and conservation is of great significance for sustainable development. The OSCE organizes training events and media tours for journalists and, in partnership with the State Nature Protection Committee and the Ekomaktab NGO, conducts a national competition for the best journalistic works on environmental topics, as well as events to exchange best international practices. Activities with other target groups are also carried out.

Strengthening the capacity of civil society institutions

The Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan supports activities that are aimed at strengthening civil society. Related to the 2010 Concept for Intensifying Democratic Reforms and Forming Civil Society in the Country, these activities are aimed at providing practical assistance to representatives of civil society in enhancing their professional skills on the basis of modern training methods for using advanced communication strategies, as well as strengthening the human and institutional capacity of the Independent Institute for Monitoring the Formation of Civil Society.

Within the framework of this project, the Project Co-ordinator organized a series of training courses on methods to increase the effectiveness of socio-political organizations and the legal framework regulating their operation, the structure of state authorities and their functions and possibilities for interaction. Hundreds of representatives of civil society institutions participated in training seminars, roundtables, and conferences on political and economic reforms and on modern information and communication technologies in print and electronic mass media, etc.