On January 21, 2022 the public association “Yenme” with the support of the Governance Support Program (GSP) in Turkmenistan, project of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) organized the Forum of public associations (PAs) in Turkmenistan. It has already become a good tradition for organizers and public associations to meet annually at such Forum.
The one-day Forum, which was held in a hybrid format, brought together 21 representatives of PAs and state organizations in the conference hall of the Yyldyz hotel in the capital city. Approximately the same number of participants joined via video link on the ZOOM platform. Among the civil servants participants there were representative of the Mejlis, The Office of the Ombudsperson of Turkmenistan, The Institute of State, Law and Democracy of Turkmenistan, Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare of Turkmenistan, Ministry of Health and Medical Industry of Turkmenistan, Ministry of Sports and Youth Policy of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat City Administration, etc.
Among the PAs: the Children’s Fund of the Central Council of The Youth Organization of Turkmenistan named after Makhtumkuli, Union of Economists of Turkmenistan, Central Physical Culture and Sport Club of Disabled of Turkmenistan, Blind and Deaf Society of Turkmenistan, Sport Center for Disabled Persons of Turkmenistan, Nature Preserving Society of Turkmenistan, Yenme, Yashyl Shohle, Ynam Club, Agama Climbing club, Professional Accountant, Keik Okara. National Red Crescent Society of Turkmenistan, Mashgala, Dyap Dessur (Mary), Eco-Durmush (Dashoguz), Beyik Eyyam (Turkmenabat) and others joined online.
The Forum is based on strengthening intersectoral interaction by discussing issues of the society, cooperation between the state sector and PAs, ways of cooperation in the implementation of civil, social, economic, environmental programs and initiatives.
The facilitator of the Forum, Mrs. Gulya Chorekliyeva, the chairperson of the PA “Yenme” presented the Agenda of the Forum to the audience.
The first speech was by G. Choreklieva, who presented an overview of the activities of some PAs in various areas. These are respect for human rights, protection of vulnerable categories of the population, patriotic education of youth, gender equality, alternative sources of income and development of business skills, public health, and environmental initiatives. The emphasis was placed on partnerships between public associations, as well as on the social partnership of the state, business and the public sector.
Following, as a co-facilitator, Mrs. Guljamal Nurmuhammedova, chairperson of the PA “Yashyl Shohle” spoke about the role of environmental education in the formation of environmental culture. The speaker noted that this initiative is being implemented everywhere at a high level.
Specialist of the department of culture of the Ashgabat mayor’s office Mr. Erkin Kosaev spoke about social support for citizens, transformations in our capital, precisely about how much is being done to improve infrastructure for an inclusive society. He stated: “Quality roads are being built in Ashgabat, about 65 parks have been created in the city to improve the environmental component in the city, where citizens and guests of the capital can walk and cycle. The country implements programs aimed at protecting the health of mother and child, healthy development of children, social support for large families and much more. The Ashgabat mayor’s office regularly hand over the keys of comfortable apartments to families with many children. As part of the housing construction program, it is planned to build houses, complexes and infrastructure facilities for people with disabilities, so that they can live comfortably in society. Among such objects is a residential building in the 8th microdistrict,” Mr. E.Kosaev noted.
Abdiyeva Shemshat, Deputy Head of the Social Security Department of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare of Turkmenistan, spoke about the achievements of the ongoing program “Improving the social protection system through the introduction of inclusive quality social services at the local level”. Thus, she noted that within the framework of the Joint Program signed on December 16, 2019, UN agencies and national partners developed a new model of social services and began to pilot them in 20 etraps across the country to address the problems associated with the vulnerability of certain groups of people.
National legislation related to the social service delivery system was also reviewed to strengthen the establishment of institutional arrangements to facilitate the introduction of new social services at the local level. In addition, the Joint Program contributed to strengthening the country’s capacity in the field of social work and social services. 45 social work specialists were trained and trained under the Joint Program by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare of Turkmenistan.
On this basis, specialists established contact with local authorities, identified individuals and families who are in a difficult life situation and are not able to overcome the existing difficulties on their own, and began to provide them with targeted inclusive social services.
The representative of the PA “Yenme” made a presentation on Implementation of the program “Improving the social protection system through the introduction of inclusive quality social services at the local level”. The presentation was based on an explanation of the new law of Turkmenistan “On Social services” adopted on December 18, 2021 and entered into force on January 1, 2022, which defines the legal, organizational and economic basis for the provision of social services to certain categories of persons.
Particular attention of the participants was attracted by the speech of Mr. Yuri Aronskiy, Chairman of the PA “Union of Economists of Turkmenistan”. In particular, he noted that training plays an important role in the labor market. “If we talk about certification, we have developed modules to improve the digital and personal skills of specialists from any organization, regardless of ownership. Everyone needs to improve these skills, especially young people. The situation is such that no one teaches this, but everyone understands that it is necessary. A module for young people with disabilities called “I can” was developed, which was recently carried out on the basis of the PA “Yenme”. He also noted, that the work in this area is in high demand. In general, if we talk about the Union of Economists, then we have five main departments: 1. Education and schooling; 2. Accounting and auditing (about 300 members, they are engaged in providing the international certificate CAP / CIPA); 3. Evaluation activity; 4. Consulting; and 5. Digital economy and technology. All of these departments have codes of ethics. In total, our union has 784 members, which is enough to carry out activities at the national level. All over the world, international practices are being introduced by PAs, and therefore our PAs have something to strive for,” said Yu. Aronskiy.
He also noted that the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) changes by 15% annually. Three years have passed since the transition of our country to IFRS, which has changed by half, and here it is important to track changes and edit the relevant documents. At the end of his speech, the speaker drew the attention of the forum participants to an important thing – the effectiveness of interaction between PAs, which is achieved through the creation of platforms for the civil sector, including this Forum of public associations of Turkmenistan.
The final speech at the forum was the speech of Ms. Jemal Kurbanova, head of the organizational and mass department of the Central Board of the Blind and Deaf Society of Turkmenistan (BDST). This year 90 Years Anniversary Celebration of BDST. About 500 people work in its composition throughout the country. D. Kurbanova placed a special emphasis on the professional training of BDST members. She noted that thanks to the assistance of the Ministry of Education of Turkmenistan, free training courses are held annually for members of the BDST. In 2021, 28 people with visual and hearing disabilities entered secondary specialized educational institutions. Some members of the BDST have received and are receiving education abroad, and the society strives to ensure that young members of the society can receive in their country not only secondary education, but also higher education. Moreover, on August 2021, a psychology training on the topic “Blindness is not a sentence” was organized, which was attended by blind members of the BDST. Last year, within the framework of the ongoing project: “Accessible work”, implemented jointly with the UN, trainings were held on the issue of equality of persons with disabilities. The project provides for the modernization of three BDST enterprises in the cities of Ashgabat, Mary and Turkmenabad. It should be noted that out of 3633 BDST members, 2087 people are hearing impaired. And although the Society conducts trainings for the preparation of gesture language interpreters, there is still an acute shortage of them in the country. To solve this issue, an integrated approach is needed in the qualitative and quantitative retraining of existing sign language interpreters, and the training of new ones by the assistance of international experts, where the creation of a sign language dispatch service would be an appropriate outcome. The authority of BDST negotiates with GSP on cooperation in the joint implementation of such a project this year.
During the Forum, reports on the implementation of programs in the field of rehabilitation and social integration of people with disabilities were made by Mrs. Mengli Orunova, a representative of the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry of Turkmenistan and Mrs. Tatyana Stepanishcheva, head of the organizational and mass department of the Central Physical Culture and Sport Club of Disabled of Turkmenistan. Also, with a presentation: “The role of civil society in the field of environmental protection”, Mr. Merdan Arazmedov, an employee of the Nature Preserving Society of Turkmenistan, and Mr. Valery Kotvin, chairman of the Agama climing club, made a presentation on the mountaineering movement in Turkmenistan.
The Forum program included time for questions and answers and discussions. According to the “open microphone” principle, everyone could share their successes, ideas, problems, and issues, the decision of which is possible only through cooperation both at the sectoral and intersectoral levels. At the end of the meeting, G. Chorekliyeva and her co-facilitators thanked the participants and speakers of the Forum, wished everyone mutual cooperation, expressed their hope to meet regularly at such a Forum, which has become an excellent platform for an open dialogue between the public, state and private sectors. As a result of the Forum, the participants presented proposals and wishes, which are included in the Resolution developed by the organizers on the main achievements and plans for the future, strengthening intersectoral cooperation in Turkmenistan.
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