The world is too round to sit silently in the corner

Uzbekistan is a beautiful and fruitful land, which lies in the heart of Central Asia. It is the proud, unpredictable heir to Central Asia's richest inheritance with the legendary Silk Route cities of Samarkand, Khiva and Bukhara. The capital of Uzbekistan is Tashkent.

More than 60% of population comprise young people aged 15-24. Having a large share of young population in the country, it is not surprising that Government makes considerable investments in young people. The Government of Uzbekistan is carrying out a number of reforms aimed at providing youth with better access to education, health, labour market and social welfare.

According to the state youth policy, young people are identified as «citizens from 14-30 years old» and there are a number of programs and funds operating in Uzbekistan to support youth. There are two major youth organizations in the country. One of them is Kamolot (“maturity” from Uzbek) the largest youth movement with about 4,6 million young members.

The second is «Fund Forum of Culture and Arts of Uzbekistan» which has a big component that deal with youth issues and supports many large scale youth initiatives. In addition, many international organizations support youth volunteerism and various youth networks that are often related to help solving social issues in the country through small scale projects and peer-to-peer education and information campaigns. It is worthwhile to note the recent boom of youth wings in local political parties and an increasing number of NGOs led by young people.