The UN mission representing the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) arrived in Turkmenistan to visit, review and assess the development of new Arkadag City development based on their respective mandates. Based on the request of the Turkmenistan Government, the aim of the mission was to review the urban planning, implementation and management of Arkadag City, alongside the compliance of the intended local impact with national standards for contributing to the localization of the New Urban Agenda (NUA) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). In addition, the request to the mission was made to put forward recommendations for enhancement in future development stages of the city as well as future urban development initiatives in the country, including those associated with the digital transformation and challenges emerging from the adoption of digital and frontier technologies. During the mission the experts had a series of meetings with colleagues from the UN development system and relevant national government officials as well as official in Ashgabat. Moreover, during two extensive site visits guided by meetings with local government representatives on site, the experts were able to monitor the process, construction methodologies and mechanisms of Arkadag City to ensure innovation for environmentally smart, economically viable, disaster resilient and sustainable urban development.  The experts recommended the efforts made to advancing the localization of the New Urban Agenda and SDGs in the new Arkadag City as a potential good practice to be shared within the regionally but also globally. The Turkmenistan approach to smart, carbon neutral and sustainable city development stands out to be proactive and people-centered, hereby promoting a better quality of life for all while preserving environmental assets. In particular, the UN experts expressed their appreciation of the outstanding efforts in sustainable Smart City development using state-of-the-art digital technologies and benefiting from all aspects of the Forth Industrial Revolution for infrastructural, environmental and economic development. The participating UN agencies will share the comprehensive findings of the technical mission and will provide detailed recommendations to effectively implement the construction of the Arkadag City in line with the New Urban Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals; efforts made in the realization of the Arkadag City vision shall inspire urban development across the whole country. Finally, it is worth mentioning that recently, Turkmenistan joined the Group of Friends of UN-Habitat for Sustainable Urbanization and the New Urban Agenda and will cooperate on further joint initiatives towards building inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable cities and communities in Turkmenistan. For more information, please contact: Chary Nurmuhammedov Strategic Planning and RCO Team Leader chary.nurmuhammedov@un.org

The Public Association “Yenme” launched the Volunteer Academy youth project under the grant program of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Turkmenistan intended to support youth leadership. The Volunteer Academy project is aimed at developing the volunteer movement as an effective tool for civil and patriotic education, creating a mechanism for promotion and popularization of values and practice of volunteering in the society. The project provides for creation of a platform for exchange of experiences, gaining new knowledge and skills in the area of volunteerism for implementation of ideas. The project will offer an opportunity to communicate with like-minded people and coordinate the activities of volunteers to achieve positive results in solving social issues. As a launch event, the Volunteer Academy project held the Volunteer Forum'23 in an online format, bringing together 30 young activists from Turkmenistan. The forum reviewed the experience of the volunteer movement in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, discussed the role of volunteers in society and development of intellectual volunteering. The forum participants also shared their professional observations. The forum laid the foundation for development of interaction between volunteer organizations, public associations and young leaders. It is expected that by the end of the project, more than 100 young people will get acquainted with the volunteer movement, more than 50 young people will join the ranks of volunteers and will actively participate in the life of society. The Volunteer Academy project is being implemented by the Public Association “Yenme” under a grant program to support youth leadership within the framework of the project “Building Youth Resilience through Community Engagement” implemented by IOM in Turkmenistan in partnership with the Eurasia Foundation (EF) as part of the Social Innovations in Central Asia (SICA) program with the financial support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Strengthening the capacity of young people for improvement of well-being of local communities is one of the goals of the project. ................................ IOM contact person in Turkmenistan:
Nargiza Davletova, NGO Coordinator
phone: +99364183250, e-mail: ndavletova@iom.int

All over the world, women and girls are leaders and agents of change, mobilizing action for climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts. Many of them contribute to the fight against climate change through their scientific work and innovative approach to finding solutions to the climate crisis. Ogulshirin Tacheva is a fourth-year student studying biotechnology and ecology and environmental management at the Oguz Han Engineering and Technology University of Turkmenistan. Since her childhood Ogulshirin loved nature and dreamed of contributing to the fight against climate change. All over the world, engineering is one of the fields most dominated by men, and women tend not to choose this field of study or drop out before graduation. Ogulshirin confirms that some of her friends did not share her interest in science and engineering and have chosen more gender stereotypical professions. She proudly states that her parents positively reacted to her career choice and fully supported her desire to study science to protect nature: “My parents helped me choose my path of development and I think that without their support and care I would not have succeeded. They kept motivating me and encouraging me to never give up in face of any challenges”. Ogulshirin parents were incredibly proud and happy for their daughter when, last year, she took part and won 1st place in a student research competition entitled "Progressive and modern method of using recycled materials in everyday life" among students of Turkmenistan.  The competition, held on the occasion of the World Cities Day, was organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)/GEF/Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection of Turkmenistan project "Sustainable Cities in Turkmenistan: Integrated Green Urban Development in Ashgabat and Awaza” jointly with the Ministry of Education of Turkmenistan with the aim to develop the creative and innovative potential of young future ecologists to promote sustainable use of natural resources, rational consumption and waste minimization. “I was very glad that UNDP and the Ministry of Education of Turkmenistan highly acknowledged the results of my scientific research and thereby motivated me to continue working in this direction,” - said Ogulshirin. “This award is not only my achievement, but rather the result of support and guidance from my teachers and classmates.” Ogulshirin started her research work from the first year of study, striving to find new methods of waste-free production and plastic waste management to maintain healthy ecosystems. A young first-year student began her research work by collecting information about the production of fuel from plastic to convert plastic waste into energy. Further, having studied all the methods existing in the world, Ogulshirin began to create her own model for recycling of secondary raw materials. With the support of her teachers and local engineers, she developed a trial installation of a pyrolysis reactor, which made it possible to obtain liquid fuel, combustible gas and construction materials. To increase the economic benefits of this project, the young future woman scientist decided to improve the system and use the resulting combustible gas as fuel for the device and use the resulting obtained resin as a base for building material. Ogulshirin is currently working on her thesis and plans to continue her work on the development of a waste-free production system in Turkmenistan. She is also an active member of the research center "Environmental Biotechnology". Ogulshirin competed and won the UNDP contest, being 8 months pregnant. Now, three months later, she is the mother of a little girl: “I want my daughter to grow up with the desire to love and protect nature, and I hope that my achievements will inspire her on this path,” – said Ogulshirin. After graduation, Ogulshirin plans to continue her education in the field of ecology and engineering and enroll in a master’s programme. “I have big plans, and I want to open my own plastic waste recycling plant. If oil is used for the production of plastic products, then the process can be reversed and fuel can be obtained from plastic waste to minimize pollution,” – Ogulshirin said. Ogulshirin Tacheva is one of the few who are trying to protect people and the planet from plastic pollution with the help of science. She never gives up and boldly moves forward to achieve her goal. “We, as women scientists can play an important role in finding solutions to climate change and moving everyone forward towards a sustainable future for everyone.”

In the modern world, when there are eight billion people on the planet, it is crucial to take into account the diversity and power of all generations to effect constructive change. In light of this, and in consideration of the Agenda 2030, which was adopted in 2015 and defines the global priorities for sustainable development for our generation and represents an ambitious response from the international community to the most pressing global issues of development, the special role of young people becomes increasingly apparent. As it may seem initially, the term of Sustainable Development Goals may be referred only to policy makers or government officials, but in fact SDGs are all about bringing inputs by everyone and indeed leaving no one behind. That is why, when considering promotion of sustainable development, we must analyze the roles of young people in this process. Numerous researches and the real practice demonstrate us that only positive consequences emerge from the active participation of young people. This allows us to identify the main roles of youth such as critical thinkers, catalysts of changes, innovators, communicators, leaders and many more. “We are very happy that we have such an inclusive platform such as Young Sustainable Development Goals Ambassadors in Turkmenistan endorsed by the United Nations Office and the Government of Turkmenistan. It helps us translate our vision of development into reality and convert our ambitious ideas into actions. In this process, I use the power of music as my tool to deliver my message. Also, I'm proud to have worked with the British Embassy and young activists to co-organize the first ever Climate and Environment festival in Turkmenistan, which took place in Ashgabat. The festival sought to encourage environmental awareness and community-led climate action throughout Turkmenistan. It is wonderful that many young people who demonstrated their excitement for eco-life were present at the event that attracted over a thousand individuals”, says Sabrina Guseynova, Young SDG Ambassador for Climate action and Regional winner of UNDRR “Sing for Resilience” competition. Young SDG ambassadors in Turkmenistan are selected through the competitive process and when such pioneers of social changes form their group, they are provided with plenty opportunities for personal and professional growth. “As an ambassador for Goal 6 on water and sanitation, I had an amazing opportunity to participate at the professional children's forum on climate change organized in Ankara, Türkiye in November 2022.  I was motivated not only by fruitful conversations and discussions with my fellow Young Water activists, but I also got inspired by the meeting with the First Lady of Türkiye who equally supports young people and advocates for positive changes. This was indeed a life-changing opportunity for me. In addition, as part of my SDG mission, I began delivering lectures to the first-year students of my university enrolled in the Water Diplomacy course. For me, it's more than just an extracurricular activity; it's an opportunity to use a platform to educate young people about conflict prevention, mediation and international agenda about water issues”, tells us Yupar Egirjayeva, Young SDG Ambassador for Goal 6, a student at the Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan. Young SDG Ambassadors in Turkmenistan cover their activities according to the specific goals that they have chosen in the beginning of their term. There is a spectrum of aspects that define their work and each of them decides on their own what sphere they would focus on during еtheir mission. “There are 5 aspects that I love about being a youth ambassador: the ability to express myself, knowing to be needed, knowing that all good things happen now, and not sometime in the future, pride that I also contribute to changing the world, and that I have met such interesting and amazing activists. In light of this, I'm happy to report that I've written numerous articles for my university's newspaper that discuss gender equality and useful strategies for encouraging tolerance among young people. I hope to carry on this endeavor after using literature to educate my peers about this problem”, says Annabibi Baymuhammedova, Young SDG Ambassador for Gender Equality and Reduced Inequalities. “It gives me great pleasure to announce that, as the winner of the 23rd F.F. Martens International Humanitarian Law Moot Court Competition, which was held in Moscow by the ICRC Regional Delegation, my team and I have organized training sessions at my university using a peer-to-peer approach to get the next generation of students ready to compete in this competition. We taught 35 students the fundamentals of human rights law and international humanitarian law during our training sessions. Building on this success, in the International Year of Dialogue as a Guarantee of Peace, working closely with UN in Turkmenistan, I will continue to contribute to the achievement of SDG 16 in our community with my knowledge, passion, capacity and strong will to bring more to this world”, shares his aspirations Nowruz Nurberdiyev, Young SDG Ambassador for Goal 16 and Coordinator of the Turkmenistan Team at UNICEF Central Asia Youth Partners Group. “I do believe that superhumans exist in Turkmenistan and they are called Young SDG Ambassadors! We may not fly as superheroes, but I as promoter of Quality Education, I do have a power to promote youth awareness about my topic. Personally, as SDG Ambassador of Quality Education also as Graphic Designer, I use all capacities and opportunities that I have to educate students and all those people around me who want to study design tools, but may not have chances to do so. There is one room in my local area with computers, and I am using that room every day to give lessons for students for free. What I learn today I pass this knowledge to them. Also, I am happy to share that within my scope of work, my fellow SDG Ambassadors and I organized Food Fair for Older People among faculty students at the International University for the Humanities and Development where I study”, proudly shares her experience Selbi Shaylyeva, Young SDG Ambassador for Goal 4.   “Being an SDG Ambassador and representing Goal 4 "Quality Education" I would love to share the quote that has made a great impression on me and altered my life, "Education is the most powerful weapon with which you can change the world". It goes without saying, education plays an important role in our lives, because it's a passport for our future. In several months I have gained quite a lot of new and fascinating things. I strongly believe that if we pluck up our courage together, we as young people will promote the quality of education. In order to exchange ideas and have talks about the value of inclusive education among young people in society, I actively participated in the online bridge session between Turkmen State University, where I study, and foreign educational institutions. I also make it a point to encourage inclusivity in my workplace as an English language teacher”, says Jepbarberdi Gurbanmuradov, Young SDG Ambassador for Goal 4. “With growing population, there is even more demand than supply in the global economy. This holds true for job markets as well. Women, refugees, people with disabilities, and young, enthusiastic people from low income families are deprived of the opportunity to land their dream jobs. As for me, we should create opportunities ourselves, and help to do the same for others. I'm also happy to report that in my role as the current cohort's social media manager, I concentrated on promoting chances for young people to grow personally and professionally. Additionally, I led a session with my fellows at the American Center to discuss academic and professional opportunities for people with disabilities to pursue”, reflects Mengli Veliyeva, Young SDG Ambassador for Goal 8 on decent work and economic growth, and the cohort’s social media manager. The year of 2022 was a full of diverse events. It is delightful to observe that Youth Messengers engaged in this process both through the platform created by the UN and partners and the initiatives that were fully led by them - young people. “As the SDG ambassadors we did a fantastic job collaborating with UN agencies. I really appreciate their dedication to our social and professional development. Special thanks goes to UNICEF for providing an unforgettable opportunity to take part in the youth conference in Uzbekistan! I hope, soon, we will be able to make our voices heard not only in the regional, but also on the international arena! Furthermore, I believe the best way to influence the world is by volunteering, so I'm happy to report that I committed to teach English to children at a local secondary school. Over the course of three months, I and my fellow volunteers taught 90 young people. We also succeeded in promoting the SDGs through an interactive approach and a peer-to-peer methodology”, shares her story Maral Allaberdyyeva, Young SDG Ambassador for Quality Education. “Education is a fundamental human right and indispensable for achievement of many SDGs. That’s why I chose SDG 4 to promote it. I think that being an envoy for SDGs is a very moral position. I am delighted to be part of the SDG Turkmenistan team as I found peers with the same objectives, who always want to take actions. Past 6 month were full of many memories with joyful emotions. It was interesting and important for me to participate in every event, which was held by different UN Agencies and partners, where I learned about new aspects and took action together with my team. Moreover, as I am a student of IUHD (International University for the Humanities and Development), I can share one bright event, “The UN Session”, which we organized as Diplomats' Club at our University to promote Sustainable Development Goals, aimed at creating the next generation’s change makers. Being a Youth SDG Ambassador for me is a great opportunity to realize my goal and to improve the world around me”, declares Saida Halmamatova, Young SDG Ambassador for Quality Education. “I am happy to share that the climate action that I stand for is not only limited to the actions to promote sustainability but it also refers to the issues of equality and inclusion. It was a special delight for me to attend the Inclusive Sports Festival organized in Ashgabat Olympic Village, and the Local Conference of Young People for Climate in Turkmenistan organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan, the British Embassy in Turkmenistan and the United Nations. I am particularly excited to share that as part of the Technovation Girls Program, I presented a series of sessions on climate action to girls aged 8 to 18 who participate to design tech solutions for community challenges. I am strongly assured that in a spirit of such productive cooperation we may and we will achieve many more impactful results”,remarks Gulshat Ayydova, Young SDG Ambassador Goals 12 and 13 and Coordinator of the Cohort. “In my opinion, being SDG Ambassador is not only about activism, but it is also about enriching our academic background and enriching our knowledge to be able to leverage this information for activities in real life. It also helps me develop my public speaking skills and analytical thinking abilities. About my activities, I am glad that my team and I decided to run the "New Year Tree of Wishes" campaign in my university on New Year's Eve in order to help children who are in need and those with disabilities. All students of our university could randomly choose a card hung on the tree that had a child's name and a wish, and then offer a gift for that child. As a result, we visited the children at the Medical Educational Center in Ashgabat and had more than 600 gifts to give them”, states Shabibi Beshimova, Young SDG Ambassador for Gender Equality and No Poverty. “I was very glad to broaden my horizons about the climate action which I promote as my goal of choice at capacity-building sessions organized by different entities at the UN especially for young people and youth ambassadors. I was then able to use this knowledge to promote my goal further at my university and campus. In regard to this, I am thrilled to announce that together with my fellow SDG Ambassadors, we initiated and led a fund-raising event to collect resources to buy food and hygiene items for children with disabilities at the local boarding school”, notes Enejan Achilova, Young SDG Ambassador for Climate Action. The contribution of young people to the process of advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is fundamental to shaping the whole outcome. Described by former UN Secretary-General Ban-ki Moon as “Torchbearers of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, there are many successful examples of young people contributing to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The development of a highly educated, erudite, physically and morally healthy, intelligent young generation is one of the strategic tasks for the development of Turkmenistan which is in the Renaissance towards a powerful state. Given the huge decisive role in the further sustainable and comprehensive socio-economic development of the country, youth is a priority for the nation that is strengthening its position on the world stage.   Shukurgeldi Myradov, Coordinator of Young SDG Ambassadors in Turkmenistan, Youth Ambassador for Good Health and Well-being and Partnerships for Sustainable Development