YLP with Azerbaijan Participants on World No Tobacco Day

Youth Leadership Program with Azerbaijan participants in Azerbaijan and in the U.S. organized events to encourage people to break the habit of smoking and to warn people of the risks of cigarette smoking.  


Check out the video created and produced by finalists of the Youth Leadership Program with Azerbaijan for World No Tobacco Day.  Creators called upon people to "Stop Smoking and Help Yourself!" 

Directed and Written by: Ali DamirzadeProduced by: Tofic RzayevSpecial Thanks to: Togrul Damirzade, Seylan Musayeva, Gunel Isparzade, Fikrat Mammadov, Javahir Ahmedova, Ruslan Aliyev, Eshad Yusif, Siara Yusifova, Vusale Mustafaeva (Volunteer)Supported by: UN DPI Azerbaijan and American Councils in AzerbaijanThe soundtrack copyrights belong to: Explosions In The Sky - Human 

“Save the Environment” Clean-up Event and Charitable Auction at Zarifa Aliyeva lyceum

 Thank you to Rufat Rizayev for submitting this post. 

YLP Participants
Aydan Mammadova and Ibrahim Farajov 

On April 27 lyceum named after academician Zarifa Aliyeva took an action of cleaning the school neighborhood from rubbish. The action was organized by the winners of the program Rufat Rizayev and his students Ibrahim Farajov and Aydan Mammadova. All the school staff and more than 500 students of the lyceum took part in this “Save the Environment” action.

This was not the first ecological action held by our school but it was for the first time when we decided to clear not only the school area but also the whole neighbourhood. Before we started the action we held discussions in classes about influence of the environment on our health. The students worked in groups and came up with different ideas on how to save the environment. Everybody voted on cleaning both the school yard and the attached streets and yards.

It was very interesting to see with what diligence children were engaged in the territory cleaning. The inhabitants of the apartments were so much impressed by our school’s initiative that most of them joined us. It is well known that joint work brings people together  and the joint work on an accomplishment of our favourite planet brings up in people not only a sense of responsibility for all the mankind but also forms in students skills of social interaction.

On April 28, for the first time in our lyceum a charitable auction was organized with the aim to fund raise to help the children needing urgent treatment. Couple days before carrying out an action the students of our school visited special establishments where children having serious brain illness are treated. As soon as we made a list of children who needed urgent surgery the students made leaflets and posters to proclaim the purpose of the auction with the idea of attracting as many people as possible. Most of the things sold at the auction were made by the students themselves. Having very close connections with our graduates, we invited them and their parents, too. As one of our graduates Rashad Gadirov expressed in his speech: “People showing mercy brings kindness in people”. He himself raised money by giving a short concert by playing the guitar. All the students on the present were keen, nobody remained indifferent to destinies of sick children. It was also one of the purposes of an action to bring up in students the feeling of mercy and empathy for the destinies of other people.

 As a result of carrying out auction over 10 thousand dollars were collected. The raised money was put into the bank accounts of the sick children.

What are your goals for the Program? What would you like to learn and what would you like to teach?

Thank you to Rafia Valiyeva for submitting this post:  

The Youth Leadership Program with Azerbaijan is a Program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs section of the U.S. Department of State and administered by American Councils for International Education.

The goals of the Program are clear. They are focused on expanding relationship between U.S. and Azerbaijani students, educators and communities from different ethnic, religious, and social groups and strengthening ties between the two countries.

It is a great chance for both U.S. and Azerbaijani finalists of the Program to get to know one another, develop their leadership skills, respect for diversity and sense of civic responsibility, involve them in community service.

Do you know the acronym
SMART Goals?
Read more about it at
http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/smart-goals.html  

The participants will have lots of things to learn from one another and teach one another as well. Even now the students are active on Facebook sharing pictures and ideas on different topics. U.S. participants have seen so many pictures of historical places of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani participants are eager to visit Washington and Arizona. They want to know more about the educational system of the U.S. They would like to present rich and ancient culture of Azerbaijan.

I hope their friendship and good relations will be long lasting and the two countries will benefit from this exchange program a lot. 

 What are your personal goals for the Program?

What do you hope to learn from the other participants in Azerbaijan and the U.S. and what do you hope to teach the people that you meet?   

Finalists and Volunteers Create a Movie about their Success!

YLP with Azerbaijan Finalists in Sumgait created a great movie about their success in getting smokers to exchange their cigarettes for an apple.  Check out the youtube video now!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omDgG6YvgJ4&feature=youtu.be

Democracy and Human Freedom: Points of Discussion among Ganja YLP finalists

YLP with Azerbaijan participants at the
presentation about democracy and human freedoms

On April 29, YLP with Azerbaijan finalists Ganja took part in a discussion led by Halima Khanim from the Young Leaders Initiative Group on the topic of Democracy and Human freedom in Azerbaijan.

After a brief presentation, participants split into groups where they discussed problems that they see in their communities and created action plans to work to overcome these problems.  The event allowed participants to open their minds to new ways to address the daily problems that they encounter and learn communication and compromise skills within a group dynamic. 

Shabnam Aliyeva, blog submitter stated about the event, “We had a great discussion day. We had fun but at the same time we learned new things about our government, community & this discussion day gave us a chance to get to know each other more closely.”

Dedication to a Healthy Lifestyle

YLP with Azerbaijan finalists speak
about the dangers of smoking!

YLP with Azerbaijan finalists Javahir Ahmadova, Sayyara Yusufova, Salekh Jafarov, and Ruslan Aliyev organized a presentation at School#23 for over 60 8^th and 9^th grade students to warn them of the dangers of smoking. 

The presentation started with general information about the Youth Leadership Program. Next, organizers spoke about the dangers of smoking and showed a video about the health risks related to smoking. 

Keep up the great work!

YLP with Azerbaijan Adult Finalist Elmira Ilizarova Shares on GYSD

Elmira Ilizarova's student share their Earth
Day poster with the class 

Thank you to Elmira Ilizarova for her impressions of GYSD 2012 and how the event brought together her community and school. 

Global Youth Service Day event is a great event that brought so many people together. The range of the activities was so big that we don’t know what to start with!

April was a very busy month in our school. When we were preparing for our Annual English Language Week we introduced the idea of holding the GYSD.  One of the activities was poster presentation and one of the topics was “The Earth Day”. The students got very excited as they had a good chance to speak out and be heard. They shared their thoughts and brought new ideas about saving the world and the whole planet.

The next step was a conference. 9^th grade students were so much involved in the activity that they decided to invite their pees from other classes and presenters for the conference. The participants had a real talk and exchange of opinions on the subject.

While upper grades were discussing the global problems on how to “Save the World” 6^th grade students organized “Recycling Debate.”

Students and staff with the children at the
boarding school

At the beginning they were introduced the rules for running an effective and productive debate. They learned how to communicate using etiquette. It was one of the lessons that taught all the students very important skills for their future life.

While giving their opinions on one of the subtopics “Recycle, reuse, and reduce” the students suggested going to the orphanage. They said that they had a lot of toys, clothes that they could share with the other children. So, we went to a boarding school for children with special needs. We took a lot of presents, had a real party, danced, played football and made friends. We were happy as we could make other people happy.

It was hard to say “Good Bye” and promised to come back soon. We have already started preparing for the second trip on the 1^st of June –International Children's Day.