The project for rural youth in the region was completed.
The project “Integration of Rural Youth into Modern Professions” has been completed which was supported by the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Azerbaijan and coordinated by “Bridge to the Future” Youth Public Union. The project goal is to raise awareness about modern professional and freelance job opportunities for young people living in villages and to conduct widespread awareness-raising work among young people by creating an electronic booklet in this direction. As part of the project, an electronic booklet on modern professional fields and freelance job opportunities was initially prepared. The booklet was placed on the official website of the “Bridge to the Future” NGO (www.bfngo.az) to ensure free access to this information for everyone. As the next stage of the project, training sessions were conducted for 7th-9th grade students in secondary schools located in the villages of Bozalganli in Tovuz district, Dashsalahli in Gazakh district, Uchtepe in Goygol district, Chobanabdallı in Samukh district, Bayan in Dashkesan district, and Aglavashli in Shamkir district. The training sessions were delivered on the modern professional fields, digital skills, freelance work methods, and a prepared e-book. It should be noted that the project was implemented within the framework of the grant competition announced by the Ministry of Youth and Sports for 2024 to support the activities of youth organizations in Azerbaijan.
Bridge to the Future YPU was represented at the international training course in Lithuania.
On November 22-28, 2024, representatives of the Bridge to the Future Youth Public Union – Hikmat Valiyev, Rauf Aliyev and Murad Mammadov participated in the international training course in Sirvintos, Lithuania. The primary focus of the training course is equipping youth workers, youth leaders, and volunteers with essential knowledge about human rights through ‘Compass’ manual and let this knowledge help foster stronger trust and connections with young people and empower them to advocate for their own rights. Totally 27 young people from various countries participated in the international event. It should be noted that our organization has been operating in both sending and receiving functions within the Erasmus+ Program since 2012.
A representative of “Bridge to the Future” Youth NGO participated in the international conference.
Ayshan Mikayilova, representative of the “Bridge to the Future” Youth NGO, represented the organization at the “SoliDARE” conference in Gdynia, Poland, on October 7-11, 2024. The event aims to bring together representatives from organisations active in European Solidarity Corps (ESC) Programme. The event takes a co-creation approach and is based on participatory methodologies. Within the framework of the 3-day event, Ayshan met with approximately 60 youth workers from different countries of Europe. The participants received extensive information about the European Solidarity Corps Programme, innovations in the program and priorities. Also, networking opportunities within the framework of the ESC Programme have been created for the representatives representing various European Non-Governmental Organizations. It should be noted that the event was jointly organized by the Resource Center of the European Solidarity Corps, the Polish National Agency and the Romanian National Agency.
A new project for rural youth is being launched in the region.
Bridge to the Future Youth Public Union will implement the project “Rural youth integration into modern professional fields” with the support of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Project aims to provide awareness of modern professions and freelance job opportunities for young people living in villages and to create an electronic book in this regard to conduct a wide awareness among young people. Within the framework of the project, an e-book on modern professional fields and freelance work opportunities will be prepared. The book will be posted on the official website (www.bfngo.az) of Bridge to the Future YPU and will provide free access to this information for everyone. In continuation, information sessions about modern professional fields, digital skills, freelance work method, and also e-book will be organized in 6 high schools located in Goygol, Samukh, Dashkasan, Gazakh, Tovuz, and Shamkir regions, for a total of 120 students. It should be noted that the project is one of the winning projects of the grant competition announced by the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2024.
Bridge to the Future YPU was represented at the international convention in Spain.
On September 15-21, 2024, Anakhanim Rzazade, Chairperson of the Bridge to the Future Youth Public Union, participated in the international convention “42nd YEU Convention: YEU Developing YOUth: Shaping Chameleons of Tomorrow 2024” in Mollina, Spain. The event is traditionally organized for the 42nd time this year by the international network “Youth for Exchange and Understanding (YEU)” of which the YPU is a member. It aims to create solutions, target youth workers with fewer opportunities and promote quality, adaptability through intercultural dialogue. It should be noted that more than 20 youth workers from 10 different countries participated in the international event.
A representative of “Bridge to the Future” Youth NGO participated in the international training course.
The representative of BF NGO, Nihal Yusifova, participated in the 8-day training course “Train the trainers: It is up to me” organized for trainers in Bremen, Germany, on June 11-19, 2024. The event aims to inculcate the model of the European Training Strategy to young trainers through various workshops and interactive sessions including practical activities, skills development and individual mentoring. During the training course, the participants had the opportunity to learn various training methods and apply them in practical exercises. It should be noted that the training course was organized within the Erasmus+ Program.
“Bridge to the Future” organized an informative meeting with local young people
Local young people met former ESC volunteers who participated in ESC volunteering projects in different European countries. Within the meeting, former ESC volunteers Mansur Hasanzade and Aygül Huseynli shared their experiences about their volunteering experience, the preparation stage for participating in ESC projects and other important points, and answered the participants’ questions. The meeting continued with an interactive presentation. It should be noted that the event was jointly organized by the “Bridge to the Future” Youth Public Union and the Ganja-Dashkasan regional representative office of the Youth Development and Career Center. More information can be found about the activities of our organization within the European Solidarity Corps Program here: https://www.bfngo.az/esc/
A representative of “Bridge to the Future” Youth NGO participated in the international youth event.
Rauf Aliyev, representative of the “Bridge to the Future” Youth NGO, represented the organization at the “Confidence in Tomorrow” youth event organized at the European Youth Center in Strasbourg, France, on May 14-16, 2024. The aim of the event is to support the creation and strengthening of close ties between the current and future generations of young people living in Europe. The youth event brought together 100 representatives of national youth councils, international youth organizations, as well as representatives of the national authorities in charge of youth. For a three-day programme was a strong experience of the participatory approaches characteristic to non-formal education and youth work. The participants took part in plenary sessions, group work on the main topics of the event, as well as topics suggested by the participants. Group meetings with executives from different European countries were also organized for the participants. The youth event Confidence in tomorrow was organized in the framework of the celebrations of the 75th anniversary of the Council of Europe under the Presidency of Liechtenstein.
“Bridge to the Future” Youth NGO was represented in the international youth forum.
Javahir Alakbarli, representative of the “Bridge to the Future” Youth Public Union, represented our organization at the youth forum “Level Up!” organized in the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, on April 13-14, 2024. Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, on April 13-14, 2024. LevelUP! is aimed at everyone who aspires to make a positive change on the issues they care about. The forum strongly encourages people of all backgrounds, ethnicities, genders and people living with disabilities to join and are committed to making LevelUP! an inclusive and accessible event. Within the framework of the project, Javahir met with 1,300 young leaders from different European countries. She participated in interactive sessions organized by experienced experts and organization representatives on the development of communication, public advocacy and organizational skills for young people. It should be noted that the event was jointly organized by the European Youth Forum, the European Youth Event and the European Parliament.
A new project related to international cooperation opportunities launched in Ganja.
The first stage of the project “Support for the expansion of international cooperation opportunities of the higher educational institutions of Azerbaijan in the regions” started. The project is funded by the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan and implemented by the “Bridge to the Future” Youth Public Union. The aim of the project is to increase employees’ skills and knowledge of higher education institutions located in the region in order to take advantage of international opportunities, including the formation of relevant skills. In the opening event of the project, MP (deputy) – Parvin Karimzada, board member of the “Bridge to the Future” YPU, Seymur Valiyev, and head of the Innovation Department of the Azerbaijan Technology University – Shamo Salayev spoke and noted the importance of this project for regional universities. Later, the trainer Gulshan Bayramova organized the first training module on internationalization in higher education. In the training, topics such as internationalization strategies of higher education institutions, analysis of the current situation were explained and practical exercises were carried out with the participants. As the first stage of the project – the training course will continue with the participation of a total of 20 potential employees of 6 higher education institutions from different regions. As a step after the training, the project experts will conduct an online mentorship program for university employees for a period of 1 month. Based on the mentorship program, the employees will now work on formulating real project proposals. It should be noted that the project is one of the winning projects of the grant competition “Organization of voluntary activity in education” announced by the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan.