One of the founders of a fundraising campaign to provide oxygen generators to remote areas of Tajikistan, Sabrinisso Valdosh, who is an alumna of the Economic Governance and Development Programme of 2017, makes an important change in her community. She shares a powerful story of how community engagement projects can be of vital significance during the challenging times Tajikistan is experiencing at the moment.

We are publishing a brief story of Muhammad Idrees, a graduate of the OSCE Academy of 2015, Economic Governance and Development Programme, who is a freelance writer and researcher focusing on the social, cultural, political and economic issues of Central Asia and Afghanistan. Muhammad is the author of a book ‘In the Land of the Tian Shan Mountains.’

On 24 July the OSCE Academy had its third alumni interactive workshop on Digital Tools and Challenges Amid the Global Pandemic led by the OSCE AiB alumnus of 2013, Politics and Security Programme, Mr. Rashid Gabdulhakov. The workshop aimed to broaden theoretical perspectives and practical approaches of participants while empowering and encouraging them to generate new strategic knowledge on the subject matter.

On 22 July Director Dr. Alexander Wolters delivered a presentation to the Board of Trustees (BoT) at the biannual meeting that was held in the online format due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The meeting was opened by Ambassador Dr. Pierre von Arx, Head of the OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek, who presided over the meeting in his capacity of the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees. Representatives of the Albanian Chairmanship, Austria, the European Union, Finland, Kyrgyzstan, Norway, Slovakia, Switzerland, the United States, as well the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, and the OSCE Secretariat participated in the meeting.