ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: A Gender Journey

The next success story is of Regina Sokolova, an alumna of 2014, Politics and Security Programme. She started her ‘gender journey’ as the OSCE Academy Intern at the Gender and Anti-trafficking Unit of the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe back in 2014. Grassroot experience in the field and touching stories of women’s lives in the rural Tajikistan were reflected in her OSCE Academy’s MA Thesis on Gender Politics in Tajikistan. The same year she was employed by the OSCE Counterterrorism and Police Reform Unit, where she was actively involved in the nation-wide Police Reform awareness-raising campaign and promoting the role of women in the law enforcement system.

A year passed and she started missing the academic life and searched for new knowledge. OSCE Academy’s partnership network rendered another academic opportunity and she defended her second MA Thesis on the Role of Women in Terrorism at the University of Geneva.

The last 3 years were crucial in shaping her professional affiliation in the gender realm. In 2018, Regina traveled to the United Kingdom as John Smith Trust Fellow to meet with prominent UK leaders, politicians, and gender experts to learn best practices in good governance and social justice. Upon return, Ms. Sokolova designed an Action Plan on empowering women and girls in rural areas and ran several social campaigns as well as USG Alumni “Man metavonam” (I Can) project, which highlights activities and jobs that people with disabilities can do and what value they bring to the society. As the country's most impressive young leader, One Young World Summit invited Regina to represent Tajikistan and her achievements among 2,000 young leaders from 190+ countries around the world.

Regina’s ‘gender journey’ is still going on, but now as a Project Officer of UN Women Tajikistan Spotlight Initiative-eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls.

‘I am endlessly grateful to the OSCE Academy in helping to determine my research interests which matched my professional endeavors!’
 

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