#YoshXabador: Youth Against Corruption, launched in January 2024, is a two-year project to foster the agency of youth to support anti-corruption in a safe and constructive manner.
Context
Despite the Uzbekistan government’s initiatives to curb it, the persistence of corruption in both the public and private sectors continues to be an issue. This persisting problem remains a hurdle, even amidst governmental efforts to advocate for mechanisms aimed at deterring such behavior. Youth, who constitute 60% of the population, are disproportionately affected by corruption in the sectors that they interact with, such as education, healthcare, and employment. Despite them being affected by corruption, as well as their potential for creating change, most state programs do not provide space for youth to engage meaningfully or present solutions for their grievances, and there is no common understanding between government actors and youth as to what constitutes corruption and anti- corruption.
Building on Search’s flagship project in Uzbekistan, #YoshStan: Raising Youth Voices in Local Decision-Making, implemented between April 2021 and May 2022 to support the promotion of youth-oriented services in Andijan oblast through collaboration between youth civil society organizations (CSOs) and local authorities (LAs), this project will boost youth activism to understand, detect, and report corruption cases and foster meaningful collaboration between both actors to increase the agency of youth in becoming drivers of anti-corruption. The project activities will target the Republic of Karakalpakstan (an autonomous republic in Uzbekistan), Jizzakh, and Kashkadarya provinces through the partnership Search has built with the Nationwide Movement Yuksalish, a government-organized NGO (GONGO) with extensive experience in promoting localized, anti-fraud and anti corruption practices in Uzbekistan.
Theory of Change
IF youth have strengthened their skills to better understand, detect, and report corruption cases without putting themselves at risk, and IF youth and government actors are able to collaborate to support the promotion of anti-corruption mechanisms, THEN an environment will be fostered whereby youth change agents will have increased agency to become drivers of anti-corruption and youth at large are motivated and supported to address systemic loopholes in government efforts.
Core Objectives and Activities
Search seeks to provide practical assistance in building skills to youth change agents in Uzbekistan and support strengthening CSO-government collaboration in anti-corruption. This will be accomplished by strengthening local youths’ understanding of corruption and providing them practical support to detect and report against corruption, increasing collaboration between target youth and national state entities on policy change, and strengthening anti-corruption mechanisms. To achieve these objectives, Search will provide selected youth change agents training to understand the nature of and tackle corruption, small grants that enable the implementation of their developed initiatives, and peer-to-peer learning exchange workshops while establishing an open dialogue between the youths and government stakeholders. Other activities, such as developing a guidebook on anti-corruption initiatives and holding a learning conference, will also contribute to accomplishing the project’s objectives.
Search’s Expected Results
1. Target Uzbekistani youth have increased awareness and knowledge of corruption and efforts to combat corruption.
2. Target Uzbekistani youth have increased skills and agency to support anti-corruption in a safe and constructive manner.
3. Target youth and key government actors have increased engagement with one another to strengthen anti-corruption mechanisms and address loopholes.
4. Resources and platforms have become increasingly available to shed light and provide guidance on youth-led collaborative anti-corruption initiatives.
