UNODC, Uzbekistan Soon to Launch Public Social Advertisements to Motivate Youth to Engage in Sports

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has begun developing a series of social videos to raise awareness in Uzbekistan about the negative effects of crime, violence and drug use, as well as the importance of sport as a tool to increase youth resilience to these phenomena.

The social awareness videos will be developed and broadcasted in partnership with the Ministry of Public Education, the Academy of the General Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of Physical Culture and Sports of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

“Long-term and fruitful cooperation with UNODC motivated us to search for new ideas to transmit positive values to young people and promote healthy life-styles. The launch of social awareness videos on crime prevention among young people through sport is very timely. Young people look up to role models and find in them positive examples on how to make the right decisions and take responsibility for them,” says Mr. Akbar Tagayev, National Coordinator from the Ministry of Public Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

“Athletes, school students and other young people will share through these videos their personal experiences on how sports helped them to overcome life's challenges, building resilience and developing skills such as setting goals and gaining self-confidence. With these videos we would like to inspire children, teachers and parents alike about the power of sports to make friends, reach your goals and develop pro-social behavior”, said Mr. Koen Marquering, Manager of UNODC’s Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Program in Central Asia.

“In today's world of digital technology, we want to emphasize the importance of involving youth in sports rather than being locked in themselves and their own problems; of promoting sports as a safe platform for youth to grow, and strengthening life skills through sports to  help young people to resist negative social pressure, cope with anxiety and communicate effectively with peers. All this strengthens youth resilience to engaging in crime and violence”, Marquering added.

The social videos are being designed as part of the UNODC Line Up Live Up Initiative on youth crime prevention through sports. This initiative is part of the UNODC Global Program on the implementation of the Doha Declaration, adopted by the United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Qatar in 2015.

Line Up Live Up promotes the use of sport as a tool for life skills training, to challenge normative beliefs and perceptions related to violence and crime, to promote the participation and empowerment of young persons, and to create safe public spaces in the community for young people to develop, participate and positively interact with their peers and communities.  

A key component of this initiative is UNODC's evidence-informed and sports-based life skills training curriculum, which has been designed as a unique tool that transfers the accumulated expertise of the United Nations and other partners in implementing life skills training for crime and drug use prevention.

Since October 2019, Uzbekistan is one of 12 pilot countries where the Line Up Live Up training program is implemented. So far 37 secondary level educators - sport coaches, physical education teachers and psychologists from 20 secondary schools in Fergana Valley and Tashkent city have been supported with sport equipment and capacity building activities, training more than 600 school students using the Line Up Live Up curriculum.

For more information:

UNODC ROCA on Twitter

UNODC in Central Asia on Facebook

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For more information,

please contact Ms. Vasilina Brazhko,

Communication and PR Officer, UNODC/ROCA

telephone: +996 775 98 78 17(WHATs app)

e-mail: vasilina.brazhko[at]un.org