UNODC and Uzbekistan Work Together to Enhance Youth Life Skills through Sport

On October 25-27, 2019 UNODC ROCA in collaboration with Ministry of Public Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan, conducted a three-day training on the "Line Up Live Up" the UNODC sport-based training curriculum that aims to help youth build resilience to violence crime and substance use. The training was held in Andijan city of Fergana Valley, and was attended by 30 secondary level educators - sport coaches, social support workers and psychologists, who work with school students.

The training was conducted in the context of UNODC's Global Programme for the Implementation of the Doha Declaration and its Regional Programme for Central Asia.

The UNODC initiative on youth crime prevention under the Global program, initiative that builds on the power of sports as a tool for youth crime prevention, that offers a vehicle for skills training and for the promotion of health, tolerance and peace.

As part of this initiative,  Line Up Live Up offers a sports-based training curriculum of 10 sessions, to transfer the accumulated expertise of the United Nations and other partners in implementing life skills training for crime and drug use prevention to sport settings. Through the Line Up Live Up programme, sports coaches, teachers and others working with youth in sports settings in Uzbekistan can target valuable life skills, such as resisting social pressures to engage in delinquency, coping with anxiety, and communicating effectively with peers, through a set of interactive and fun exercises.

"I believe the implementation of this programme is very timely. Thanks to this programme, our sports teachers learn how they can strengthen the life skills of youth using sports and improve protective factors related to crime, violence and drug use.  The fruitful long-term cooperation with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, opens the opportunities for our youth and each new programme  is a new step on the way of growing up well-being generation. " stated Mr. Akbar Tagaev, from the Ministry of Public Education.

Through this initiative, UNODC and the Government of Uzbekistan demonstrate their commitment to using sports, not only to improve people's physical and psychological health, but also to promote mutual respect and tolerance and to teach important social and interpersonal skills that help youth to stay away from crime, violence and drugs.

After completion of the training and after having received their certificates, the groups of trainers is now ready to work and pilot Line Up Live Up , with the support of UNODC , in secondary schools of Andijan, Fergana, Namangan and Tashkent cities engaging more than 600 school students.

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