Promoting Family and Life Skills via Nationwide Competition in Uzbekistan

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Regional Office for Central Asia in cooperation with the Ministry of Public Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan launched online competition "Expert on Family and Life Skills Development".

The main purpose of the competition is to disseminate the best practices as well as improve skills of psychologists and educators in the public education system, especially class leaders in achieving resilience in school and family through teaching young people life skills, healthy lifestyles, positive relationships between parents and children, how to say “no” to harmful habits and how to cope with stress.

The competition will be organized online in three stages via the @psyforum telegram channel for school psychologists and teachers, and will be based on the materials of the "Strong Family - Happy School" family skills training programme, which is being successfully implemented in schools of the country by the Ministry of Public Education in cooperation with UNODC.

Competition stages

The participants will use the training manual and handouts of the “Strong Family and Happy School” training programme, which are available at @psyforum telegram channel. They need to get acquainted with them as well as try to take advantage of the programme in practice by 10 January 2021.

The first stage of the competition will be held in the second decade of January 2021 in the form of an online test-questionnaire based on the programme "Strong Family and Happy School" and its handouts. The 100 participants who pass the test-questionnaire with the best results will proceed to the second stage.

At the second stage, the participants are expected to conduct independent trainings in the educational institutions where they work for a month on the basis of the programme "Strong Family and Happy School" and its handouts, and test this programme in practice in their psychological or pedagogical activities. Upon completion, they are expected to submit a 10-slide presentation on their experience in developing life skills in students based on the “Strong Family and Happy School” programme and its handouts by 25 February 2021.

The submissions will be posted on the @psyforum telegram channel and will be reviewed and evaluated by an expert group formed by the organizers on a 50-point scale based on the criteria of best use of the programme as an additional method, practicality and usefulness, creativity, compliance with the programme (training with families for 3 weeks according to the rules and methods of the program), comprehensibility and promotion. The 13 participants with the highest score will become the finalists.

In the first ten days of March 2021, the finalists will take part in an online test-survey based on the "Strong Family and Happy School" programme and its handouts, and the winners will be determined based on the test results and the second stage scores.

Awarding the winners

The winners of 1-3 places will be awarded with valuable gifts and diplomas as "Expert in the development of family and life skills". The remaining 10 participants will also be rewarded with souvenirs and certificates.

Benefits

By organizing this contest, the Ministry of Public Education is creating an unprecedented opportunity to run the UNODC programme nationwide once again in 2021 encouraging teachers and psychologists to express their enthusiasm and gaining motivation. This contest could not be timelier as the new school semester begins in the new year proclaimed as the year of support to youth in Uzbekistan. UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia is happy to support the Ministry of Public Education in this endeavor and looking forward to the positive consequences of the contest for the schoolchildren and their families who can start the new year with new important life and family skills that will hopefully help them take confident and happy strides into the future.

This activity is supported within the framework of Sub-programme 3: Drug prevention, treatment and reintegration and HIV prevention of the UNODC Programme for Central Asia for 2015-2021 and UNODC Global Project GLOK01 ““Prevention of drug use, HIV/AIDS and crime among young people through family skills training programmes in low- and middle-income countries” with support from Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation Section of UNODC Headquarters.