DUSHANBE, April 24, Asia-Plus  -- OSCE Center in Dushanbe, jointly with the Dushanbe NGO Child Rights Center and representatives of several international organizations participated in the inauguration of an OSCE-funded addition to the Youth Centre located in Dushanbe’s Sino district.   

Ms. Rukhshona Nazhmidinova, Senior Press and Public Information Assistant, OSCE Center in Dushanbe, said that the newly refurbished part of the Youth Centre will now house a conference room, which also serves as a library for the youth, a modest exercise facilities room along with showers, and a barber-shop instruction room for interested youth.

Funding for renovation of two youth centers in Sino and Firdavsi districts were allocated by OSCE for the juvenile justice alternatives projects, a justice policy being taken up by the Government of Tajikistan. 

“We are happy to have been able to contribute to the improvement of the Youth Centers and the overall juvenile justice alternatives projects in Tajikistan,” said Vladimir Pryakhin, Head of the OSCE Centre in Dushanbe. “The new additions will assist the two centers to have more physical space when providing counseling, training in skills development, and other productive after-school activities, such as music and art, which can play an important part in young people’s lives.”

The assistance is expected to improve the capacity of the Youth Centers through the ability to offer a broader range of services, while the improved conditions and equipment will also support and affect the greater communities and neighborhoods in which the Youth Centers are located.