Motivation Letter To Become A Central Asia-Azerbaijan Fellow
Within the past sixteen years I have gained certain professional and education experience working for the development projects in Kyrgyzstan, office of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, political party of the national revival “Asaba” and media projects at KTRK –The National Public TV Chanel. Relying on my background I would like to join young professionals and experienced scholars conducting my research on sensitive issues directly related to the media and top decision makers of the Kyrgyz Republic. The focus of my research to be based on Propaganda and Censorship policies of the five Presidents of the Kyrgyz Republic. I strongly believe that all of them had influenced the media transformation in Kyrgyzstan but each of them had different approaches in achieving their personal goals.
One of the main reasons I would like to become a Central Asia-Azerbaijan Fellow is that the program is not a one-time Fellowship; it seems to become a long-term life and professional experience with broad future prospects in the region I live and work. The program brings together strong, committed young people, those who can put in practice the research outputs of the Policymaking, Democracy, Social justice and Farness learned from the high-level decision makers representing the US Government, think tanks, NGO sector, advocacy groups, local government and many other private, governmental and non-governmental organizations. In my personal opinion, there is no ideal model of the governance and democracy but there are successful countries and Kyrgyzstan could learn from them. This fellowship is not just about learning but also sharing experience, debating and making decisions on what is good for our countries. Good policy and decision making is a long learning process. But the advantage is that we can always learn from the mistakes of the successful countries and from those who made these countries successful.
I believe Rumsfeld fellowship is the right place for the right people, those who are committed to make a difference in their home countries when they come back. Democracy and mutual learning experience is about being able to hear people opinion. This approach may help me to learn a lot from my colleagues participating in the fellowship; I believe I can also share my own experience in my country and the fields I work in. The Rumsfeld Fellowship provides an opportunity to learn things on field. I think it is a good practice because sometimes it’s not enough and not effective to learn from the books and training materials. I really liked the idea of the group program; it accommodates the professional interests of each fellow, assist in arranging individual meetings with officials and experts to enable them to focus specifically on our individual research interests. This kind of approach may help fellows to develop personal and professional skills.
From my experience, personal contacts and networking are the best practice to learn something and share with colleagues. I believe that program fellows could also benefit from my diversified work experience and background. I have broad experience working with the Kyrgyz Republic Government assisting the head of the USAID Business Environment Improvement project in Kyrgyzstan. The head of the BEI project at the same time held a position of the economic adviser to the Prime Minister. Jointly with the government partners, our project run successful reforms within the World Bank Doing Business program and brought the country to the position of the Top ten reformers worldwide.
My work experience at the Manas Transit Center is a completely different field of expertise but was definitely useful in my career. I would also underline my recent experience in writing a weekly media digest. Starting from the June 2011 on a weekly basis I write up Media digest for the President Mr. Atambaev (former Prime Minister). The idea of this project is to provide independent, not censored information on some critical issues of the week. The digest covers: economics, business, social and political issues. The digest became a competitive information source used by the President office. The experts of the Information and Analytical Department of the President office provide their own analytical materials and I provide my own digest reflecting aspiration of the ordinary citizens of Kyrgyzstan. I feel myself an “agent for change” as my small articles in the digests I write each week are making a difference in my country. Of course, it does not work hundred percent as I wish to be, but at least some of the critical things not left unnoticed and I could see the reaction of the decision makers. Most of the weekly digests are posted on the website of the Foundation I work for.
The purpose of my participation in the fellowship is to broaden up my future opportunities that lie on the whole Eurasian continent. I believe that the program will inspire me to become stronger in my commitments to democratic values. I know that my country deserves a better future and this fellowship is a good opportunity to learn how to make it with a small loss jointly with the neighboring countries.
