Held for the first time in Uzbekistan, Human Development (HD) Summer School included intensive three week on-line module with 32 topics discussed and in-residence module conducted outside of Tashkent. More than 90 people participated in both modules of the Summer School representing almost all regions of Uzbekistan and 7 higher educational institutions across the country.

The on-line module of the Summer School enabled participants to acquire thorough knowledge of the HD concept and its aspects and helped to go in-depth into the latest development paradigm and its practical issues.

Each topic of the on-line module was also provided with the text of lectures, additional literature, tests for self examination, and a special forum to discuss topic related details with other participants. Corresponding lectors with international experience moderated forums and assessed activity of participants and quality of posted responses.

“I have gained substantial bulk of knowledge and information, acquired new skills and ideas, and all these would be applied in my future activities. The Summer School has also inspired me for a research on economic aspects of HD. In addition, I decided to make my own contribution to promote the concept by means of conducting seminars, trainings, consultations, and in near future to start HD lecturing topics at a university at a regional level in Uzbekistan”, shares his thoughts Alimjon Rakhmankulov, Director of a resource centre in Surkhandarya region.

To solidify acquired knowledge, upon completion of the on-line module, participants passed tests and prepared case studies. The best 21 participants, judging by the results of the on-line module (evaluation by moderators of the participants’ activity on the forum, the results of the tests and case-studies) were selected to attend the in-residence module on September 11-12 in Tashkent region.

“Despite the fact that we conducted this Summer School for the first time in Uzbekistan, I think it was a success. In fact, we replicated a format of the HD Summer School annually conducted in partnership with UNDP and Central European University in Budapest. We managed to cover almost all regions of Uzbekistan and attracted HD experts and specialists from Armenia, Georgia, USA, Slovakia and Russia”, said Elena Danilova-Cross, UNDP HD Coordinator in Uzbekistan.

On the last day of the Summer School, participants exchanged ideas on further opportunities of promoting HD concept in Uzbekistan among students, specialists and mass media by direct engagement of participants. Moreover, 10 winners of the contest devoted to the International Youth Day were awarded by souvenirs. All participants of the in-residence module received certificates of successful completion of the Summer School.

Since the first day of the Summer School starting from August, www.humandevelopment.uz web-site served to be an informative platform for all participants. Since conduct of the Summer School, the site has been viewed 3,400 times by 615 visitors from more than 34 countries such as Russian Federation, Slovakia, USA, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Belgium and other countries.

About HD Concept. The idea and holistic vision of Human Development (HD) advocates that the true wealth of a country is in its people. The human beings should be seen as the ends in themselves rather than the means to achieve progress in socio-economic development of a country. The HD concept is about enlarging people’s choices and enhancing their capabilities and freedoms, enabling them to live a long and healthy life, have access to knowledge and a decent standard of living.