ALUMNI REUNION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000306

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN (PERRY)
INFO SCA/PPD (VAN DE VATE),EUR/ACE (BAILEY)

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KPAO PREL TX
SUBJECT: ALUMNI REUNION

REFERENCE: ASHGABAT 00257

SUMMARY
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1. (U) Post's 2007 alumni reunion, which included alumni from a
range of U.S. Government-sponsored academic and professional
exchange programs, demonstrated that such events continue to provide
needed psychological, professional and academic support to
Turkmenistan's growing alumni community. In contrast with past
years' reunions, this event, held January 27-28, brought in a
diverse group of varying age, experience, language and expectations.
Heated debate during the reunion revealed both a hunger for
self-government and deep frustration over the difficulties
independent groups faced in communicating with each other across
Turkmenistan and in achieving legal recognition or permission for
community activities. These difficulties in turn highlighted the
positive impact alumni were having through small-scale action in
their communities, and the leadership skills the younger alumni in
particular gained from their experience in the United States.

A Gathering of Expectations
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2. (U) Post sought to break the traditional "reunion" mold with
this year's conference, emphasizing both the traditional aspects of
reunions -- networking, comradery and personal development -- as
well as reinforcing a sense of community obligation and history.
The alumni reunion, supported in the past three years by PAS and its
implementing partners ACCELS and IREX, has favored English-speaking
and younger alumni - those who participate in the academic exchange
programs such as Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) program and the
one-year undergraduate UGRAD program in particular. Given the
unique social and political pressures U.S. program alumni experience
upon return to Turkmenistan -- where there are few opportunities for
academic, professional or civic development -- post regularly
reaches out to alumni to reinforce the alumni network and to ensure
that the skills, knowledge and confidence alumni gain in the United
States are put to their greatest use.


3. (U) Nearly 110 alumni from throughout Turkmenistan and
representing most locally administered U.S.-sponsored educational
and professional exchange programs gathered at the President Hotel
in Ashgabat for the two-day reunion. With the introduction of the
Community Connections program and a growing pool of alumni from the
International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP),Teaching Excellence
and Achievement (TEA) and other programs for adults, Turkmenistan's
alumni profile is changing, although the FLEX high school exchange
continues to produce the majority of Turkmenistan's alumni. This
year, FLEX alumni comprised less than half the participants (just
over 40),followed by 19 Community Connections alumni from this
one-year-old program; ten alumni each from the Teaching Excellence
and Achievement and Undergraduate Exchange Programs and seven or
fewer alumni of the Muskie Graduate Fellowship, Fulbright Scholars
program, International Visitor Leadership Program, Junior Faculty
Development Program and others.


4. (U) Because of the pressures placed on independent actors and
the psychological barriers to non-state-sanctioned activity in
Turkmenistan, alumni are reticent to discuss the politics of their
communities with the embassy or even among themselves as a
community. Rifts within the main group attempting to establish an
alumni community have been apparent for several years, as the group
attempted to hold together and push forward efforts to register
formally as an association -- first on the national level and then
on the welayat and, finally, merely the Ashgabat City level -- still
without success. The current Alumni Association board agreed, even
with these rifts, to present its work and expectations to alumni who
have never before attended an alumni reunion, many of whom had no
prior knowledge of the years of work that has been committed already
to the founding of an Alumni Association. The reaction was
immediate and not always positive, but indicated an intense desire
for increased communication and a need to reexamine the needs and
expectations of Turkmenistan's growing -- and increasingly diverse
-- alumni community.

ALUMNI PROJECTS STRESS COMMUNITY COHESION, EDUCATION
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5. (U) Apart from several sessions on the topic of an alumni
association, the conference included a seminar on effective grant
proposal writing. This session also underlined the purpose of the
community action grant programs administered by the embassy and
other international donors such as the Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe (OSCE),and emphasized that a "good" project
is not necessarily expensive or high-profile. Indeed, many of the
embassy's most effective grants have gone to support very
inexpensive, simple projects such as public health seminars for
at-risk youth or vocational training for small groups of women
wishing to increase their personal independence and be able to make

ASHGABAT 00000306 002 OF 002


a living.


6. (U) Breakout sessions on health, youth issues, minority groups
and education followed, in which participants discussed and formed
draft project proposals on the given theme. Among projects
formulated during these sessions, which participants later presented
in the general closing session: an etrap-level training program on
anemia prevention; a project to mainstream disabled youth through
sports programs, and computer and English training; the founding of
an independent teacher training institute; and establishment of a
youth resource center/leadership institute in Mary Welayat that
would emphasize English language, computer and other professional
skills. (Note: This proposal envisioned a center that sounded very
much like another American Corner, but would serve a farming
community far outside of Mary city where the American Corner is
located. End Note.)

COMMENT
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7. (U) A side effect of this alumni reunion was that groups of
adults and teenagers mixed on equal footing as leaders who must work
together to achieve common goals in their communities. In the
breakout proposal writing session on youth issues, FLEX alumni were
heard dispelling misconceptions held by their older peers about
their willingness to lead and work. Such discussion also helps to
dispel some of the sense of elitism of which programs such as FLEX
are accused in Turkmenistan. The emphasis on communication with the
larger community is another avenue to counter such misconceptions
and rumors about the programs, their purpose, and the beneficial
effect they have on participants. Post believes such issues will
become less pronounced as the community expands, more of
Turkmenistan's citizens travel abroad and gain exposure to the
outside world, and perhaps as the Government of Turkmenistan begins
to examine the idea of large-scale host government-funded exchange
programs. Ultimately, it is fear of the unknown and of instability
that drives government efforts to obstruct post-sponsored
programming, including exchanges. End Comment.


8. (U) Dushanbe minimize considered.

TROUTMAN