IATP Monitoring and Evaluation Report - IREX

Libraries were also sometimes mentioned as an information
resource but many noted that libraries
were often outdated and sometimes inconvenient.
Tamar Kasradze, a 31-year-old woman from Tbilisi,
Georgia, who worked as a therapist before the military
actions of August 2008, said, “A library is a good
source of information but sometimes it is not sufficient
as the information there is outdated; it doesn’t
have resources to modern ideas.” 46 Steliana Celac, a
librarian herself from Chisinau, Moldova, endorsed
the internet as a resource, “Having broader access
to information is a great asset. You may find various
bits of information at just one click of the button.”
In focus group discussions users also addressed the
convenience of conducting research on the Web as
opposed to other methods. Teona Baliashvili, a 19-
year-old student of Gori State University in Georgia,
said, “The internet is better than any other source
of information because individuals can find all the
news and information they want there.” 47 Arzu Salmanova,
a 31-year-old doctor from Imishli, Azerbaijan,
adds that the internet is more efficient in accessing
information, “For example, looking for information
through a book could take me an hour to locate
while searching for it on the Web might just
take a few minutes.” 48 Natalya Polyakova, a doctor
from Vinnitsa, Ukraine, compared libraries and the
internet in terms of convenience, “Medical journals
are available in the library but it is impossible to
take them home. Medical information on the internet
is abundant and I can access it anywhere I have
an internet connection.” 49 Djalon Umarov, a 47-yearold
businessman from Dushanbe, Tajikistan, went as
far as to say, “The internet makes our lives easier
and can easily replace all other sources of information.”
50
IATP was of particular value to people in places or
under circumstances that make them more isolated
than others. For countries with restricted access to
information like Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Belarus,
or for communities with limited access to information
due to geographical isolation in remote,
mountainous regions such as those in Tajikistan, IATP
centers played a critical role as communication and
information centers.
In other countries, there is the form of isolation
stemming from cultural traditions. In Azerbaijan,
especially in rural communities, women are restricted
from visiting public places due to religious
considerations. Azerbaijani girls and women are devoid
of a public space where they can communicate
and exchange information and, as a result, they live
in informational isolationism. But when IREX visited
its IATP centers in Azerbaijan, rather than finding
another place full of men only, they found that the
community had embraced the IATP centers as a safe
place for their wives and daughters to visit. The IATP
centers in the small Azerbaijani towns of Imlishi and
Shirvan were in fact full of girls and women who
were learning new skills and exchanging ideas. Focus
group participant and Peace Corps volunteer, Hanna
Stark, who was working in Imishli noted that the
IATP center is the only place in town where women
could go to learn new skills, use the internet, and
communicate with others. The IATP center had
earned the respect and trust of the community and
was therefore considered to be a safe place for
women to congregate outside the home. Lala
Agaeva, a high school student from Imishli, said,
“For those women who can’t go to other public
places this IATP center is a place where they can
come and learn. It provides safety unlike other internet
clubs in Imishli where the majority of visitors are
men.” Arzu Salmanova, a doctor from Imishli,
shared, “The majority of IATP center’s visitors are
women. This center is the only place in the region
where women can come easily. It is convenient for
them to come to a place where there are a lot of
women and where they can learn new information
and communicate. Parents and husbands of those
women know that the place is safe and trust the
IATP center.” Further during the discussion she
added, “We would like to have more centers, especially
for women.” 51
48 Midline focus group discussion, Internet laggards group, Tbilisi, Georgia, April 13, 2009
49 Midline focus group discussion, IATP users group, Gori, Georgia, April 14, 2009
50 Midline focus group discussion report, IATP users group, Imishli, Azerbaijan, April 9, 2009
51 Midline focus group discussion report, IATP users group, Vinnitsa, Ukraine, April 2, 2009
52 Midline focus group discussion, IATP users, Dushanbe, Tajikistan, October 20, 2008.
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