IATP Monitoring and Evaluation Report - IREX

According to the IATP local Web content survey, only three percent (18 respondents
out of 684 surveyed) never use local websites when searching for information online.
The findings demonstrate that the overwhelming majority of respondents (91%) find
local language websites “useful” or “very useful.” Yet, at the same time, only 34% believe
that many local websites are relevant and up-to-date.
According to focus group discussions, the majority of
IATP users participating in the survey said that internet
had become the most efficient and convenient source
of information. Vladimir Bogat, a 40-year-old teacher
from Tiraspol, Transnistria, Moldova, said, “I believe
internet resources are better than newspapers. News
on the Web is updated faster. Internet sources provide
comprehensive coverage of events.” 98 The online survey
on local Web content also revealed that the internet
had become the leading source for news, as well as
information on education, professional development,
local municipalities, and the national government.
Thirty nine percent of surveyed IATP users state there
are not enough websites in their country’s local language.
Web content survey data, 684 respondents, Table 6
Sources of information
Answer Options
Other 1% 1% 2% 1%
Focus group discussions were also aimed to assess respondents’
perception of local Web content. A plurality
of IATP users surveyed shared their complaints about
insufficient numbers of websites in the local language. With Russian on the decline in
Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine, the population
(especially in rural areas) could benefit greatly from online professional and educational
information in the local language. Even in places where Russian is predominantly
spoken like in Transnistria, Moldova, the population still finds a lack of information related
to their region. 99 Nana Kvitsiani, a 23-year-old
post-graduate international relations student from Tbilisi,
Georgia, expresses the predicament many people in
transitioning Eurasian countries are experiencing, “I am
a conflict mitigation specialist. Most of the information I
need can’t be found in libraries and books at my university.
The internet has been the most important source of
information for me. However, most of the information
on the internet is either in English or in Russian. As I
don’t know English I have to rely mostly on Russian websites.
But I would definitely prefer it if there were more
Georgian websites, as it is my native language.” 100 Liliya
Pavlenko, a 51-year-old mathematics teacher from Ashgabat,
Turkmenistan, confirmed, “The Russian-speaking
population can browse Russian web-content, but young
people and people from rural areas don’t know Russian,
that’s why we need more websites in Turkmen.” Mikhail
Azranzade, a 21-year-old student of Tajikistan State
University shared the same sentiments in relation to Tajik
Web content. He said, “There is lack of scientific information
– students have to translate documents and
books from Russian.” 101 Khamadoni Muzafarov, a 26-year-old school teacher said,
“Schoolchildren browse the internet for information related to their study, but after a
while they complain that all the information is in Russian, so I have to translate it into
New
s
Educatio
nal
informat
ion
Professi
onal
informa
tion
Information
on
governm
ent
Internet 87% 89% 86% 73%
Periodicals
(newspapers/
magazines)
54% 50% 52% 58%
TV/Radio 70% 36% 35% 60%
Books 26% 53% 58% 17%
From friends 31% 22% 23% 22%
98 Midline focus group discussion report, IATP users group, Tiraspol, Transnistria, Moldova, April 6, 2009
99 Midline focus group discussion report, IATP users group, Tiraspol, Transnistria, Moldova, April 6, 2009
100 Midline focus group discussion, IATP users group, Tbilisi, Georgia, April 13, 2009.
101 Midline focus group discussion, IATP users group, Dushanbe, Tajikistan, October 20, 2008
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