On March 31, 2009, the World Bank Central Asia Regional Office in Almaty (Kazakhstan) and the Country Offices in Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), Dushanbe (Tajikistan), and Tashkent (Uzbekistan) hosted the fourth regional Central Asia Youth Open House. This year the event was devoted to the theme of regional integration in Central Asia and organized in line with the topics of the World Development Report 2009, one of the World Bank’s major annual publications. More than 140 young people representing universities (students and young staff) and youth organizations gathered in the World Bank offices in Central Asia.

The agenda of the Youth Open House was tailored to the interests of young people and developed so that young people could learn, share, discuss, and have fun. Speakers included Country Managers, Country Economists, Operational and External Affairs staff. In the first part of the event there were independent in-country sessions in each office. The in-country events were followed by a "virtual" regional session that linked the four offices via video conference. The agenda of the in-country events included:

• presentations and discussions on the World Bank, its activities, economic situation in the countries, Bank's tools/resources for youth, and public information services;
• entertaining quiz on the development issues and facts about the World Bank with prizes for winners; 
• tours of the offices; 
• screening of the “Did you know?” short video;
• distribution of publications.

The “virtual” part of the event that linked youth of the four countries through a videoconference was hosted by Mr. Christophe Bosch, Regional Sector Coordinator for Sustainable Development in Central Asia. His presentation on the main findings of the World Development Report 2009: Reshaping Economic Geography and on the problems of regional integration in Central Asia was followed by a rich discussion where youth asked questions and shared their vision of these problems and ways of solving them.

Youth Open House agenda included entertaining quiz on the development issues and facts about the World Bank with prizes for winners

The next presentation was about Central Asia regional youth project called Caravan “Young Central Asia”. It was delivered by a young guest in Bishkek, Azamat Gaparov, who is leading the project. The main goals of this innovative and mobile project are uniting active youth of the region, making first steps to start a dialog and real integration of future decision-makers, breaking stereotypes, and presenting cultures of each other. As the word “caravan” means a group of travelers journeying together, the group of 20 young activists from each country is planning to start their journey around 8 cities in the region in April 2009. During this trip young people will try to achieve important outcomes including solving problems of local communities; integration of youth NGOs for joint resolution of problems facing youth in all countries of Central Asia (building a stronger, broader and sustainable network); professional and cultural exchange; finding regional identity of Central Asia. These goals would mainly be achieved through presentations, dialog, and implementation of 8 projects of social and cultural character.

There was an opportunity for young people to interact with each other, exchange opinions, and discuss opportunities for collaboration

There was an opportunity for young people in all countries to interact with each other, exchange opinions, and discuss opportunities for mutual collaboration. One of the important points of the discussion was possible involvement of the World Bank in this important youth initiative.

"This event was very useful for learning more about the World Bank as well as networking and building understanding among the young people in Central Asia Region. We would really want the World Bank to continue promoting better interaction and links among the young people of our region and get more closely involved with the Caravan project. This would indeed strengthen regional integration through the young people," said Umidjon Ulugov, Coordinator of "Caravan" initiative in Tajikistan.

The tradition of organizing annual region-wide open houses for youth in Central Asia began in March 2005. The open houses organized for youth on a regular basis are regarded as significant steps in the process of expanding and strengthening the Bank's youth programs and initiatives in the region.