LocationsMeet the young champions mobilizing their neighborhoods to bring Namangan's climate plan to life.
The Faces of Resilience (Part 2): The Green Generation
October 13, 2026
Young Ecologist Volunteers meet to discuss activities and next steps.
Photo by UNDP Uzbekistan.
In Part 1 of this series, we explored how Namangan’s local leaders established a funded, 18-point Action Plan on Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation. This local blueprint was developed under the regional initiative, "Enhancing Urban Resilience to Disaster Risk and Climate Change in Central Asia," which is funded by the Government of Japan and implemented by UNDP. While this plan outlines ambitious goals, policy only comes alive when people embrace it in their own neighborhoods.
Enter the "Young Ecologist" (Yosh Ekolog) movement, a national youth initiative led in Namangan by Farruxbek Qosimov. This fast-growing movement has mobilized more than 670 volunteers across the region. The network spans all age groups, from kindergarteners learning to care for nature to Ulug’bek, an 8th-grade activist, Zulfiya Adasheva, a 19-year-old university student, and Ahmadjon Mamadjanov, a 25-year-old university graduate. Regardless of age, the members treat one another like "brothers and sisters" united by a shared mission to protect their urban home.
"When you join this movement, you realize you can give something back to make the world better. Historically, Namangan had a rich tradition of mentorship between masters and apprentices (ustoz-shogird). Today, that spirit lives on in our volunteer network as we show our neighbors how to protect our home,” said Ahmadjon.
From Classroom to Community
In a city bounded by dry, dusty hills, keeping Namangan green requires more than goodwill. For local students like Ulug’bek, environmental action is a hands-on, daily routine: spending afternoons tending to tree nurseries, greening school grounds, and maintaining drip irrigation networks to keep saplings alive.
When asked what the youth group says to peers who feel too young to make a difference, Zulfiya speaks for the volunteers:
"Ecology is life: without it, there is no future. We don't get caught up in debates or wait for others to act. We present our concrete environmental achievements as our collective voice. When community members see what we can achieve, they realize that anyone can be a resilience champion."
A Growing Neighborhood Movement
When Ahmadjon began volunteering six years ago, the concept of community service was unfamiliar to many local families in Namangan and often met with skepticism. Today, that mindset has transformed. Youth volunteers go door-to-door across local mahallas (neighborhoods), speak with elders, explain the city's climate goals, and recruit classmates. By translating complex environmental risks into everyday neighborhood care, they have earned the trust of families, who now actively encourage their children to join the movement.
Grassroots Action in Motion
Initiative 1: Pioneering the "Zero Waste Street"
As part of Namangan’s Action Plan, local leaders set out to modernize municipal waste management through a dual approach: community-level recycling and digital infrastructure mapping. Designed and implemented by UNDP, the initiative pairs a pilot "Zero Waste Street" model – featuring neighborhood collection stands with three distinct bins for food scraps, recyclables, and general waste – with a city-wide digital waste map designed to monitor disposal sites and collection flows.
To bring this strategy to life, volunteers fanned out across Namangan's neighborhoods. First, they held workshops to show families how to separate their household waste into the three bins at home before taking it to the collection stands. In parallel, they took on the massive technical undertaking of building the city's digital mapping system. Volunteers canvassed the streets to physically locate waste infrastructure, taking photos of municipal dumpsters and uploading their exact GPS coordinates into a central registry. This live data directly feeds into the digital waste map, which will allow municipal teams to optimize collection routes, track recycling flows, and flag environmental problem areas for cleanup in the future.
By pairing the city's new recycling setup with grassroots youth outreach and digital mapping, Namangan is building a clean, simple waste system that can easily be expanded to every neighborhood in the city.
Initiative 2: Culture & Creativity: The Eco Festival Movement
Complementing their household waste efforts, the youth group played a central role in organizing and facilitating UNDP-led Eco Festivals across the city to foster a broader culture of environmental care.
These lively events brought climate action to life. They featured fashion shows with volunteers wearing creative outfits made from recycled materials, alongside natural, handcrafted goods. The festivals drew large crowds of families, traditional artisans, and local entrepreneurs eager to participate and learn how to incorporate eco-friendly practices into their own businesses.
"When neighbors saw our finished green spaces and clean streets, parents brought their children to learn from us, and local craftsmen asked to join our next event. Seeing the community come together proved that small local steps create massive cultural change," said Zulfiya.
Bridging the Generational Divide in Climate Action
Building on these community successes, the youth movement has established an active dialogue with city leaders, bridging the generational gap and presenting fresh, innovative climate ideas.
The Hokimiyat (city administration) has embraced this energy, embedding dedicated youth infrastructure into the city's Action Plan. Namangan is establishing a specialized Youth "Urban Coworking" Hub designed to engage over 3,000 youth annually in climate resilience workshops, alongside an interactive "Green Library" stocked with over 1,000 books on ecology and adaptation.
"In family life, parents care for their children hoping to be looked after in their old age," reflects Farruxbek. "But in youth volunteering, young people care selflessly for neighbors and future generations they may never meet. Seeing hundreds of young people unite around that selfless goal gives us confidence in the future of Namangan."
A group photo of volunteers. Left to right: Farruxbek Qosimov, Zulfiya Adasheva, Ulug’bek, and Ahmadjon Mamadjanov.
Photo by UNDP Uzbekistan.
This article is Part 2 of a three-part storytelling series, "The Faces of Resilience," exploring how Namangan, Uzbekistan, is pioneering localized, inclusive climate action. In Part 1, we met municipal leaders like Dilbar and Ismoil who laid the bedrock for a climate-smart city. In Part 2, "The Green Generation," we meet the young champions mobilizing their neighborhoods to bring Namangan's climate plan to life. In Part 3, "Reshaping the Landscape," we will explore how Namangan is turning policy into physical protection, showcasing sustainable infrastructure across the city.
This series is produced under the regional initiative, "Enhancing Urban Resilience to Disaster Risk and Climate Change in Central Asia," funded by the Government of Japan and implemented by UNDP.
