Meeting with Organizers from Azerbaijan

On May 5th the Focus the Nation team trucked down to the Oregon Historical Society Building to meet with a group of visitors from Azerbaijan with the World Affairs Council. I was apprehensive at first. What were we going to be able to offer these organizers from another country? I’ve never even been out of the United States and after looking at their biographies they had traveled far across Europe partaking in speaking engagements, spreading the word about their projects, and learning about organizing and activism in different cultures. What would we have to say about FTN?

After being taken to the 3rd floor and into a small conference room the three of us (Trell, Grace and myself) nervously sat down and waited for the activists from Azerbaijan. When they came in with their interpreter they had big smiles spread across their faces, they were happy to be in the US and proclaimed how excited they were to be in Portland, OR.


“This is a beautiful, very green city,” they all agreed. I felt proud to be able to say that FTN feels the same way and we love working here.


Soon after our introductions and a few minutes getting used to talking through an interpreter, we got right down into what we do. Mostly our new friends and organizing colleagues wanted to know how it is that we rally around climate change and what tactics do we use to get young people involved. We touted that many of the youth that we work with are volunteers, many have the passion for climate change already, and we support them and connect the dots between their different communities.  I was asked if we were able to affect policy the way that we wanted to, and if I thought there was a chance of the US really building a clean energy economy.


“What is most important is that young people know that they have a voice and a stake in their own futures. We may not have influenced policy with this campaign, but I believe we were influential in the lives of ten young people. We hope one day they’ll be the builders in a clean energy economy.”

We all left recharged, excited to know that there are no boundaries when trying to affect change and there is no limit to what we can learn from each other. We traded cards, information and facebook profiles, promising to come to Azerbaijan if we were invited to speak by any of their groups!


-Alicia Eimer
Communications Coordinator
Focus the Nation