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Human security workshops for Central Asian activists — linking personal and communal well-being

Context: One of the key focuses of CAG’s work is enhancing the security, safety, and resilience of civil society organizations and communities in Central Asia amid the complex challenges facing the region. These challenges range from armed border conflicts, inter-ethnic tensions, low human development indexes, limited natural resources, climate change and environmental degradation. Civil society organizations in the region not only operate in the face of these challenges but also take active measures to address them, aiming to protect the rights of local vulnerable communities and the individuals. However, this commitment often comes at a cost to the personal...

Interview with Surayo Karimova – one project participant

In cooperation with Little Earth, a partner organization from Tajikistan, CAG works with the mountain communities of the Yaghnob Valley. Our aim is to preserve local ecosystems and promote sustainable energy solutions while increasing women’s participation in decision-making processes. The primary target group of this cooperation are local women from the most vulnerable families in the Yaghnob Valley’s mountain communities. CAG and Little Earth work directly with these women, increasing their capacity through awareness-raising and training. By equipping local women with the necessary knowledge, skills and building networks, we contribute to their involvement in decision-making processes at the local...

Empowering young people and advancing youth rights in Southern Kyrgyzstan: recent highlights from our collaboration with Novi Ritm

Centralasiengrupperna partners with Novi Ritm, a youth-led organization from the south of Kyrgyzstan. Our joint efforts are dedicated to enhancing young people’s awareness of their rights and encouraging their participation in decision-making processes, both at the national and community levels. This blog post offers a summary of our recent activities together.  For a more in-depth look at our collaborative work throughout 2023, we invite you to explore our previous blog posts, available here and here.  Throughout October and November, Novi Ritm hosted several meetings and training sessions for its Girls Group. These gatherings served as a platform for promoting...

Protecting biodiversity and encouraging sustainable livelihoods in Son-Kul Lake in the Kyrgyz mountains – part 2

Centralasiengrupperna works with the Institute for Sustainable Development Strategy (ISDS), our partner organization in Kyrgyzstan, to protect and restore the biodiversity and encourage sustainable livelihoods in Son-Kul lake in the Kyrgyz mountains. Within this collaboration, we aim to empower local communities, with a focus on women and youth, to exercise their rights for a healthy environment and participate in decision-making processes. This blog post is the second part of our series dedicated to the key activities within our collaboration during 2023. Read the first part for a more comprehensive insight into our partnership.  ‘Son-Kul birds: Protect the Mountain Goose’...

CAG 10 years’ blog post series: Information project throughout the years

Since CAG’s founding, information work in Sweden has been an important complementary cornerstone in our international solidarity work. When someone hears “Central Asia” in Sweden – only a few people, unfortunately, are able to even pinpoint the countries referred to. This perception is something CAG wants to change through information and advocacy work. In our third and last blog post of our 10 years’ anniversary series, we provide an overview of our information and advocacy work, including an in-depth look at the first year of Central Asia Days and materials published as part of our information work. A geopolitical...

Securing wetland ecosystems of Son-Kul Lake in the Kyrgyz Mountains – part 2

From March until December 2022, CAG in partnership with the Institute for Sustainable Development Strategy (ISDS) had been implementing a project “Securing wetland ecosystems of Lake Son-Kul in the Kyrgyz mountains”. Together with Cholpon rural municipality, ISDS focused on supporting the rights of  local communities to protect and manage wetlands and natural resources of the Son-Kul basin of Naryn region. You can read the first blog post about this project via this link. Son-Kul Lake performs a number of important environmental functions, such as maintaining the stability of the region’s climate, accumulation and storage of fresh water, maintaining the...

CAG 10 years’ blog post series: Partners and projects throughout the years

Central Asia Solidarity Groups is turning 10 years old this year! To celebrate it, we take a look in the rearview mirror. Below we get an overview of partners and projects since 2012 – the year when CAG officially became a registered organization.   Back in 2012, CAG worked mostly with democratic youth activism and conflict transformation. A few years later, several new thematic areas had been developed – gender equality, LGBTQ and culture. In 2019, the thematic program area culture ceased to be a one of CAG’s main thematic areas. Instead, climate and environment became a thematic area, and...

Take a glance at Central Asia Days 2022!

On November 5-6, Centralasiengrupperna hosted its ninth annual Central Asia Days conference at ABF Stockholm, which was accompanied by a screening of the movie “Baqyt” at Zita Folkets Bio. With the focus on gender & women’s rights and climate & environment, our speakers provided profound and first-hand knowledge on the topics and engaged participants into thought-provoking discussions.   The first day of the conference was devoted to the theme of gender and women’s rights. Our speaker from Kazakhstan Zhanar Sekerbayeva – a feminist, activist, and co-founder of the feminist initiative ‘Feminita’, shared how the initiative advocates for women’s political participation...

Being an intern in Kyrgyzstan

While writing my master thesis during the spring semester, I saw an interesting advertisement for a summer internship. As I already have conducted two internships and my second master degree was coming to an end, I mainly searched for permanent positions. However, I could not resist looking closer into the internship advert. The ad mentioned working with projects related to biodiversity and climate adaptation which I have studied, worked with, and have a passion for. I became more and more intrigued. As I scrolled down the text I saw that the internship would be based in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. “Kyrgyzstan!?”....

Interview with Anita and Sara, new CAG interns

The picture above is of Anita and Sara, who visited CAG’s office in Malmö as a part of their preparation for an internship in Kyrgyzstan to work with our partner Novi Ritm, a youth organization based in Osh. We asked Sara and Anita a few questions about themselves and about their expectations from the internship.  Tell us a bit about yourself.  Anita: I’m doing my masters right now in Security and Crisis Studies at the Swedish Defense University. I’ve already been involved in civil society for quite a long time, primarily through the Swedish United Nations Association, so I...