[English] Residence for Climate activist in Kyrgyzstan

Central Asia Solidarity Groups (Centralasiengrupperna) is co-organizing an activist residency in Kyrgyzstan, together with the youth organization Novi Ritm. The residence will take place during 2 weeks in November, primarily based in the southern city of Osh with Novi Ritm as the hosting organization. We are currently looking for suitable candidates for this residence. During the residence the activist will work closely with Novi Ritm and conduct a series of activities, including lectures, workshops, planning sessions and meetings. As Novi Ritm and its young members and volunteers are rather new to the thematic areas of environment and climate, the...

Why are only women on parental leave? (English)

Yesterday me, Amanda and Aida participated in “consultation between lawyers and young people” made within one of the projects at Novi Ritm, the 1325-project. The consultation where held in Osh city.  Some weeks ago Novi Ritm arranged “trainings of trainers” and the next step for these young trainers have been to implement a mini project in their local context. All these mini projects will be implemented in May and we will try to participate and report about as many of them as possible. This project was carried out by Guliza and Dastan, see picture below. The session between lawyers and...

Training in Aravan

This friday me and Amanda together with staff from Novi Ritm, participated in a training made within one of the projects at Novi Ritm, the 1325-project. The training were held in a school in Aravan, about 30 minutes from Osh city. Some weeks ago Novi Ritm arranged “trainings of trainers” and the next step for these young trainers have been to implement a mini project in their local context. Three girls, Naila, Zarnigor and Dilyora facilitated the training which began with a discussion about gender stereotypes, social constructed and biological gender, UN resolution 1325 and some games. You could...

Everyday life in Osh

In Osh, new things happens all the time and we meet new people everyday. After a few weeks of acclimatizing we have started to get some routines in our life and Osh finally is feeling more like my – at least, second home. In this blogpost I will talk about everyday life in Osh and give example of what we do during our days here. The day usually starts around 08.00 when me and Amanda gets up and we have breakfast in our house. After that we usually head to the gym. We have a really nice gym and since both...

Workshop: Islam and feminism

Disclaimer: CAG is a politically and religiously unbound organization and this blog post mirrors only my own thoughts in connection to this workshop and from spending only one week in Kyrgyzstan. It should also be underlined what is being presented is a small part of the research conducted on the subjects of Islam and feminism, ethnicity and gender. This Friday the staff of Novi Ritm participated in a small workshop about Islam and feminism, which was facilitated by Grace Zhou, an anthropologist who writes her dissertation on gender and informal economy here in Kyrgyzstan. On the picture above you...

(English) first dinner in Kyrgyzstan!

We (me Emma, and Amanda, the new interns) have arrived to Bishkek today. After a long flight we finally got to our hostel and after that we had some dinner at a restaurant with traditional kyrgyzs food. We also did some shopping at the supermarket. Since we have been awake for 24 hours its time for some sleep. /Emma...

(English) Two weeks of preparation

The picture above is from this week when me and Amanda, the organization Vardagens Civilkurage, our colleagues from Novi Ritm and CAG’s international coordinator Annika had a workshop in Malmö, Sweden. We practiced different roles you can have in a meeting e.g how you can intervene if someone interrupts and how you can act in different situations to make a meeting as democratic as possible. We also practiced different dialogue methods. The workshop was organized by Vardagens Civilkurage and was very good and interesting. This week has also been a lot about planning, mostly activities related to Resolution 1325...

(English) Soon in Kyrgyzstan – presentation of Emma, new CAG intern

Hi there, I’m currently at a café in Malmö, Sweden, with my new friend and colleague Amanda. Last day we met our Kyrgyzs colleagues (they are in Sweden now), it was so nice to meet them before going to Kyrgyzstan and they made a really good impression. Since I will spend some time blogging from Osh in Kyrgyzstan I thought this would be the perfect moment to introduce myself. After years of studying at the University of Gothenburg, last week I finally got my bachelor’s degree in political science, something I’m very happy about! I’ve been writing my thesis...

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(English) Vernacular design in Central Asia – A showcase of handmade objects from Kyrgyzstan

A man tends to his shop of babies’ cradles at Osh Bazaar, Kyrgyzstan Note to readers: this post was originally published on the author’s Medium account. Check this link to read it from the original source. Central Asia is regarded as a region of excellence when it comes to the production of artifacts such as carpets, textiles and felt. This traditions have been deeply explored and rightfully celebrated, however very little can be found on the design of everyday things in the region. The Southern part of Kyrgyzstan, a rather small country of 5 million, is especially interesting because...

Centralasiengrupperna söker internationell samordnare inom genus/kvinnors rättigheter

  Centralasiengrupperna (CAG) är en ideell organisation som är baserad i Malmö. Vi verkar huvudsakligen i postsovjetiska Centralasien inom tematiska områden som mänskliga rättigheter, konflikthantering, ungdomsfrågor, genus/HBTQ och kultur, i nära samarbete med centralasiatiska gräsrötter och aktivister. Vi har även vissa projekt och satsningar i Sverige. Nu söker vi en internationell samordnare för våra satsningar inom områdena genus och kvinnors/flickors rättigheter. Arbetsuppgifter Som internationell samordnare kommer du att: Arbeta med metod- och organisationsutveckling med våra partners i södra Kirgizistan. Hålla utbildningar inom satsningens tematiska områden. Samordna vårt nätverk av kvinnorättsorganisationer i regionen och stötta Centralasiengruppernas solidaritetsarbete med dessa aktörer....