[English] Empowering youth for lasting change in Southern Kyrgyzstan

In 2023, Centralasiengrupperna initiated a new format of cooperation with local partners in Central Asia, allowing for long-term support. Funded by SIDA via ForumCiv’s Large Partnership Funding program, the new collaboration format enables us to provide sustainable and lasting support to our partners, which marks an important step in CAG’s ongoing progress from project-oriented work towards long-term partnerships.  The renewed collaboration framework involves our oldest partner, Novi Ritm, a youth organization based in southern Kyrgyzstan. In this blog post, we present an overview of our joint project and highlight the main activities that have been implemented thus far.  In...

Genus, våld och vardag i Kirgizistan: Uppdateringar från Sara, CAG:s praktikant i Kirgizistan.

Nu har det gått några månader sedan sist jag skrev och här i Osj har det hunnit bli vinterkallt. På Lenintorget har man för någon vecka sedan börjat bygga upp den årliga, mastodonta järngranen — precis mellan Stor-Lenin och den enorma, fladdrande, kirgiziska flaggan. Mysigt? Inte speciellt. Men effektfullt! När jag nu tittar tillbaka på vår tid som praktikanter här på Novi Ritm, så är det i synnerhet mötena med alla ungdomar som jag väger i karat.  Att vi har fått möjligheten att prata med unga kvinnor och flickor från olika bakgrund och olika livshistorier har varit ögonöppnande och...

[English] 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...

[English] Central Asia Days 2022

On the weekend of 5-6th of November Centralasiengrupperna is hosting the yearly Central Asia Days conference in Stockholm! During Central Asia Days 2022, we focus on two thematic areas: gender/women’s rights and climate/environment. Lectures and talks will be held in English by scholars and activists active in the region. On Saturday evening, there will be an additional movie screening at Zita Folkets Bio, Stockholm. The event is free of charge. Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/…/central-asia-days-2022… Venue: Per Albinsalen, ABF-huset, Sveavägen 41, Stockholm. Full program: DAY 1: Saturday 5TH OF NOVEMBER THEME: Gender and Women’s rights 10.30-10.45: Welcome 10.45-11.45: Women’s participation in politics...

(English) Coming home from Kyrgyzstan – three months later

It has now almost been three months since me and Emma arrived back in Sweden, after spending four months in Osh, Kyrgyzstan. Previously when I’ve spent some time abroad, I’ve marvelled at the fact that your life just goes back to normal so quickly; you meet up with old friends, walk the same streets as you’ve always walked before, go back to work or school – and all of a sudden it’s like you forget that you’ve just spent the last four or six months in a foreign country – with new friends and different streets – and that...

(English) “They should respect girls like they respect each other” – International Women’s Day in Osh

Today is International Women’s Day and in Kyrgyzstan this is a public holiday. Banners are put up all over the city, wishing women happiness and prosperous lives with many children. For two days the streets in the city center has been filled with flower stands and everywhere you see men caring bouquets and gifts for their wives, mothers and sister. Even I have gotten my fair share of well wishes (for instance, a lady I met at the banya (russian sauna) two weeks ago, sent me a text with roses and hearts). To tell you the truth, I have...

(English) Trainings in Batken Oblast with the 1325-team

As many of you know, part of Novi Ritms work during 2016-2017 has been and still is to raise awareness among Kyrgyz youth in relation to the UN Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security. It has previous featured on this blog here and here. Last week the 1325-team plus me and Emma went to Batken Oblast, in order to conduct two trainings on human rights – especially focusing on women rights and 1325. As a way of highlighting harmful structures in society as well as the level of inequality between Kyrgyz men and women, part of the training...

(English) Presentation of the new CAG intern Amanda

Hi everyone, So far, 2017 has been treating me good. At the end of last year I got a call from Annika at CAG telling me that I’d gotten an internship at CAG – going to Osh, Kyrgyzstan to work with their partner organization Novi Ritm for four months. I guess most of you reading this already know about CAG and Novi Ritm – and probably also something about Kyrgyzstan. Therefore I wont be going into details about this part. I’ll just say that right now me and Emma (the other intern whom I’ll be going with) are in...

(English) Introduction of the Intern Isabelle and Women’s Roles in the Construction of Identity in Kyrgyzstan

Hi everyone, My name is Isabelle Persson, and I am currently working in Southern Kyrgyzstan with Centralasiengrupperna’s main local partner Novi Ritm in Osh. At 25 years, I have managed to obtain a Bachelor’s degree in Peace and Conflict Studies at Malmö University, where I previously studied pedagogics and drama. I also studied abroad one semester in Melbourne, Australia, where I had the pleasure of not only enjoying the amazing culture of the First Peoples but also get out of my comfort zone and study Macroeconomics and International Business. My civil society engagement has largely been party political throughout...