Fem dagar i Osh, Kirgizistan

I slutet av april reste jag, Thea, från Växjös lokalförening, tillsammans med IdaLisa från Göteborg och Frida och Linnea från Malmö till Kirgizistan. Vi reste till staden Osh som ligger i södra Kirgizistan, nära gränsen till Uzbekistan. I Osh ligger Novi Ritms hus, en ungdomsorganisation som är en mötesplats där unga kan skapa eller delta i aktiviteter, diskutera sina idéer och fördjupa sina kunskaper och ledarskapssidor. I tre dagar höll vi träningar i civilkurage för 20 ungdomar som är aktiva i Novi Ritm. Det var en fantastisk upplevelse och väldigt kul att hålla träningar som jag så många gånger gjort i...

(English) Social theatre in Sumhat – discussing the issue of suicide among young people in Kyrgyzstan

As you can read about here and here, Novi Ritm’s 1325-team is currently spending most of its time traveling around the regions and towns where we’ve previously held trainings, in order to supervice and document the third and last step of the project, which is: facilitating peace initiatives and regional network working together with issues relating to UNSCR 1325. From the second step of the project: awareness raising and knowledge building activities in the three regions of Osh, Batken and Jalal-Abad, participants from nine of the schools that we’ve visited have been granted money for coming up with and...

(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) Raising the voices of the young

Newly arrived in Bishkek, we haven’t spent any time being idle. Except for doing some of the city’s most famous cites, spending a whole day skiing in Chunkurchak, eating lots of Kyrgyz food and finding new friends, one of the first things we did was to met with two different NGO’s: Center for the Protection of Children (CPC) and Kloop, an independent media outlet and school of journalism for young people. Summarised in one sentence, these two organisations are all about raising the young voices of Kyrgyzstan. At the CPC we met with Mira, who told us about their work as one...

(English) Part 2 on Democratization in Kyrgyzstan: Novi Ritm’s Contribution to Democratization of Kyrgyzstan

How can Novi Ritm be seen as contributing to the democratization process of Kyrgyzstan? In the last blog post, Perspectives on Democracy, I offered different conceptions of democracy and how the Central Asia Solidarity Groups (hereby abbreviated CAG) in particular understands the concepts of “democracy” and “democratization”. In this second and last blog post in the mini series, we will delve deeper into what actions CAG’s understanding of democracy and democratization leads them to take in Central Asia by analyzing how one of their main partners, the youth organization Novi Ritm in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, can be said to contribute...

(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...

(English) Comics workshop on Gender Issues in Osh

Novi Ritm in Osh hosted a unique two days workshop on how to create comics and share girls problems in a patriarchial society. Workshops were organized by four members of the Swedish feminist collective of cartoonists Dotterbolaget with the collaboration between Centralasiengrupperna. During the first day participants learnt basics of comic drawing and different methods. On the second day, girls depending on their interest and will, were divided into 4 small groups, where they created their own comics on themes such as: bride-kidnapping, street harassment, violence against women and stereotypes. “Girls group” played a big role in organizing the...

Föredrag: Post-soviet Kyrgyzstan in transition to WHAT? – perspectives of feminist youth and teenagers

Centralasiengrupperna i Malmö arrangerar ett föredrag om feminism i Kirgizistan. Varmt välkommen på onsdag 5 november kl 18.30-20.00 på Garaget Malmö! “Speaking up among tokenization and misuse of the girl empowerment agenda” with Dariya Kasmamytova from Girl Activists of Kyrgyzstan “Human rights as a radical agenda, youth activism in times of backlash” by Saadat Baigazieva from Bishkek Feminist Collective SQ The seminar will be held in english. For more information please contact Gustaf Sörnmo, [email protected], 0736467661 Centralasiengrupperna arranges a lecture on feminism in Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia. Warmly welcome the 5th November at 18.30-20.00 @ Garaget library in Malmö,...