Kurak Voices: Fostering inclusive public dialogue in Kyrgyzstan
According to the National Statistical Committee, women in Kyrgyzstan account for about 50.55% of the total population, 63.84% of whom reside in rural areas. According to the Global Gender Gap Report for 2024, Kyrgyzstan ranks 90th among 146 countries in terms of gender equality; women in Kyrgyzstan often face violations of their rights at the domestic level and at work. Kurak Voices: Fostering inclusive dialogue for change seeks to open conversations at local level on ingrained gender inequality. The project sees diaspora introduce inclusive public dialogue (IPD) as a community building tool to foster sustainable change.
Kurak Voices is a partnership project between the Migration and Human Trafficking Council under the Speaker of the Kyrgyz Republic’s Parliament (MHTC) and Association DANAKER – Diaspora of Women from Kyrgyzstan in Poland (Danaker). MHTC and Danaker have established a longstanding partnership to support the Parliament of the Kyrgyz Republic in engaging communities, including the diaspora in Europe, facilitating effective communication, and fostering knowledge exchange on the country’s evolving needs and developments. As the first diaspora organisation from Kyrgyzstan in Europe focused on women, Danaker embodies a pioneering approach to diaspora engagement in Kyrgyzstan and the Central Asian region.
In partnership with
Programme of activities
A robust Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) framework to assess the effectiveness and impact of the Training of Facilitators and IPDs will be developed for implementation during the project. This framework will be co-developed by DANAKER and MHTC to assess the impact of IPDs and diaspora-led initiatives. The EUDiF team will contribute to co-creation of monitoring and evaluation tools, as well as strengthening project management capacities, offering strategic guidance throughout the process.
Focus Group 1 will bring 15 NGO representatives, community leaders, local government officials, and legal advisors together in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, to gather insights on their experiences, challenges, and expectations related to facilitating IPD in local communities.
Focus Group 2 will engage 15 women from remote areas and vulnerable backgrounds in an online session to understand the specific needs, concerns, and barriers they face in their communities.
Focus Group 3 will engage 10 women diaspora leaders from across Europe in an online session to outline project objectives, roles, and expectations, with a strong focus on inclusivity and intersectionality. Participants will assess their capacities, challenges and needs in engaging with their country of heritage as well as establish the network communication platforms and define the project workflow and key milestones.
The expert team will develop a facilitation toolkit for conducting IPD. The toolkit will integrate insights from the needs assessment and provide tools and tips for facilitating IPD, including techniques for active listening, fostering safe spaces for discussion, and managing sensitive topics effectively.
Experts from NANSEN Centre for Peace and Dialogue,and DANAKER will conduct a six-day intensive training for 18 local community leaders. The training will be highly interactive and practice-oriented, incorporating role-play and real-life scenarios to enhance participants’ ability to lead impactful IPDs.
Following the training of facilitators, each local community leader will put their newly acquired skills into practice by facilitating at least one IPD session within their respective communities. This pilot phase will serve as a practical test of the training methodologies and facilitation toolkit. To ensure successful execution and address any challenges, participants will receive remote mentorship from DANAKER throughout the process.
DANAKER will gather and analyse the outcomes of these pilot IPD sessions, compiling key insights into a compact report. This report will be presented during the final project validation and evaluation meeting, contributing to ongoing refinement and sustainability of the initiative and directly feeding MHTC’s policy work.
A final project validation and evaluation meeting will be conducted to debrief the pilot sessions, review overall outcomes, assess the project’s impact, gather feedback, and discuss the sustainability of its results. The final meeting will include consultation with the local community leaders, MHTC, DANAKER and EUDiF. Local community leaders who successfully led IPD in local communities will receive official certification, boosting their credibility and capacity to lead IPDs independently. The collaboration between MHTC and newly-certified community leaders will be formalised for future needs.