CRISP - Project

Project

Peaceful Dialogue in Kyrgyzstan

The project ‘Peaceful Dialog – Fighting Religious Extremism in Kyrgyzstan’ is the continuation of the project ‘Peaceful Dialogue in Kyrgyzstan’. Building on results and initiated processes of the 2015 cycle the participants of this year’s project will continue to develop potential solutions to the problems religious radicalism cause.

Quick facts

DURATION

March 2016 - December 2016

LOCATIONS

Bishkek and the regions of Jalalabat, Chui, Osh and Issyk Kul

PARTICIPANTS

20

BENEFICIARIES

Approx. 200 workshop participants, Members of local communities,

Politicians or state representatives, religious leaders, representatives of civil society organizations

The participants will take part in trainings, awareness raising workshops, local peace initiatives and public discussions in order to reflect, express their views and discuss different approaches that could lead to dialogue and peaceful solutions of the conflicts between different Islamic trends. They will furthermore design and implement projects aimed at preventing religious conflicts. Project participants will furthermore cooperate with representatives of state and religious institutions as well as NGOs, which will contribute to the development of coping strategies related to religious extremism with their expertise.

Target Group

In the first phase of the project the beneficiaries of the activities are young adults who will be trained as multipliers and who want to contribute to a peaceful coexistence of various religions through their involvement in Kyrgyzstan’s civil society. In the second phase the newly trained multipliers will conduct workshops for young adults, mainly in rural regions of Kyrgyzstan, namely Bishkek, Chui, Issyk Kul, Jalalabat and Osh. The workshop participants will then be encouraged to afterwards promote the workshops’ result by implementing initiatives in their own communities and will thus reach members of the rural and more deprived areas of the country. To ensure sustainability and in order to contribute to structural change, a close cooperation between participants and representatives of the government and religious institutions will be made possible in the frame of Round Table discussions. Hence, the project will reach a wide range of people from different backgrounds and geographical areas.

Project Goals

The overall goal of this project is to increase awareness for religious extremism and to develop and implement counter-measures in Kyrgyzstan and consequently, to decrease the number of youth vulnerable to extremist groups. Furthermore, this project aims to strengthen the links between civil society – in particular young adults - and the public sector and thus, to foster political participation. The project will make a contribution towards more inclusive and transparent policy-making in Kyrgyzstan. New structures and mechanisms of dialogue will be installed on all levels of society. By following a bottom-up approach, which is new to the Kyrgyz context, the project will also initiate new networks across religious or political divides. These could be important structures to develop visions for an open, tolerant and democratic society in Kyrgyzstan in the future.


Partner

This activity was implemented in close partnership with