Views, events, and debates

Abstract

‘A whole new world’: using new technologies to develop women's leadership in Kyrgyzstan

by Joanna Hoare

In the areas of both new technology and leadership, women everywhere tend to be under-represented. In this piece, we hear about an innovative programme in Bishkek, capital of the central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan, which combined these fields, developing women's skills, and enhancing community development in the process.

To help Haiti, upend aid habits, and focus on its women

by Elaine Zuckerman

On 12 January 2010, a devastating earthquake struck the Caribbean nation of Haiti, killing tens of thousands of people. Those who survived are now struggling to rebuild their lives and their country. In this blog piece, originally posted in February 2010 on the website of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Elaine Zuckerman argues that it is imperative for Haiti that its women are directly involved in the reconstruction process.

The 2009 Copenhagen Climate Change Conference and beyond: an interview with Celeste McKay

December 2009 saw the holding of the long-awaited United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen – officially, the fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change – where government delegates sought to reach agreement on new measures to combat climate change post-2012, building on the Kyoto Protocol. G&D wanted to know about how strongly the issue of gender featured in the talks, so we asked Canadian environmental activist and campaigner Celeste McKay, who attended the Climate Change Conference, to give us her impressions, and to tell us more about her work with the Native Women's Association of Canada.

Where is the money for women's rights? 2009 research highlights and reflections

by Sarah Rosenhek and Cindy Clark

Without adequate funding, effective work on women's rights becomes impossible. Over the past few years, The Association for Women's Rights in Development has been conducting research into the funding environment in which women's rights organisations are currently operating, and here, they share their findings with us.

Notes

1. Arysh was established ten years ago, and creates and supports self-help groups in the new settlements of Bishkek. They have been working with INTRAC for five years.

2. A ‘blog’ is an Internet-based journal or newsletter.

3. This programme is funded by the Action by Churches Together (ACT) development agencies (Interchurch Organisation for Development Cooperation (ICCO), ACT, Dan Church Aid (DCA), Norwegian Church Aid (NCA). Please see www.intrac.org for further details of INTRAC's work in Central Asia.

4. Chui and Issyk-Kul oblasts are both located in northern Kyrgyzstan. They are predominantly rural, and most of the inhabitants are dependent on agriculture or tourism (in Issyk-Kul).

5. The practice of bride kidnapping involves the abduction of a young woman by the ‘groom’ and a group of his male friends and relatives. If the latter succeed in forcing the woman to stay in the groom's house over night, she then effectively has no choice but to marry him, as in most cases, her family will refuse to take her back. The practice has become widespread in rural areas since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. See Reconciled to Violence. State Failure to Stop Domestic Abuse and Abduction of Women in Kyrgyzstan (2006), Human Rights Watch, www.hrw.org/en/reports/2006/09/26/reconciled-violence-0 (accessed February 2010) for a fuller discussion.

6. Kyrgyz uses the same Cyrillic script as Russian, but there are a few ‘extra’ letters that are not included in the Russian alphabet, and hence, do not appear on Russian-language keyboards.

7. The scope of the research included interviews, and desk research as well as comparative analysis of previous ‘Where is the money’ surveys. For full research results, visit www.awid.org

8. The GEAR campaign was launched in 2006 by many international, regional and local organisations to influence the UN reform process, to ensure such a process was truly responsive and helpful to advance women's rights and gender equality worldwide, particularly around the creation of a recently approved creation of a new UN gender entity. For more information on the campaign, visit: http://gear.groupsite.com/main/summary

9. A Powerful Women's Agency: Will the UN deliver? (2009), Charlotte Bunch, OpenDemocracy, www.opendemocracy.net/5050/charlotte-bunch/powerful-womens-agencywill-un-deliver (last accessed April 2010).