Supporter: Alissa Zwanger

Over the last decade, Gulnara, a 33-year-old school official, had seen few changes in her small Kyrgyz community of Kadamjay. The kindergarten building was in disrepair; the pedestrian bridge over the ravine was unsafe; garbage continued to pile up around town. The local government seemed deaf to the community's pleas for assistance. Residents were despondent.

In the Ferghana Valley region of Kyrgyzstan, a nation of 5 million people beset by economic hardship and disorganization since the breakup of the Soviet Union, the standard of living is among the worst in Central Asia. But today, with help from Mercy Corps, Gulnara is changing lives and bringing new hope to her neighbors. She is mobilizing.

Gulnara leads the Community Action Group (CAG) in Kadamjay, a group of local citizens who prioritize community revitalization projects funded by USAID's CAIP program. (See sidebar at left.) Mercy Corps helps communities design and implement their own improvement projects, part of its pursuit of a sustainable solution to the despair, hopelessness and conflict that pervades communities across Central Asia.

In the last year, the leadership group spearheaded some noticeable changes: They secured regular garbage service that cut down on the piles of trash accumulating on the sides of muddy roads. And they repaired the village’s highly trafficked pedestrian bridge.

With these high-profile improvements, Gulnara says, "Now, people here understand they can make something happen if they act. They can construct a bridge. Change is possible, even if the local authority does not help."

Gulnara is now part of the local authority, thanks to her involvement with Mercy Corps. She recently agreed to become Second Deputy Representative in the local government, and today is one of four women who sit on the council and work to improve communities in the region.

When asked how Mercy Corps prepared her for the work with the government, she replied, "Oh, it was tremendous. Now people trust me. They have confidence in my ability to improve Kadamjay because of my knowledge of infrastructure projects. And women feel represented."

Gulnara says participating in these projects showed her how to mobilize and inspire her neighbors, and how to manage a community project from start to finish. And the rest of the community has seen a process that gets results – emboldening them to tackle projects even after Mercy Corps leaves.

For Gulnara, the path to a better future is like the town’s footbridge: long and sometimes unsteady, but passable. "I was born in Kadamjay. I believe in it. But I must not stop trying to help people or to improve lives. This is my work at the council, on the CAG or at the school."

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In Uzbekistan, a woman’s career options are limited. Many work hard labor – if they work at all. The unemployment rate of young people in the Ferghana Valley is thought to exceed 60 percent.

At age 20, Muazzam’s job was to pick cotton alongside her parents. She thought it was her only chance to earn a living.

When she was one of five local women invited by Mercy Corps to take sewing classes from a professional seamstress for three months, her parents were concerned. They would have to work longer hours to compensate for her absence, and weren’t sure her sewing career would pan out.

A year later, all five women are participating in a thriving business. Muazzam earns three times more in a single day than she did in the fields. Her parents are relieved and proud.

The participants are not only gaining monetarily, they’re also gaining confidence. As part of the program, funded by USAID, the women learned not only how to sew but also how to start and register a business, how to market their product and other key business skills.

With this help, they soon won contracts to make clothing for neighboring communities and are negotiating a deal to sew school-issued bedsheets for kindergarteners.

Odina, the group’s 20-year-old business manager, says, “We have changed 100 percent. Before, it was unfathomable that I would be negotiating business deals or know about taxes or marketing tactics. Before, we couldn’t even talk openly with our parents, much less clearly communicate with professionals in the nearby town. We thought we were just village girls.”

When asked what she found most exciting about the business, Muazzam responds, “Competition. This is a new concept for us here, and it is thrilling. After gaining real skills, I now have the confidence and experience to make this business sustainable.”

Armed with this confidence and newly acquired business acumen, the partners decided to pursue further learning opportunities.

Muazzam researched the possibility of attending a technical institution located about an hour away from the village. Four of the partners approached Mercy Corps and said they would pay for transportation to and from the school if the agency covered enrollment costs. “We need to learn new fashion designs to remain competitive and bring in orders,” explains Muazzam. “Also, we need the credibility that attending an institution can provide.”

Mercy Corps agreed, and the partners continue to increase their revenue and build a sustainable business model. They hope to have apprentices of their own someday, to share all they’ve learned.

Until then, it is back to the sewing pedal, as these young women make a better future for themselves and their community.

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Life is full of conflict, says 18-year-old Nargiza. As an Uzbek resident of Central Asia’s Ferghana Valley, she’s experienced more than her fair share of ethnic violence and unrest. The Ferghana Valley is home to more than seven million Uzbeks, Kyrgyz and Tajiks, who coexist within a haphazard patchwork of national borders in the region’s most densely populated area.

“But not all conflict is detrimental,” says Nargiza. “Conflict is often a catalyst to take a bad situation and make it better.”

Her youthful confidence is a result of training she received from Mercy Corps in how to mitigate conflicts. Equipping people in the Ferghana Valley with the skills they need to peacefully resolve conflict is a major part of Mercy Corps’ implementation of the USAID-funded Community Action Investment Program (CAIP). The CAIP program works to alleviate potential sources of conflict by promoting dialogue, improving standards of living and facilitating cooperation among communities in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

So far, Nargiza has used her skills to resolve a complaint that her school’s female students lodged against some disrespectful male counterparts. She’s also conducted conflict-resolution trainings with youth and local leaders, and hopes to hold sessions in communities who might be arguing over water rights or feuding over young people’s role in community decisionmaking. Her approach: “Stop arguing. Have a productive conversation. Break down the topics. Find the root problem and prioritize steps to a solution.”

The first conflict Nargiza addressed was in her own home, where she lives with her parents, grandmother and three siblings. Her parents disapproved of her participation in the Youth Community Action Group, a team critical to bringing about change in their community. Nargiza’s parents preferred that she stay at home, but did permit her to attend meetings and trainings. Eventually, they understood Nargiza’s desire to get youth involved.

“Even after Mercy Corps leaves, I will still be working with conflict,” says Nargiza. “I was taught a real skill and appreciate being able to empower other Uzbeks in a peaceful way.”

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After graduating from secondary school, 18-year-old Maftuna found herself like many of her peers in the 4,500-person Galatoy community near Margilan, Uzbekistan: jobless with few prospects for employment.

In the Ferghana Valley, one of Central Asia’s poorest and most densely populated regions, it's estimated that only 30 to 40 percent of young adults have stable jobs or reliable incoming-generating activities. The social effects reverberate throughout the region’s rural communities: extremist groups prey on disenfranchised young males lacking viable job opportunities, and young women enter into marriage without skills to provide for their new families. As a result, the cycle of poverty and conflict continues.

Last August, Maftuna took steps to break the cycle by attending a skill-building institute sponsored by Mercy Corps. The five-day Youth Professional Development Institute focused on equipping young people with employable skill sets. Topics included basic business skills, how to research and land a job, tools for mitigating conflict and information about disease prevention and health. More than 115 young adults from 30 different communities attended.

The “Basic Business Education” course provided tips on how to present yourself to potential employers and taught participants practical on-the-job skills. Subjects included job interviewing, skills assessment, time management and collaborative problem-solving. Upon returning to their communities after the institute, 19 participants found employment, including Maftuna.

]In a display of her newfound job-hunting skills, Maftuna boldly approached the director of the local primary school and declared, “I have skills. I know how to organize people and thoughts. I would like to work at the school.”

She got a job as a teacher’s aide, helping administer lessons and resolving disputes between students. She is the school’s youngest employee.

“I like the job,” she says, “The students ask me for advice and direction, which I enjoy.”

Maftuna hopes her first job is a stepping-stone to her next. She hopes to study psychology at the local university and become a full-fledged teacher. With the help of Mercy Corps, young adults like Maftuna can create a new cycle in the Ferghana Valley that will lead to better living standards for her and her peers.

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Dilnoza is a typical 10-year-old: she likes school, helps her mother with household chores, and enjoys spending time with her friends. Dilnoza lives in Yoshlik, a dusty small village in rural Uzbekistan.

The village has one main “road,” unpaved and muddy. Small, bare, and poorly-constructed houses dot the landscape around Yoshlik, which is an hour away from the larger town of Namangan in the Ferghana Valley of Uzbekistan.

Life for Dilnoza was hard before Mercy Corps and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) came to her village as part of the Community Action Investment Program (CAIP). The impoverished village did not have electricity or any other stable source of energy.

This meant that Dilnoza and the women and children of Yoshlik spent three hours during weekdays and most of the weekends collecting brushwood for fires, or gathering coal. The coal supply was erratic, expensive, and caused illnesses such as bronchitis and asthma. Often, community members were cold and hungry during the winter months, when temperatures dip down to 10 degrees Fahrenheit – especially the children.

Working with a committee from the Yoshlik community, Mercy Corps and USAID assisted in procuring a gas supply for the small village. The community implemented the labor while Mercy Corps purchased the necessary supplies and equipment.

With a reliable gas supply, living conditions have improved. Now, the women and children do not have to collect brushwood or coal. The number of illnesses has decreased, and so have families' medical costs.

Women now spend the weekends in the cotton fields earning extra money for their families in addition to their weekday jobs. This year, the children of the community had their first summer vacation, ever. Previous summers were spent gathering supplies in preparation for winter. This year, they played games and helped their mothers with household chores, and were noticeably happier.

The children of the village – including Dilnoza – not only have a better today, but a brighter future.

According to Fozil, a 47-year-old member of the local community action group, “The next generation of Yoshlik has seen what our collaborative work can do. They have seen adults solve the community’s problems and improve our lives. We have dignity. We can bring a better tomorrow.”

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