When violent incidents were attributed to Islamic extremists in the west of Kazakstan this summer, it was sometimes hard to distinguish fact from conjecture in the various accounts of what was going on.

IWPR reporting on the latest upsurge in Islamic militant activity in eastern Tajikistan was the only media coverage providing insights into the extent of the danger facing the country from Muslim extremists, analysts say.

A round table on the prevention of teenage suicide in Kazakstan, which was jointly organised by IWPR, and inspired by one of its report on the subject, has prompted the authorities into action.

An IWPR event in Kazakstan has highlighted fears that the authorities corralled public-sector workers into voting for President Nursultan Nazarbaev ahead of last month’s election.

Women’s rights experts, activists and politicians from across Central Asia came away from an IWPR conference on domestic abuse saying learning about issues facing colleagues in other countries would give new impetus to their own efforts to tackle the problem.

There has been a huge increase in demand for reports published by IWPR's News Briefing Central Asia, NBCA, which provide regional media and activist groups with analysis of developments in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, both of which are closed societies where foreign media and NGOs are not allowed to operate.

Kyrgyz and Tajik broadcast partners of IWPR’s Central Asia radio service have been speaking about the important contribution it has made to their operations.

IWPR Human Rights Reporting Award plays an important role in raising standards of human rights reporting in Central Asia, media experts and journalists from the region have said.

An IWPR-supported campaign has been instrumental in reviving efforts to push through the Tajik parliament a bill banning domestic violence, activists and officials say.

A series of new IWPR textbooks for the Central Asian programme will serve as an important resource for local journalists and human rights campaigners, say media professionals and civil society activists.

Activists, analysts and journalists say they relied on IWPR reporting as a rare, unbiased source of information during the interethnic conflict in southern Kyrgyzstan this summer.

Experts said IWPR’s reporting on the change of government in Kyrgyzstan in April, preceded by mass protests against President Kurmanbek Bakiev, combined the standards of international journalism with an insider knowledge of local politics.

Recommendations made during IWPR round tables on children’s education will be included in a parliamentary commission report on how Kyrgyz laws on the rights of minors are being implemented.

An IWPR round table on the issues facing online journalism in Central Asia has facilitated dialogue between civil society and the authorities.

Long-term IWPR contributor Asyl Osmonalieva has been awarded a prize of 1,500 US dollars for seven articles on issues debated in the Kyrgyz parliament.

Asyl Osmonalieva, IWPR's long-term contributor in Kyrgyzstan, was a finalist in the Developing Asia Journalism Awards.

An IWPR report on authorities targeting an Islamic missionary group they regard as subversive was highlighted for offering insights that questioned whether a hard-line approach is always the right one.

In Central Asia, an IWPR project to provide human rights training to journalists across Kazakstan and Kyrgyzstan, organised a series of training seminars in both countries as part of the Central Asia Human Rights Reporting Project aimed at building bridges between regional media and the human rights community.