Central Asia: Mar ‘08

Local journalists say an IWPR conflict prevention project completed in March has improved media standards and also informed the decisions of politicians in the Central Asia region.



IWPR’s Central Asia Media & Civil Society Conflict Prevention and Confidence Building Programme ran from December 2006 to March 2008. It was funded by Global Conflict Prevention Pool, GCPP – a resource of the UK foreign office, ministry of defence, and department for international development – with co-funding from the Norwegian foreign ministry.



The main aims of the project were to promote conflict prevention and to strengthen peace and stability in society, through reporting, journalism training and public discussion on important issues. To achieve these goals, project staff worked with NGOs, universities and officials in the region.



While project activity was located in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakstan, its reports covered all five countries in the Central Asian region, including Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.



Over the lifespan of the project, the region’s regimes became more authoritarian and intolerant of free speech, while ordinary citizens experienced continued socio-economic hardships.



The project produced regular features on these developments for local and international audiences, improving understanding of the issues amongst local journalists and civil society organisations.



Over the course of the project, the Reporting Central Asia service produced 220 news features, 28 special in-depth reports and occasional comment pieces on conflict, democratisation and development themes.



Posted articles generated over 1.5 million page impressions and 4,500 online and print republications in local and international media.



During the project, 260 trainees – including journalism students and more experienced journalists – took part in 22 different local and cross-border workshops on conflict reporting.



The project’s training manual on conflict-related issues – Reporting For Change: a Handbook for Local Journalists in Crisis Area – which was provided to Central Asian media and universities, supported training activity and increased people’s knowledge of the subject.



Seventeen round-table events in Almaty, Bishkek, Osh, Jalalabad, Dushanbe, Khujand, and Khorog raised key conflict- and development-related issues.



Tajigul Begmedova, chair of Turkmen Helsinki Fund for Human Rights, said her organisation considered IWPR project activity to be both timely and relevant.



“Its publications are distinguished by their objectivity and the angles they take. They attract attention with their professional and knowledgeable coverage of events in Central Asia,” she said.



Esen Sishkaraev, deputy editor-in-chief of the Jalalabad regional newspaper Vzgliad (View) in southern Kyrgyzstan, felt that local journalists gained a lot from training modules delivered by international journalists. “It’s great that IWPR is able to provide such experience,” he said.



Mukammal Odinaeva, a reporter with the Tajik newspaper Business and Politics, said she learnt important lessons at the IWPR training session she attended.



“I’ve worked with state news agency and a great deal of local newspapers, but the experience that I gained at IWPR could be found nowhere else. IWPR is a great school of journalistic craftsmanship, useful not only for beginner journalists but also for experienced reporters,” she said.



Gulnara Mambetalieva, a journalist with the Tazar.kg news agency, said the training session she attended helped her improve her analytical skills.



“My work has improved significantly after training with you. I felt genuine improvements in my professional work, in preparing stories and writing them,” she said.



“I now have not only the skills for information gathering, but also analysing.”



Zinaida Savina, a Kazak journalist in Shymkent, says she read IWPR’s Reporting For Change training handbook “from cover to cover”.



“It’s excellent that it treats subjects related to the ethics of journalism and provides advice on personal security,” she said.



Akbarali Sattorov, chief of the Tajik Union of Journalists, said Tajik journalists are keen to take part in future projects.



“As an international NGO, IWPR has trained hundreds of journalists in our country who work in many local media now,” he said. “We appreciate their efforts and looking forward to new projects.”