New Radio Programmes for Central Asia

IWPR has launched a new series of radio programmes for Central Asia aimed at bringing the discussion of important political and social issues to as large an audience as possible.

Starting simultaneously in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan this week, the first of the 15-minute long programmes contain analysis and features on subjects as diverse as electricity cuts, divorce, and Islamic education.

The idea behind the project is to complement IWPR’s existing online/press output, which is widely republished in the Central Asian region, with a fresh approach to serious issues through the variety offered by live voices.

“We’re going to paint radio pictures using sound, allowing listeners to fill in the visual imagery using the mind’s eye,” says Kyrgyz editor Kaarmanbek Kuluev.

The weekly programmes for Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are separate products tailored for those particular audiences, and are developed locally by two highly skilled broadcast journalists – Zebo Tajibaeva in Dushanbe and Kaarmanbek Kuluev in Bishkek.

To ensure that people in rural areas tune in, there are Kyrgyz- and Tajik-language versions of the programmes as well as Russian, which is most commonly spoken in the towns.

The programmes are available on the IWPR website at http://iwpr.net/centralasiaradio, and are being aired by major broadcasters with nationwide reach in each country – Channel 1 of the National Radio and Television Corporation of Kyrgyzstan (NTRK), by the Radio and Television Association of Kyrgyzstan, and also by stations in Tajikistan.

The radio series is being produced under a three-year programme kindly funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

For more information please contact:

Kaarmanbek Kuluev (Bishkek)

Tel: +996 555 819444

Email: kaarmanbekk@iwpr.net

Zebo Tajibaeva (Dushanbe)

Tel: +992 37 224 70 51, 224 20 76

Email: zebot@iwpr.net

John MacLeod (London)

Tel: +44 (0)207 269 9586

Email: johnm@iwpr.net

ABOUT IWPR

IWPR undertakes capacity-building programmes in more than two dozen areas of crisis and conflict around the world. Established in 1993, its work focuses on training, reporting and institution-building. This includes establishing independent local media; training local reporters, editors and producers in basic and specialist skills; supporting extensive in-depth reporting on human rights, good governance and related issues; disseminating fact-based reporting in developing countries and internationally; and strengthening communications capacity of local human rights, women’s and grassroots organisations.