Community Development in Rural Areas of Central Asia

This report provides a written record of the third INTRAC conference held in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, on 27-28 April 2004. The conference brought together ninety representatives ranging from senior government officials and international agencies to very small community-based organisations (CBOs) from all five Central Asian republics. The main focus of the conference was to allow the participants time to reflect on their own experiences in community development and to share those experiences with like-minded people.

Day one was opened with an exciting presentation of the INTRAC community development research, by Bahodir Fozilhujaev (Uzbekistan), Chinara Tashbaeva (Kyrgyzstan), and Kulnara Djamankulova (Kazakhstan). They introduced the themes to be discussed over the two days. These themes were full debated on day one and groups examined ways forward on day two. Finally, participants broke up into country groups to identify priorities for community development work in their own countries. It is hoped that the report of the proceedings will be of interest and use to all those working in community development in Central Asia.