CASG Meeting: Encountering Central Asia

At last month's CASG meeting, held on 13 May, members shared their initial encounters in Central Asia, with the view to opening up a discussion on the lived realities and everyday politics in Central Asia. Dr Aptin Khanbaghi , Senior Researcher at AKU-ISMC shared his experiences of a recent visit to Tajikistan, discussing his observations of the local people, foreigners, landscape, food, built environment and gender relations. In particular he noted the degree to which shared language – as a social code – transforms experiences of visiting Central Asia, allowing higher levels of interaction and greater access to informal and unofficial presentations of the reality of daily life.

Others also contributed their perceptions daily life in Central Asia, including for example, the centrality and density of kin networks, high levels of hospitality and openness, experiences of hostility, suspicion or exploitation of foreigners/tourists, perceptions of certain cultural qualities (gentleness) and attitudes, the sense of pride in local heritage, different perceptions of gender relations, and identity markers that characterise inter-ethnic relations. Discussions included the relative lack of infrastructure and resources as well as the issue of scale for ‘outsiders’ visiting Central Asia – particularly in relation to socio-economic scales and relative wealth. It seemed in many of the initial impressions there was an ongoing tension between tendencies to reify Central Asian cultures and attempts to more deeply understand their socio-cultural realities.

AKF Co-sponsors Conference on “Good Governance in Central Asia”

A conference on “Good Governance in Central Asia” was held on 29-30 May, 2009 in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. The conference was jointly organised by Central Asia Project of the University of Giessen and Aga Khan Foundation. Representatives from Majlisi namoyandagon of Majlisi Oli of the Republic of Tajikistan, Strategic Research Centre under the President of Republic of Tajikistan, Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan, Institute of Economic Research, international donors and organisations and local non-governmental organisations were among the participants. Speakers of the conference also included prominent scholars from Germany, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

The two day conference consisted of three panels – ‘Concept of Good Governance’, Good Governance and Socio-Economic Development’ and Good Governance and the Political System. The discussion of the conference highlighted broader definitions of ‘Good Governance’, the experience of Germany and other countries in its establishment, and how to adopt such practice taking into consideration the mentality, culture and history of Central Asian Countries.

The conference brought together not only participants from different countries, but also scholars, researches and practitioners from various fields including politicians, sociologists, economists, historians and members from various NGO’s and Civil Society Organisations both within and outside the country.

While explaining the field of governance, the discussion also touched upon common issues faced by different countries related to the understanding of civil society, fighting against corruption and other current problems. The importance of regional cooperation between European countries, as shared by the German presenters, was proposed as a way for a better development for the Central Asian countries. Suggestions were also made to have a continuity of this discussion on themes such as “Enabling Environment for Investment’.

For further information contact the Husnoro Dodikhudoeva, AKF Tajikistan, husnoro.dodikhudoeva@akdn.org