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Final Evaluation Report: assessment of

UNDP/UNICEF/UNRCCA project results funded by UN

Peacebuilding Fund

“Women as peaceful voters and women as candidates” 2015-2016

Anara Moldosheva, Asel Myrzabekova Bishkek 2016

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Appendix 1. Additional information on methodology

Appendix 2. Instrument: Matrix of Peaceful Community Development with the assessment instructions

Appendix 3. Matrix of results and instruments

Appendix 4. Media products

Appendix 5. Overview on the election situation

Appendix 6. Self-assessment in small groups, generalized results

References

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Acronyms

CEC – Central Election Committee

CC – Coordinating Committee

ELTR – Kyrgyz Public TV and Radio Company

GRP – Gender rating of political parties

IDEA CA - International Debate Education Association in Central Asia

JSC – Joint Steering Committee

KR – The Kyrgyz Republic

LS – Leadership School

LSG – Local Self-government

NDI – The National Democratic Institute

NGO – Non-government organization

NISI - National Strategic Research Institute of the Kyrgyz Republic

OSCE - The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe

PA – Public Association

PBF – The UN Peacebuilding Fund

PF – Public Fund

SMM – Social Media Marketing

STA – Social Technologies Agency

UNDP – The United Nations Development Programme

UNFPA - The United Nations Population Fund

UNICEF - The United Nations Children’s Fund

UNRCCA - The United Nations Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia

WSC - Womens Support Center

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1. Introduction

Current report presents the results of the final evaluation of the “Women as peaceful voters and

women as candidates” project (UNDP, UNICEF and UNRCCA). The evaluation was conducted

during the period of October to December 2016. The target communities of the final evaluation

included:

Chui oblast: Tokmok city, Vasilievski village districts

Osh oblast: Osh and Uzgen cities

Zhalal-Abad oblast: Yrys village district;

Batken oblast: Dara and Samarkandek village districts1

The report consists of three thematic sections that are in accordance with the key results of the project.

Each section presents an analysis of the target indicators, success factors and challenges of the main

project components. The introductory part of the report gives an overview of the project and description

of the objectives and methods of the evaluation. The final section presents the main conclusions and

recommendations based on the aggregated data that was obtained during the evaluation.

General information on the project

The project “Women as peaceful voters and women as candidates” was an urgent response to the

challenges related to the participation of women in 2015 and 2016 elections. It was supported within the

UN Peacebuilding Fund’s framework - “Gender promotion initiative – II” and was implemented jointly

by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the

UN Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA).

The main activities of the project were carried out from January 2015 to December 20162.

1 Here, the meetings during the evaluation were held with the participation of the representatives – Karabak, Aksay and Zhany-

Zher village districts 2 Originally the project was designed for 18 months, then it was extended for more 6 months (revision with no overall cost

implication). Concerning the budget, it should be noted that new article was included into the approved budget “Transfers and

grants for the partners”. This new article with the budget was included in order to be organization of competition for the small

grants among the NGOS in Osh, Zhalal-Abad and Batken oblasts. The purpose of the completion was the organization and

delivery of the campaign in the target communities to raise women’s awareness concerning the voting rights. The grant

competition was held in order to increase and built capacities of the local NGOs (those which received grants) through workshops

and work with the experts, The decision to hold the small grant competition for the NGOs was related to fact that in 2015 the

selected contractor who participated in the tender refused to fulfill the requirements and obligations of the contract. Therefore, part

of the funds in the amount of USD 60,000 was relocated from the article “Contractual services” to the new article.

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The project aims at increasing women’s participation, including from minorities and youth groups, at

elections, both as candidates and peaceful voters, in priority geographic areas. The theory of change was

based on three key results of the project (see. Fig. 1).

Figure 1

The direct beneficiaries of the project were women and youth as voters and candidates, especially

minority groups. The target groups of the project also included representatives of local self-government

bodies (LSG) and government agencies, community leaders, NGOs and Mass Media.

Project rationale. Although the previous election cycle (2010-2012) was carried out peacefully and

opened a number of opportunities for women and other underrepresented groups, it also revealed a

number of barriers that did not allow them to participate equally in the campaign. In particular, in 2010,

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there was not any political party which was headed by a woman candidate. Moreover, despite the quota

requirements it was difficult for women candidates to remain their seats, since after the elections political

parties were able to change the lists of the candidates. As well as, at the local level, the proportion of

women deputy candidates and village deputies remained relatively low. At the same time, young women

faced problems related to age discrimination3.

Women from ethnic minorities even less represented at the local level due to the language and other

barriers. While the proportion of the minority population is about 30%, however, minorities held less

than 12% of the seats in the Parliament and on the average occupied 5% of the seats in the governments

that were formed over the entire post-Soviet period. Statistics on gender and ethnic groups confirms the

fact that there is almost full absence of women from minority groups in the political arena.

Work on the political participation issues required the use of new approaches that were taking into

account the peculiarities of these vulnerable groups. The project covered a broad range of innovations

starting from the objectives and beneficiaries of the project to specific working methods and tools.

Perhaps for the first time in the history of the promotion of political participation of women in the

Kyrgyz Republic, since it gained independence, the issue of activization of women as voters was raised4.

In the context of peace-building orientation of the project, such aspects as ethnic, religious and age-

related issues of the electoral rights of women had a special significance. It conditioned that the project’s

approach was to work at the community level using informal methods that allowed women to obtain

information in the most accessible, safest forms.

Geographical coverage. Communities that experienced violent conflicts, have been affected by violent

conflict or were susceptible to conflict were selected based on the recommendations of the relevant

government structures. In total 14 target communities were identified, where the partners – UNDP and

UNICEF implemented the PBF projects, and this allowed them to rely on the existing and built

partnerships:

Chui oblast (Maevskii, Vasilievski village districts, and Tokmok city);

Issyk-Kul oblast (Karakol city);

3 According to the information related to the current deputies at the local councils level (information dated on 11.07.2016), within

the target communities there was not a women deputy who was younger than 35 years old.

http://www.shailoo.gov.kg/index.php?module=content&page=Deputaty_mestnyh_keneshey&pagelang=ru 4 For more details see the case study on political participation of women that was prepared/published within the framework of the

current project. Case Study on combating gender inequality in political participation in Kyrgyzstan.

http://www.kg.undp.org/content/kyrgyzstan/ru/home/library/womens_empowerment/-case-study-on-combating-gender-inequality-

in-political-particip.html

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Osh oblast (Osh and Uzgen cities);

Zhalal-Abad oblast (Ala Buka rayon, Baltagulov village district, Aksy rayon, Kosh-Dobo village

district, Suzak rayon, Yrys village district);

Batken oblast (Kadamzhai rayon, Halmion village district, Batken rayon, Karabak, Dara, Aksay

and Samarkandek village districts, Leilek rayon, Kulundu and Zhany-Zher village districts)5.

Project partners.

1. Government: Central Electoral Commission, Ministry of Labor and Social Development.

2. Public/civic organizations: BF “Open Line”, PA “Social Technologies Agency”, PA of rural

women “Alga”, PA “Leader”, PA “Ensan Diamond”, BF “Center for Human Rights and

Democracy”, PA “Ozgon Altyn Door”, PF “NGO Support Coordination Center in Zhalal-Abad”,

PF «Women Leaders Association in Zhalal-Abad”, PF “Kaniet” crisis center, BF “Omur Bulagy”,

BF “Janylmyrza plus” crisis center, PA “Aktivist”.

3. International organizations: UNFPA, NDI, European Union, OSCE and other.

Schematically, the main areas and methods of the project partners’ activities are presented below (Figure

2)

Management, coordination and monitoring: in order to coordinate the activities the coordinating

committee (CC) was created. It consisted of individuals representing partners at the central level and

coordinating group in the southern region (based on the UNDP and UNICEF southern offices).

CC members gathered on a quarterly basis to exchange information and discuss plans. UNDP and UNICEF

coordinators were responsible for the daily basis management of the project.

Also, to keep track of the activities of the partners in the southern region on the basis of the UNDP in Osh

office monitoring and evaluation specialist was gathering information. The progress of the project and its

achievements were measured via collection of raw data, semi- annual reports on the project progress and

annual reports.

Joint Steering Committee (JSC) of the PBF6 in Kyrgyzstan provided the interaction of the project with other

initiatives of PBF in Kyrgyzstan (hearing of the project reports and organization of the PBF missions).

5 It should be noted that about 70% of the PBF activities were concentrated in the southern regions of the Kyrgyz Republic

6 Was established by the President A. Atambaev’s order, consists of 28 individuals representing government structures and

commissions, non-governmental organizations, and UN agencies.

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Context: 2015-2016 electoral campaign

During the project implementation period several election cycles have been held in the Kyrgyz

Republic7:

1) Parliamentary elections of the Zhogorku Kenesh - 4th

of October, 2015. The elections were held

through the party-list proportional representation system. During the same cycle, elections to the

local councils of deputies were held in several regions of the country (in particular, two village

districts that were included in the number of the target communities of the project).

7 It should be mentioned that in May 2016 there were elections to the local councils. Since the target communities were not

included in this election cycle, the current report does not provide detailed information on these elections.

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Elections at the local level were held according to the majority system, at the same time the candidates

were able to be nominated by parties as well as held self-nominations;

2) Elections to the local councils of deputies in some regions of the country – 27th

of March, 2016. This

election cycle covered elections in the cities (proportional system) and village districts (majoritarian

system). Three cities, Tokmok, Osh, Uzgen, that were included in the number of the target

communities of the project were included in this election cycle.

3) The general elections to the local councils of deputies – 11th

of December, 2017. The peculiarity of

this election cycle was the fact that it was combined with the national referendum on amendments to

the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic. In this regard, the local elections that were initially planned

to be held in autumn were moved to winter.

In general the electoral situation in the country can be characterized that there is a high degree of

complexity, mobility and uncertainty. Among the factors that determine the electoral situation it is

important to highlight the following:

Political: the debates over the introduction of the mandatory standards for the biometric

registration of citizens, discussions on the amendments to the Constitution, those were associated

with a high risk of conflict occurrence. In addition, another significant aspect from the project’s

perspective was related to intra-party level conflicts due to the changes in the party lists in the

post-election period. As a rule, women lost their mandates;

Legal: the introduction of the new norms at the level of local elections that restrict the rights of the

heads of local state and municipal agencies to self-nominations had a significant impact (in order

to be self-nominated the heads of the state and municipal agencies had to temporarily leave their

posts). This fact directly affected on the decrease opportunities of women, including female

leaders and heads from social institutions, such as kindergartens, schools which traditionally made

up the bulk of local women’s group of council deputies;

Technical: the introduction of a new automated voting system based on biometric registration. The

very first time when the system was tested in the parliamentary elections in 2015 and was used

subsequently at the local level elections.

According to the expert’s evaluations, the introduction of the new voting system positively influenced

the electoral activity, decreased the number of violations on the Election Day, such as those associated

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with the replenishment of the ballot boxes, which were often observed in the previous elections8. At the

same time there were cases of bribing the voters by the parties, the manipulations with the party lists

during the pre and post-election periods, frequent technical faults during the Election Day, errors in the

electoral lists. These factors gave rise to a number of negative evaluations of the overall election results9.

2. Methodology

Objectives of the evaluation. According to the terms of reference, the main purpose of the final

evaluation of the project “Women as peaceful voters and women as candidates” was to assess

effectiveness and efficiency of the project activities in attainment of project results. The main questions

of the evaluation were the following:

1. What results have been achieved?

2. What contributed to the achievement of the results? What were the challenges faced in the

project?

3. What were the main lessons learned for the project?

Considering the innovative nature of the project, one of the main focuses of the evaluation was the

identification of innovations that were in demand/most needed.

Approaches. The overall evaluation approach was based on participatory principles and suggested the

involvement of the project partners in the planning and evaluation process. The preliminary evaluation

plan was presented to the project partners at the CC meeting on 24th

of October, 2016. Moreover, a

series of consultations with the project partners were conducted in order to discuss their vision of the

changes that occurred as a result of the project and how they could be measured. The field visit plans

were also provided in advance and agreed with the project partners.

Methods. The following data collection methods were used:

desk review of relevant project documents;

semi-structured interviews with the stakeholders (including, representatives of the Parliament,

Ministry of Labor and Social Development, Central Electoral and Referendum Commission,

NGOs – at local and national levels, women candidates and international organizations and other);

focus group discussions with the representatives of the target groups and beneficiaries (volunteers,

activists who were working in communities, women voters and youth);

8 For more details on cases of violations see Summary Report published by Association “Taza Shailoo” on results of the

evaluation of independent observations at the Local Councils elections, 2012.

http://www.tazashailoo.kg/web/documents/materials/261.pdf 9 For more details on the election situation see appendix

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Guides for interviews and focus group discussions were developed. The evaluators also used self-

assessment tools, including SWOT10

- analysis conducted during the final project conference that was

held on 21st of November, 2016

11.

The comparison of the local elections results (in case of December 2016 elections) in the target and

control communities (the territories that belonged to the same areas as the target communities, having a

comparable number of voters were considered as a control communities) was conducted to analyze the

quantitative data. In addition, the quantitative data analysis also included data that was gathered during

the focus group discussions when respondents were filling out questionnaires and matrices12

. Overall,

more than 200 respondents participated in the current evaluation.

During the final evaluation the project partners provided support in gathering data, organization of

interviews and meetings in regions (Gulnaz Kolsarieva from UNDP, Gulnara Jenishbekova from

UNICEF, Youth of Osh, IDEA, PA “Alga” and PF “Omur Bulagy”)13

.

The preliminary evaluation results were presented and discussed with the representatives of partner

agencies, UNDP and UNICEF, on 9th

of December, 2016. Final evaluation results were presented and

discussed with the partner agencies, UNDP and project partners on 22nd

of December 2016.

Limitations of the evaluation. The selected number of the target communities and conditions related to

the organization of field visits in accordance with the ToR did not allow ensuring a complete

representativeness of the received data. In the most cases the group meetings were held in mixed groups

with a spontaneous selection of respondents (volunteers, activists, representatives of the LSG, voters).

The quantitative data analysis on women-candidates is not full enough due to the limited access to the

official Central Election Committee’s data. During the final evaluation it was also not possible to

conduct a special analysis (effectiveness of communication) on impact of the project’s media products,

as well as a detailed assessment of the effectiveness of the training activities. In some of the cases the

evaluators used the training evaluation results that were conducted by the training organizers. However,

these training evaluations were limited to the pre/post training questionnaires (that only allowed

assessing the immediate reactions of the training participants).

10

SWOT - strength, weaknesses, opportunity, threats 11

Interesting results of the SWOT analysis are available in Appendix and require further separate analysis. 12

Tools were developed and used during the baseline evaluation (February-March 2015). 13

For more details on methodology, see Appendix

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3. Key project results

3.1. Result 1: Women in priority areas, especially women from minorities, exercise their

electoral rights and participate in voting during parliamentary and municipal elections in

2015-2016. Outcome indicator 1 a: Percentage of women voting in elections (compared with the baseline results

data is collected with questionnaires).

94,4% of female respondents from rural areas stated that they participated in elections (baseline results –

69.2%). There was also a slight increase in the participation in elections among the female respondents

from urban areas: 88,9% in comparison with the baseline results - 87,8%. At the same time, an increase

in electoral activity was observed among all age groups of respondents14

.

Outcome Indicator 1.1.1: Percentage of residents of voting age are saying they know their electoral

rights and exercise them without fear.

94% of female respondents from the rural areas stated that they exercised their electoral rights based on

their own choice and will – independently (baseline results -80,2%). In urban areas, there was also an

increase in women’s confidence in exercising their electoral rights: 83,3% (endline) and 81,9%

(baseline).

The obtained quantitative data are supported by qualitative data (interviews, group interviews and

meetings with the project participants). The increase in women’s electoral activity was acknowledged in

all communities where the meetings during the field visits were held15

.

As the main motive that is associated with the activization of women voters was voice as following: «for

the first time we were asked about our opinion», «it turns out that I can do it». This was especially

14

Here and below, it is necessary to take into account the limitations of the sampling process during the final evaluation: during

the baseline evaluation the survey was conducted (with the developed questionnaire) among the direct beneficiaries, who were

represented by women voters, whereas during the final evaluation the respondents were represented by socially active female

leaders то and volunteers of the project and etc. Overall, it was not possible to compare the obtained quantitative results (survey)

with the official data. At the time when the current report was written the official data on voters’ turnout at the latest elections

(December, 2016) was not published and available. The CEC did not provide response to the UNDP’s request to provide relevant

data. In addition, the project itself did not use special measurement tools to quantify women’s electoral activity. According to the

experts’ evaluations, the general level of the population participation in the 2015-2016 elections did not exceed 30-40% of the

total number of voters. In the previous years, these indicators were significantly higher, which was due to the widespread practice

of falsification of real numbers (overstating). For more details see E. Iriskulbekov’s overview (former member of the CEC) -

Kyrgyzstan: Election results to the local councils. http://www.ca-portal.ru/article:26158 15

According to opinion of several respondents, it is important to take into account that the introduction of new voting technologies

(biometric registration) could also affect the increase in women’s activity, since the possibility for family voting (when a member

of the family, as a rule, the older man voted for the whole family). At the same time, the biometric registration has become an

obstacle for the participation at the elections: several groups of populations, for example, young daughters-in-law who live with

the husband’s family but do not have a necessary residence permit at the place of permanent residence. For more details see

appendix – electoral situation overview.

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applicable/true for women from remote rural areas, young housewives. For them it was important that

they were involved in the group discussion, showed interest in their lives and made it clear that their

opinion was important for the community.

3.1.1 Informing women and youth about their electoral rights at the local level

According to the representatives of the local project partners, the achievement of the result 1 was primarily

related to the quality of preparation for and organization and implementation of the awareness campaign in

the target communities. It was noted that it was important to conduct joint trainings for the local partners in

the southern regions to prepare them for the implementation of the awareness campaign. As a result of the

joint trainings the common vision and working plans were developed (below you can see the local partners’

working plan of16

).

Photograph by U. Dauletova

The mass and accessible nature of the

awareness campaign under the one unifying

slogan/message “Follow your voice!” was

delivered through the use informal

approaches such as information materials to

organize meetings with women and make

them interested in17

. When working directly

with the women voters partners widely used

door-to-door visits. At the same time, the

16

For more details see report of G. Kolsarieva: Final analytical report on project results in the target communities and mini-grant

projects (Project results and indicators). December, 2016 17

All materials that were used during the awareness campaign are available at http://www.openline.kg/golos/. Information about

the campaign is given below, section 3.2

3. Conducting

analysis of the

socio-political

situation in the

target

communities and

assessment of the

needs of different

groups in the pre-

election period

5. Conducting

awareness

campaign (door-

to-door visits and

other informal

meetings/events),

revealing women

candidates

1. Conducting 2

technical seminars

r the grant

receivers to

increase their

capacity on

implementation of

grant projects

2. Conducting

informational

meetings with

the

representatives

of LSG and leaders

of target

communities

4. Carrying out

adjustive

trainings for

volunteers and

activists

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working methods that were used during the door-to-door visits developed and improved during the project. It

was noted that in 2015 the awareness campaign of women voters was accompanied with the distribution of

the “I am a citizen”– a paper doll with a set of clothes. However, according to the activists who were

involved in the campaign, without additional explanations this game was not given proper attention, thus did

not produce the expected effect. Based on this experience the 2016 awareness campaign made a successful

attempt and introduced effective information materials and methods: trained volunteers gathered about 7-10

women neighbors near their homes and discussed their electoral rights when playing the new game “I am a

voter”. And only after the joint play the participants of the meeting received the game as a handout. This

approach made it possible to achieve a better understanding of the messages that were embedded in the

game, as well as the general ideas of the campaign18

.

In general, in order to ensure the involvement of the beneficiaries in safe and active discussions the wide

range of informal tools and methods were used:

Informal gatherings for housewives (sherine)19

,

Informal meetings on electoral rights that were organized by the representative of female religious

educators (otynchy) among women from Muslim communities,

Forum theatres that were organized by high school students for teachers, parents, religious

groups,

Competitions/games in kindergartens (to involve young parents),

“Political kitchens” – the organized cookery master-classes at homes that were accompanied by

discussions about voting rights. This type of activity was especially popular among housewives,

young daughters-in-law who did not have opportunity to participate at gatherings and other events

in their communities.

Overall, campaign activities helped to cover more than 20 000 households, about 100 000 voters

(including more than 38 000 of direct beneficiaries who received information – participants of the

events).

Factors that contributed to project achievements. Among the most frequently mentioned factors for

achieving results and strengths of the project the participants of the evaluation noted the following:

18

For more details see G. Kolsarieva’s report 19

Informal groups that could be categorized by different characteristics (neighbors, relatives, colleagues, etc.) and meet for a joint

entertainment, meals. Another meaning of sherine is ‘rotating savings groups’.

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1. Methodology

Use of accessible, innovative and informal working methods: “close to home”, comfortable and

safe for women;

Development of methods in the process of campaign: “we were able to learn and improve our

work with the voters” (example of table games);

Mass coverage and organization of the campaign;

Unusual, attractive, relevant information materials (pamphlet, calendar, games);

Creativity and flexibility: “we determined/decided what we wanted to do”. These motivated local

partners to self-organization: “it was clear what we would do when we go in the field”, “we tried

to create new tools” (example, political kitchens).

2. Reliance on local resources

Good cooperation/partnership with LSG – heads of village districts territorial councils,

neighborhood committees (mahallas), women’s and youth councils;

Establishment of networks of volunteers from rural intelligentsia – teachers, doctors, social

workers, and mobilization was not done only among existing leaders, new activists were also

attracted – beneficiaries of the project (it helped to involve representatives of youth and ethnic

groups);

Attracting the attention of religious leaders, including women (otynchy – female religious

teachers)

Use of community networks – village health committees

Use of PBF UN projects resources – gender centers, youth centers, women’s support centers.

Challenges. Among the challenges that partners faced during the implementation of the project the following

was stated:

1. Issues related to the organization of the campaign

Lack of training for partners: “Hasten to implement activities (especially, in 2015 – there is no

complete satisfaction with the work”);

Lack of common concepts and instructions to the information materials: “at first we did not

understand how to use them”. Moreover, not in all cases, information materials were received on

time. In addition, it was hard physically for volunteers to carry information materials during door-

to-door visits (“calendars were very heavy and fell down”);

15

There were cases when beneficiaries (voters) in communities were reluctant to receive

information materials with the image of people, this unwillingness was related to religious reasons

(for example, in religious Muslim communities there were cases when the calendars that depicted

the heroes of the film about a famous woman – a historical person, Kurmanzhan-datka were

distributed, beneficiaries refused to receive them. At the same time, this campaign material was

popular among other groups of beneficiaries);

Lack of the identification symbols/signs for the local volunteers (campaign brand awareness), this

fact led to the expression of mistrust among the population: “people thought that we were

canvassing for political party… we spent more time to explain the goal of the campaign…”;

Lack of feedback between the national and local level partners within the campaign: “we did not

use the other materials – video, quests”;

1. Issues related to the methods of work

Lack of methods that would allow to cover the most vulnerable groups of women: “covered active

women, the most passive were not reached”;

Lack of confidence when engaging with religious leaders (for example, otyncha) when working

with the women from Muslim communities; the evaluators observed that not in all cases activities

with religious groups (Muslim) were assessed positively that was due to fear that women from

religious groups would become interested in politics and will promote the Islamic agenda which

maybe repressive towards women20

;

The component on peaceful elections aspect was not clearly expressed. There were conflicts

among the voters: «the participants did not like that we were calling them ethnic Kyrgyz”21

(example from the Chui oblast’s target community).

Summarizing the obtained data, it can be stated that there is quantitative and qualitative evidence that

supports the fact of achievement of the objectives within the result 1. Although it was not feasible to

20

It is important to note that in the report of the special group of JSC PBF in Kyrgyzstan it was recommended to take into account

the activities and work with the religious leaders (it is important for the project to better control, strengthen secular basis of the

work and etc.). For more information see the report of the special group of JSC. Review period: January-June, 2016, p.30 21

Ethnic Kyrgyz are called – repatriates (kayrylman) who migrated to Kyrgyzstan in most cases from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Despite the semantic contradictions, it is widely used not only in everyday communication, but also as an administrative category

by the official state bodies. Ethnic Kyrgyz used to be one of the target groups in the project that was implemented in Chui oblast in

areas of their compact residence. The vulnerability of this group is caused by the adaptation and integration problems that they

face in a new places of residence due to the lack of documents, lack of knowledge of Russian language, low level of education and

etc. The position of these groups is also being complicated by the widespread stereotypes about their backwardness in comparison

with the local “indigenous” residents. This leads to widespread stigmatization. It is inevitable that the “Ethnic Kyrgyz” expression

can cause rejection by the migrants.

16

trace the quantitative indicators of women’s electoral activity, the examples of qualitative changes make

it possible to draw confident conclusions about the positive impact of the project on several levels:

Individual level: learning – «new knowledge»; at the level of self-perception– «enhanced self-

esteem».

Social level: involvement in the group activities, joint trainings, formation of common

responsibility and solidarity - «we were able to do it together», «people trust us»;

Organizational level: development of analytical skills an overall enhancement of the capacities of

the local organizations as motivators and mobilizers of the community – “we have acquired

valuable experience in conducting unusual campaigns”.

3.2 Result 2: Women and men in priority PRF areas, especially youth, actively promote

peaceful elections and engage in electoral debates, including on issues relating to gender

equality and gender-based violence.

Outcome Indicator 2a: Women and men in selected areas, especially youth, have enhanced their

knowledge and skills on participating in electoral debates and promoting peaceful elections22

.

18,4% of respondents from rural areas stated that they have skills and knowledge to promote democratic

changes for their community development in peaceful (non-aggressive) manners (baseline results -

13,6%). At the same time, there is a decrease in percentage of respondents from 68% (baseline) to 40%

(endline) who did not believe that their community had transparent and honest electoral processes. There

was also an increase in percentage of respondents who confirmed that their communities in cases when

they had disagreements could rely on the local authorities as they had strategies and tools for resolving

conflicts in a peaceful way.

The observed positive changes can be explained by the fact that the majority of the respondents within

the final evaluation were activists of the project who had wider access to knowledge and skills and who

worked closely with the LSG. It also should be noted that the general assessment of the elections that

were conducted based on the new technologies had quite positive effect and impact on the reduction of

the number of conflicts related to the elections.

22

The indirect evidence was used to make an assessment of this indicator, particularly evidence obtained with the help of a tool

“Peaceful Community Development Matrix”. Using this tool participants during a group discussion could choose as many

statements as they wanted, and based on the obtained results the evaluators could make an assessment of how participants

evaluated their own abilities to influence on the conflict situations, the general level of trust to electoral processes, to LSG and etc.

For more details about the tool and description of the methodology and evaluation process see appendix.

17

It is important to note one more interesting fact that the final evaluation respondents from urban areas

were less optimistic about their assessments regarding the peaceful developments within their

communities than the rural residents. Here the evaluators observed a decrease in the level of confidence

and trust in the electoral processes. This was related to the number of violations of electoral processes to

the city councils by political parties (the elections at the city councils use the proportional system). The

activists of the project expressed a clear disappointment with the results of the elections to the city

councils (especially in Tokmok). They were unsatisfied with the fact that “parties abuse their power” and

deprive women of their deputy mandates despite the fact that women candidates who were supported by

voters received enough numbers of votes23

.

Overall the evaluators obtained a number of positive examples which indicate an increase in the

knowledge and skills of the project participants within the electoral debate field.

3.2.1 «Youth as Mediators and Drivers of Change» (youth component)

During the evaluation the meetings with youth were organized and respondents particularly impressed

the evaluators by their individual success stories. When assessing the achievements of the project the

respondents frequently stated the following:

«we understood that our opinion is also important», «the was a feeling of self-pride» «I became

like a teacher for my own peers» - shared by activists, especially females, participants and

organizers of the intellectual games, debates that were held within the youth component;

«we were surprised that adults did not know about elections, and we knew», «we were listened

to», «we can have an influence», «we found new young leaders for the village district offices and

their communities» stated by the young researchers who studied local needs and party programs,

participants of advocacy events, civic journalists in the communities who were trained within the

youth component.

These changes according to the respondents were related to the overall strategy when working youth,

particularly:

1. Identification of leaders among youth in target communities (there were in total 60 participants,

most of them were represented by young women within the communities);

2. Capacity building on electoral competence of youth and trainings on how to lead constructive

dialogues, analysis of needs and advocacy;

23

When comparing the rural and urban respondents, it is important to take into account that during the evaluation process, the

visited urban target communities had already held elections and the visited rural target communities were preparing for the

elections.

18

3. Creation of platforms, including media to discuss issues related to the promotion of peaceful

elections, electoral rights, gender equality and gender violence.

In general, the main partners of the youth component (IDEA, Youth of Osh24

) considered that the

following main results were achieved:

Increasing the number of youth that was involved in the discussion and decision-making processes

related to socially significant issues through the use of technologies that were innovative for the

target communities: Participatory Research Trainings and Community Talks. In addition, within

their communities young leader through the use of such technologies as “Italks” discussed ideas,

tasks and directions/trends related to the activities of the leading political parties in Kyrgyzstan

when working with the most vulnerable groups of the populations (youth, women and people with

disabilities).

Strengthening the positions of youth and women in rural areas of Kyrgyzstan through trainings on

“Debates in Civic Activism”. Youth component participants obtained critical and analytical

thinking skills to protect their own positions related to gender discrimination, ethnic conflicts

issues, and the role of youth in solving conflicts within their communities.

Promoting peaceful and transparent elections through the participation of all groups of the society,

through the active and interested positions of citizens, especially including youth in the

discussions of the urgent issues related to the joint local development with the support of LSG and

local communities.

Factors that contributed to the achievement of the results. Likewise the key project result 1 the success

factors were significantly determined by the selected methodology and mobilization of the local

resources, particularly:

1. Methods

Trainings tools on how to lead constructive dialogue and on analytical skills (debates, Quiz Night,

iTalks, participatory research25

and etc.) were delivered to youth based on the “peer-to-peer”

principle

24

Youth of Osh were responsible for the electoral processes and media component: civic journalism and use of social mass media

(http://youthofosh.kg); International Debate Education Association (IDEA СА) – debate technologies (http://ru.idebate.org/). 25

Debate – an intellectual game, which has a clear and structured form of discussion with certain rules; iTalks – form of

discussion with the invitation of the speakers; Quiz Night — team based intellectual-entertaining quiz which consists of several

thematic rounds; Participatory research – type of research that is based on critical knowledge, it is based on principle that research

is developed and conducted by the representatives of the community, the group that is experiencing certain problems and seeks to

resolve them. For more details on the results of the used methods see Report of IDEA CA on the results of the evaluation, Nov.,

2015; IDEA CA, Evaluation of the Project’s Impact, July, 2016; Progress reports 2015-2016 (IDEA CA); Programme

progress/final reports 2015-2016 (Youth of Osh)

19

Combination of learning with practice with the focus on the development of the specific skills. In

this way the training participants were able to apply the tools within their communities: “we

created real preforms for expressing real needs”;

Provision of the project participants with mentors (mentoring program).

2. Reliance on the local resources

Establishment of contacts and signed memorandums with the LSG in the local communities,

attracting the attention of the immediate heads and leaders;

Involvement of the local youth organization and networks (including, youth centers that were

created by the previously implemented UNICEF projects);

Good coordination between the main two partners in the field (Youth of Osh, IDEA)

Challenges. The respondents named the following challenges:

1. Organizational

Backlog of work: «it was hard to talk about elections that had already passed (parliamentary

elections in 2015)”;

Lack of coordination at the national and local levels; fragmentation of activities between the

partners and project components: «opportunities to make joint activities were missed”.

2. Methods

Lack of experience among the local partners on electoral processes: “before the participation in

this project we did not work on election issues”;

Inadequate level of knowledge of the local partners in using essential tools, in particular the

methodology of how to conduct participatory research: “it was difficult to develop questionnaires

for the survey”.

Despite the challenges, the obtained data related to the activities with youth demonstrates that there is

sufficient number of examples of individual changes among the project participants. And although the

evaluators did not conduct a special analysis of the training programs that were implemented within this

component, it can be suggested that there are evidences that illustrate impact of the trainings. Thus,

according to the Four-Level Training Evaluation Model26

, it was possible to identify not only the positive

26

For more detail see http://www.hrm.ua/article/model_ocenki_jeffektivnosti_obuchenija_donalda_kirkpatrika

20

reactions and satisfaction of the participations with the trainings, but also the participants were learning

(enhanced knowledge and skills, changing attitudes27

), and their behavior changed (due to the given

chance to use of obtained knowledge in practice). However, it is more difficult to speak about the results

of these changes (the fourth level). There were examples of the nominations of candidates for role of

deputies among the activists of the youth component, but in general the connection between the project

activities within the youth component (particularly, due to the specificity of the target audience, the

significant part of which was represented by high school students and first year students of the higher

educational institutions who did not reach the election age) and the objectives of the project in regard of

increased political participation of women and peaceful elections was not clearly identified.

3.2.2 Gender rating of political parties

Output 2.1 Political parties at the local level mainstream gender into their electoral programs and

respect gender quota.

Output Indicator 2.1.1. Rating of parties by “gender rating” study provided by women NGOs.

The main goal of the political parties’ component was to develop and test the methodology of the Gender

rating of political parties (GRP). The partner of the project at the national level – Social Technologies

Agency developed the current methodology and based on this methodology this organization monitored

the programs and approaches related to gender issues and minority rights from August 2015 till

November 2016.

The methodology of GRP was based on the evaluation of four key measurements using descending scale

from 100 to 0 points:

1. The level of democracy and openness of the parties;

2. The level of gender sensitivity of documents and activities of parties;

3. Party’s’ “gender portrait” in the Mass Media (content analysis of Mass Media);

4. Public opinion on how parties promote gender issues (sociological survey).

According to the assessment, the first in the rating were the parties that scored the maximum number of

points and at the end of the rating were those parties that had the minimum number of points28

. An

additional element of the GRP was the rating of women politicians.

27

It is important to mention that according to the post-test results more that 90% of training participants were satisfied with the

training content and stated that they have increased their knowledge. 28

Full information about the GRP is available at the website of Alliance of women’s law initiatives: http://awli.kg/genderrating/

21

In total, there were six issues of the GRP29

. Over 70 representatives of various parties were trained and

discussed the results of GRP. One of the main results of the training was the worked out practical plans

of the participants related to the development of gender agenda in their parties’ activities. The results of

GRP were disseminated through the traditional media (newspaper, television programs), social media

(for example, Facebook and Twitter). The last, sixth issue of GRP was in top news headlines at the

famous national online news agencies30

. The uniqueness of GRP was noted by the members of the

international mission of PBF (2016).

Factors that contributed to the achievement of results. It is important to distinguish the following factors

of success or the strengths of GRP:

Practicality, clearness of the developed methodology: “unique party evaluation methodology”,

that allows first of all, to conduct a substantial dialogue with parties on the equal opportunities

politics; secondly, to strengthen the argument for the benefit of women members in the parties;

thirdly, to attract attention of the general public to the activities of the parties (it is confirmed by

the media popularity of GRP during the pre-election period in 2016);

The independence and availability of GRP through different communication channels (including

Internet);

Improvement of the methodology of GRP during the project implementation period and inclusion

of interesting additional elements (for example, rating on women politicians who, judging by the

feedback proved to be very popular among the party members and media).

Challenges. Among the challenges that reduced the effect of the obtained results the following was

observed:

Low level of activity of party leaders in the activities related to GRP: “were not able to succeed in

involvement of the leaders in the full extent”, on the basis of the results of the GRP the decision-

making on the introduction of the internal party policies depended on the leaders31

;

Lack of relationship between GRP and other components of the project: «we felt detachment of the

GRP component from other”;

Lack of information to the GRP at the local level (also among the project partners).

29

Initial plan had only 4 issues 30

See examples, http://www.tazabek.kg/news:1347769. Over 11000 views 31

In many cases the low level of activity among parties was related to the weakness or to a total absence of party building. Most

of the registered parties in the county exist only “on paper”. Moreover, there is a lack of access to information about the active

parties, not only to the external evaluators, but also often for the party members do not have access to this information. It was

confirmed repeatedly during the work of GRP (for example, ordinary party members could not obtain the party’s regulations to

work with them at the GRP workshops).

22

Taking into account the aforementioned challenges within the project, as well as the overall context

related to the development of parties (institutional weaknesses of political parties and etc.), it is difficult

to speak about the achievement of the significant qualitative results on the inclusion of gender issues in

political pre-election programs at the local level. However, indirect evidence/examples of changes at the

party level and increase in their attention to gender issues can be exemplified by the fact that for the first

time the party lists were headed by women (for example, such parties as “Zamandash”32

, “Green” were

headed by women in the elections for the city councils).

Regarding the sustainability of the GRP component, it is worth noting the interest in the methodology

demonstrated by various analytical companies (there were ideas about creation of general rating of

parties, and GRP could be a part of it). It is also planned that UNDP would continue working on this

component, maybe using other forms/perspectives. But in general, the question remains open: who could

be interested in investing in this type of sufficiently resource-demanding project component that requires

conducting regular public opinion surveys and content analysis of Mass Media and etc.

3.2.3 National awareness campaign - “Follow your voice!” Output 2.2. Public discourse developed and electoral commitments set with regard to political

participation issues, including those faced by youth

Output Indicator 2.2.1. Extent to which media (traditional and new ( covers political participations

issues, including those related to gender equality.

The main objective was to deliver a targeted media campaign in order to develop public discourse in

regard to women’s and youth’s participation in elections at the national level. Current campaign was

developed by the project partners at the national level – PF “Open Line”, and had a multi-channel and

integrated character and aimed at forming of bilateral relationships with the target audience. The logo of

the campaign – bird in the form of tick mark and slogan of the campaign – “Follow your voice!”.

According to the authors, logo and slogan symbolized the inner voice of a woman which is leading her to

the polling/ballot station and to make a conscious choice. Multi-channel character of the campaign was

expressed by the development of several types of products:

The main product of the campaign – a serial quest, which includes a number of situational series

in which the viewer could find personal or familiar problem with the solutions;

32

It should be noted that “Zamandash” party was a leading party according to the GRP‘s measurement #2 (The level of gender

sensitivity of documents and activities of parties) in the October, 2016 issue. For more details see: Gender rating of political

parties. Review of the 6 issues – August 2015-October 2016./Edited by Z.I. Kochorbaeva-Bishkek: 2016

23

Animation clip/video;

Printed products (comics, games – “I am a citizen”, “I am a voter” and etc.)33

.

In addition, within the framework of the campaign PF “Open Line” organized two intellectual

conferences that were held in the TEDx34

format in Bishkek and Osh. In Osh TEDx conference was held

for the first time. A distinctive feature of this event was that the main speakers were local experts and

activists.

The campaign was also accompanied by the training for representatives of the community media -

“Gender aspects on the coverage of elections in Mass Media”35

. Participants during the training sessions

developed media plans (September-December 2015) for community multimedia centers and community

radio in promoting role of women in Kyrgyzstan. According to this plan several numbers of articles were

published36

.

Additionally, within the framework of the campaign, ELTR one of the partners of the project filmed

Sitcom that was running primetime at “Channel 10”. In this sitcom one of the main female character,

who had an intention to be nominated as a deputy candidate, supported and nominated another young

female colleague whom she believed had a promising future. In addition to that in cooperation with CEC

another social video was produced on the electoral rights of women. This social video was running at the

state television channels. The campaign had a various types of products; this can be explained by the

desire of the project to test different formats, techniques and tools.

When evaluating the results of the campaign, project participants from different regions, especially noted

the high quality of the printed materials, the use of simple and accessible language, which undoubtedly

was a great advantageous to the campaign. The attractiveness of the materials was also reinforced by the

intent of people. One of the project participants noted that she was proud that she was part of this project

and that it gave her a sense of being involved in the important, big and just cause that encourages to act

and change the existing practices37

.

At the same time the video materials turned out to be less accessible and not well-known in rural areas,

including lack of necessary technical feasibilities38

. According to the statements of the campaign authors

33

For more details see http://www.openline.kg/golos/. 34

TED - Technology Entertainment Design 35

More about the Community Mass Media see here: http://ru.kyrgyzmedia.com/tag/assotsiatsiya-obshhinny-h-smi/ 36

See report of PF “Open Line” on preparation and creation of information materials, creation of logo of the campaign and video

materials (web quest), as well as printed products for promotion of public campaign in the target communities. 37

For more details about the delivery of the campaign at the local level see above the section 3.1.1: Key results . 38

It should be noted, that when working with the civic journalists within the youth component there were also problems with the

24

the main recipients of the video products were the urban population. However, as it was noted above,

due to the limited resources the special analysis of the communication effectiveness of these products

was not conducted. In other words, the evaluators did not have enough data to present substantiated

results of the campaign. The general impression is that large amount of work was done in a quite short-

term period39

. Almost every product of the campaign included to some extent innovative elements that

made the campaign memorable and attractive.

Factors that contributed to the achievement of the results. Thus, in addition to aforementioned result 1, the

main factors of success of the campaign when working on informing women and youth were the

following:

Innovative, interactive materials that combined entertainment and educational aspects.

High quality of the products, using accessible language, and taking into account the interests of

women and families with children (for example, games that were interesting for both children and

parents);

Involvement of local leaders in the campaign (for example, TEDx in Osh), as well as local

journalists (for example, work with the Community Mass Media).

Challenges and weaknesses of the campaign:

Poor promotion of video/animation materials, lack of SMM specialist (social mass media and

marketing). This fact significantly reduced the effect of the campaign nit only among the rural

communities, but also among the target audience – representatives of the urban population.

Despite the availability of the materials and expectations of the campaign authors, the urban

audience did not seem to be interested in materials (here also it was not completely clear which

categories of the urban population were the priority of the campaign);

Some of the activities that were held within the campaign due to the novelty of the format required

more resources (ex. time and etc. ) for the organization than it was expected initially (for example,

TEDx conferences were accompanied by the need to comply with the requirements not to address

political issues, and it was difficult task, because this was the main focus of the project);

Lack of interaction between the partners at the national and local levels, due to it some of the

campaign products (for example, the internet video materials) were unused and unclaimed in the

regions, particularly in rural areas;

access to internet in the remote rural areas. 39

For detailed information about quantity of the printed materials see in appendix.

25

Insufficiently developed feedback mechanisms both at the level of the project partners and at the

level of the target audience of the campaign: “there was not enough feedback, comments during

the development process and information on how the campaign materials were used (in the

field)”.

In general without the purposeful assessment of the communication effectiveness of the products of the

campaign, as it was stated earlier, it is difficult to make valid conclusions about the results of the

campaign. At the same time, relying on the number of observations of the evaluation respondents, the

evaluators tend to argue that there was a high demand in the innovations that were used within the

campaign (games and etc.).

3.3_Result 3: Women in selected areas, especially women from minorities, run as

candidates during in 2016 local elections. Outcome Indicator 3 a Number of women-candidates and number of women-council deputies (age and

ethnicity disaggregated) at local elections in target geographic areas.

Comparative data on the numbers of women candidates in the target communities within 2012-2016

years clearly show the effectiveness of the work on the activization of women (see Table 1).

Table 1.

Comparative data on the nomination of women-candidates in the target communities 2012-2016

(on the example of elections to the village councils on 11th

of December, 2016.)

Target communities * Number of women-candidates

2012 2016

Batken oblast

Batken rayon

Dara 3 8

Karabak 4 13

Kadamzhai rayon

Halmion 6 10

Leilek rayon

Zhany-Zher 16 18

Kulundu 17 23

Zhalal-Abad oblast

Aksy rayon

Kosh -Dobo 2 4

Ala Buka rayon

Baltagulov 4 12

Suzak rayon

Yrys 3 8

Chui oblast

Alamedin rayon

Vasilievka 3 16

26

Maevka 9 15 *Source: reports of “Alga” and G. Kolsarieva.

Comparison of the target communities with the control one, using the data of general elections of

deputies to the village councils that was held on 11th

December, 2016 also clearly demonstrates the

changes in the target communities. Not all 10 target communities where the elections were held had

higher numbers of women candidates than in the control communities. However, the average number of

women candidates for one village council was significantly higher than the average number of women

candidates in the control communities – 13 and 7 candidates respectively. In percentages, the gap was

less visible. However, there are reasons to assume that women’s activity in the target communities in

self-nominations to become deputy candidates was higher than in the control communities. At the same

time voters in the target communities were slightly more active compared to voters in the control

communities40

.

Table 2.

Comparative data on the nomination of women-candidates in the target and control communities

(on the examples of the General Elections to the village councils on 11th

of December, 2016)41

Group Village council

Number of

mandates

Number of

candidates

#/% women-

candidates

Number of

voters*

Number of

districts

#/% votes **

Number of

women deputies

Batken oblast 2016 2012

Batken rayon

T Dara 21 66 8 (12%) 5047 4 2023/40% 2 0

C Tort-Kul 11 35 5 (14%) 3239 3 1441/44% 4 1

T Karabak 21 64 13 (20%) 8227 5 3550

/43%

3 2

C Kara Bulak 21 70 9 (13%) 6340 4 2389

/38%

1 3

Kadamzhai rayon

T Halmion 21 58 10 (17%) 9772 6 4006

/41%

3 2

C Ak Turpak 21 74 6 (8%) 7880 5 4209

/53%

1 0

Leilek rayon

T Zhany 21 91 18 (20%) 6389 4 2800 2 1

40

During this evaluation period a request was sent to the CEC to obtain comparative data on the results of the local 2012 and

2016 elections, however, there was no response to it. The data that is presented here was provided by the project partners from the

regions, not in all cases the data was full, and the evaluators were not able to use them. 41 Source: http://www.shailoo.gov.kg/LOCAL_ELECTION_2016_DECEMBER/

27

Zher (44%)

C Katran 21 63 5 (8%) 4461 3 2293

(51%)

- 3

T Kulundu 31 126 23 (18%) 11173 6 4744

(42%)

4 6

C Sumbula 21 37 3 (8%) 7559 4 2840 (38

%)

1 1

Zhalal-Abad oblast

Aksy rayon

T Tosh-Dobo 21 51 4 (8%) 6829 5 3272

(48%)

1 1

C Nazaraliev 21 85 7 (8%) 9217 6 3564

(39%)

1 2

Ala Buka rayon

T Baltagulov 21 61 12(20%)

6749 4 2831

(42%)

4 3

C 1-st May 21 62 6 (10%) 6126 5 2882

(47%)

3 2

Suzak rayon

T Yrys 31 77 8 (10%) 18321 5 8492

(46%)

1 3

C Suzak42

31 85 8 (9%) 22363 4 9210

(41%)

1 1

Chui oblast

Alamedin rayon

T Vasilievka 21 77 16 (21%) 5184 2 2003

(39%)

2 3

C Otyabrski 21 55 7 (13%) 4117 2 1407

(34%)

2 1

T Maevka 21 55 14 (26%) 5438 3 1915

(35%)

4 3

C Nizhne-

Alarcha

21 55 16 (29%) 5642 3 1778

(31%)

8 9

T Total

number

230 726 126 83129 - 35636 26

(11,3

%)***

**

24 (10,

4%)

C 220 621 72 76944 - 32013 22

(11%)43

23

(10,4%)

T Average

#/%

- 13

(17%)***

- - 43%****

C - 7 (12%) - 42%

*Number of voters that were included in the voters lists at the polling stations. **Total number of voters who received ballot

papers. *** Average number of women-candidates by one village council and percentage of total number of nominated

candidates in target and control communities. **** According to the data presented by Association “Taza Shailoo”, based on the

42

Следует отметить, что в Сузак являлся пилотным сообществом проекта ARWEE (Центр гендерных исследований/ ООН

женщины). 50% выдвинувшихся кандидаток представляли активисток данного проекта 43

11% от общего числа депутатов без учета Катран АК

28

results of the independent observations at the elections of the local elections (city and village councils) in Kyrgyzstan held on 11th

of December, 2016, 42% of voters participated in that elections http://tazashailoo.kg/web/documents/materials/743.pdf;

***** Number of elected women and percentage out of the total number of deputy mandates

The sustainability of the obtained results was undermined by the extremely low percentage of women

who won deputy mandates in the village councils – about 10% of women44

. It is about 2% lower results

in comparison with the previous election cycle (2012). At the same time, the fourth part of the village

councils (about 80 councils) does not have women deputies45

. In addition, controversial situation

emerged in the city councils, where women lost many mandates due to the widely spread practice among

parties when the lists of candidates is changed after the elections. As a results women either were moved

to the lower – “chanceless” places in the lists, or may even loose the place46

.

The decrease in the number of women deputies was partly due to the increased competition of candidates

at the local elections. In particular, there are much more young candidates, but in the overwhelming

majority they are represented by men47

. It should be noted that among the women candidates in the target

communities there were no women under 28 years old48

.

Anticipating this situation with the loss of women deputies’ mandates and loss of women from the party

lists, the project supported initiatives of the female MPs (members of the Parliament) and women’s

organizations to make amendments into the Election Code (the so-called “strict lists”). For more

information about this see the section below: 3.3.2 “creation of platforms” component.

3.3.1 Training women candidates

Output 3.1. Women-candidates in target communities, including young women and women from

minorities, have skills to run for local elections.

Output Indicator 3.1.1. Number of women –candidates (age and ethnicity disaggregated) in target

communities and supported by the project running for local elections.

67% of participants of the training (89 out of 131) were running for local elections in the local councils

(target: at least 40%). 23% of the prepared candidates represented different ethnic minority groups

44

According to the preliminary data obtained from the Social Technologies Agency. The first meeting of women candidates of the

local councils was held on 17th

of January, 2016. 45

Here, the data from CEC is expected to be received on the number of women deputies in the target communities. 46

See for more information overview on the election situation in Appendix. 47

Although the percentage of the young deputies in the village councils remained very low – 3% - all were represented by men, in

the target communities. This data obtained during the baseline assessment for planning purposes and peacebulding priorities in

Kyrgyzstan (2015). 48

Data on ethnic background is not available.

29

(target: not less than 15%). Results for the representation of youth were lower than expected – 8% of

participants under 30 (target: at least 15%).

It is interesting to note that in Vasilievskii village district, which is the project’s target community, one

of the goals was to activate the voters from the migrant groups (kairylmans), who, as already was noted

earlier, were considered as vulnerable group. As a result, 18 out of 21deputy mandates were obtained by

the representatives of this particular group, including one woman (activist of the project). Undoubtedly,

this fact cannot be ascribed explicitly to the results of the project. The separate research should be

conducted on this phenomenon49

. But this case opens up many new questions regarding the evaluation of

the potential of different groups of candidates.

In general, work on increasing the potential of candidates was conducted by the project partner at the

national level – Women’s Support Center and consisted of several elements:

Identification of potential women candidates at the local level,

Training candidates,

Supporting/mentoring candidates, communication (special motivating materials in Mass Media),

Motivating meetings with the participants of the trainings (there were 2 meetings before the

candidates’ registration deadlines).

The main tool for training women candidates were the Leadership Schools (LS). Overall, there were 5

schools with the coverage of 131 participants. Taking into the account, that there were challenges for

women candidates related to the loss of their places when the party lists were changed after the elections,

it was strategic to provide support to the women candidates during the post-school period. This support

was provided by 2 mentors and 2 lawyers who gave legal and leadership assistance to the participants of

the schools: during the candidates’ registration period. To ensure this support mentors and lawyers

developed a step-by-step operational plan for registration and also were able to keep a constant contact

with all LS participants. Motivating meetings also helped to push participants to register as candidates to

run in the local elections.

Factors that contributed to the achievement of results. In general, the mostly stated statements of what

contributed to the achievement of the results of training women candidates can be summarized as

following:

49

Interesting fact that the victory at the elections by the socially-vulnerable group members had an ambiguous reaction of the local

‘indigenous’ residents, in particular, residents believed that the deputies of the village council were “illiterate”,

“unknowledgeable” people.

30

Practicality of the methodology of the LS, that included master-classes with the participation of

CEC representatives, female PMs and local council deputies and etc.;

Constant/regular support was provided to the LS participants through the organization of

mentoring and legal assistance (on issues related to candidates registration, development of

canvassing campaign and platforms);

Strengthening the training resources through the cooperation with OSCE and other international

organizations;

Close cooperation with the LSG representatives;

Feedback – organization of the final round table and reviewing the level of observance of

women’s political rights and analysis of the lessons learned after the local council elections (11th

December, 2016)

Challenges. The following challenges were identified:

Insufficiently developed mechanisms for identification of potential candidates, who would provide

necessary qualitative and quantitative representation (including youth, ethnic groups): “the lists of

the participants were constantly updated until the very last day”;

Pressure from the local authorities to include “their” women in the lists of the LS, as well as

shared suspicions from the side of the authorities, some of them were concerned that “wrong”

women participated in the LS: «one women who was included into the list has a security services

record as “obon”50

…this services were questioning us… but we were able to convince them that

our schools direct the activity of women in a constructive way”;

Risks of conflict emergence within the group of women candidates (political competition,

disagreements in relation to ethnic differences and etc.); especially it was evident after the

elections, when a woman who did not win the deputy seat started to disputing the receipt of the

mandates by women from another ethnic groups. It happened despite the fact that previously, this

group of women had been training and prepared for the election almost in the same team;

Poor coordination between partners at the local and national levels, uncertainty of the role of local

partners in the southern regions in activities that were related to the preparation of women

candidates. This was partially due to the lack of resources: “women candidates approached us for

support, but we did not have answers”;

50

OBON (special women’s squad) – the expression used to identify women who actively participate at meetings, usually using

aggressive and violent forms of actions (threats, intimidation and etc.). It has a pejorative character, representing activity of

women in a negative way.

31

High level of risk of violation of the candidates’ registration and campaigning regulations by

territorial election communities and LSG (changing the lists of the required documents,

requirements from the candidates to submit additional documents, refusal to register a candidate

without explaining any reasons, ignorance of women candidates and refusal to organize meetings

with voter and etc.). Women candidates within these conditions particularly needed immediate

assistance in organizational and legal issues. At the same time, due to the small number of

mentors and layers (in total 4 to assist 131 participants) and accordingly their high level of

workload, access to the necessary assistance for women was limited.

In general, despite these challenges, the project managed to ensure a higher percentage of women who

won at the elections, than average for the country, 21% of trained women to 10% - average for the

country. This evidence indicates about a rather high degree of effectiveness of the implemented work on

the preparation of women candidates.

3.3.2 Creation of platforms

In general, the creation of platforms’ component can be related to all project results. This component

unified different, mostly small budget initiatives that aimed to improve the overall situation/environment

related to political and other types of women’s rights. These initiatives included the following aspects:

Strengthening the interaction between the women deputies of the Parliament and women deputies

of local councils (regional conferences where women candidates were also invited, there were

informal discussions with the women deputies of the Parliament, representatives of the Ministry

and etc.);

Increasing the visibility of women candidates through their organized participation in the

parliamentary hearings. According to their feedback, these hearings, allowed them to receive a

great practical experience.

Lobbying legislative initiatives through the joint effort of parliamentary, local council deputies

and women’s public organizations. As a result of which the following was achieved:

1) The law was passed that allowed to tighten the punishment for the persons who are

responsible for carrying out marriage rituals (religious) with under the age of 18 (initiative

was supported by the British Embassy and with cooperation with UNFPA);

2) The bill on strengthening special measures that support women in the local elections

passed the first reading (as it was noted above, along with the information and training

strategies, the campaign for the “strict lists”, including public discussions, collecting 10

000 signatures of citizens for the support of legislation norms for the support of women

32

was highly valued by the project, because this way the institutional barriers were addressed

and eliminated);

Support of women’s movement organization of “Women’s herstory” - (8th

of March, 2016) and 16

days of activism against gender-based violence (November 2015- December 2016).

Preparation of a case study on women’s political participation.

The innovative approach in creation of platforms was related to the social media project M-report (on

regular basis the system gathers social survey data from youth, in this way it is aimed to strengthen their

voices in the decision-making process at the national level) 51

. This project was implemented by

UNICEF in cooperation with NISI KR (National Strategic Research Institute of the Kyrgyz Republic)

(this platform is supposed to be supported and developed within other UNICEF projects).

The most of the mentioned initiatives, that are considered as being within the creation of platform’s

component, came into existence base on the “here and now” principle (there were no special indicators).

These initiatives were implemented with the help of the special budget that was available for the support

of such activities. However, as it was noted by the project coordinators and project partners, despite the

spontaneous and short-term nature of these initiatives they were important for the development and

strengthening of women’s networks and platforms (for example, through the collection of signatures in

support of the bills and etc.). On this basis, for example, new initiatives and projects have emerged, in

particular the information was disseminated about the ban on marriages with under the age of 18.

Conclusions, lessons learned, recommendations

The direct and indirect evidence, quantitative data that was obtained during the final evaluation allow to

state with a high degree of certainty that the main project results have been successfully achieved. The

teams of the international partner agencies, local partners, volunteers through the joint efforts in a short

period of time within a difficult political situation mobilized their strong potential and demonstrated their

commitment created unprecedented example of the wide information dissemination and electoral activity

of women, including women from vulnerable groups, inclusion of the LSG representatives, men, youth

and the nomination of a significant number of women candidates.

At the same time the initial intentions of the project to use informal methods of work with the

population, using, along with the other methods, traditional networks have largely justified themselves.

Different variations of door-to-door approaches that were used to disseminate information among the

51

Например, один из опросов был посвящен теме выборов, и нем участвовало более 1000 человек (1 декабря 2016). См.

подробнее http://mnenie.kg/ru/poll/

33

women voters became of the most popular innovations. Moreover, as the experience has shown, the pre-

electioneering, “face-to-face”, “door-to-door” meetings were one of the most effective forms of work

among the women candidates with the voters (“so that every young daughter-in-law knew that we are

going to politics to solve social problems and issues of women’s concern”).

The simultaneous participation of several partners in the project who worked at different levels, the lack

of time for their interaction was compensated here by the high intensity of the work, which required from

the participants of the project achieving results despite the great tension. Under these conditions, it is not

surprising that one aspect of the project could be expressed more strongly than others: for example, the

election aspect is expressed more than the peacebuilding dimension, the women’s component is

expressed more than the youth one. It seems to be difficult, taking into account the given the challenges

of project related to the coordination and other factors, to keep focused to the same extent on all project

dimensions - the participation of women, ethnic, religious groups, youth, peaceful elections and

conflicts. As the main lessons learned and recommendations in regards of the results, it is important to

mark out the following:

Partnership in the name of

the common goal

The partnership had the key value to the project, and its realization was

supported by the coordination mechanisms at the national and regional

levels;

Reliance on local resources - LSGs, networks of local activists,

strengthened the effectiveness of multi-stakeholder partnership and

synergy of results, providing broad coverage and access to groups with

fewer opportunities;

At the same time, it seems that the development of an ad hoc

partnership communication strategy would allow partners to overcome

more effectively the challenges associated with the fragmentation of

their activities, examples of this fragmentation took place in the project;

The strategy and mechanisms of partnership could be built on with a

glance of the equal balance of different forces - political, secular,

religious, ethnic, women’s, youth, creating common platforms for

action and consciously overcoming prejudices and conflicts (taking into

account, among other things, examples from project experience, related

to the stigmatization of Ethnic Kyrgyz, politically active women, called

"OBON");

Joint monitoring and evaluation should have been an integral part of the

overall partnership strategy, based on a set of indicators that allow

tracking and evaluating joint progress; and new innovations could

emerge here - tools for assessing the electoral activity of women (which

the project lacked for a collecting reasonable quantitative data and

analysis of the results of work with voters).

Methodology for

empowerment The creative and flexible approach of the project allowed "the most

important things to happen on the ground", promoted self-organization

and strengthening of the sense of ownership to ideas and project results

34

among local partners

The use of accessible, informal and safe direct communication tools

increased the attractiveness of ideas on women's rights among the

population

Techniques for leading constructive dialogue that were based on the

principles of "education through entertainment", "peer to peer"

developed critical knowledge of women and youth and contributed to

their activity;

Tools for working with women (especially with young women with

children), that were taking into account the specifics of their situation

(difficulties related to staying out of the house for a long time, there is

no one to leave children with, etc.) seemed to be the most popular;

Practically oriented training and mentoring system that provided not

only knowledge but also forming the common ground of shared

responsibility and solidarity of the training participants with the trainers

/ consultants / experts served as a motivating basis for the high activity

of the participants in the project

The development of plans for operative, urgent assistance to the women

candidates on a permanent basis was in high demand (taking into

account that the election process is practically uninterrupted);

Joint analysis of the lessons learned, post-election support of the women

candidates in resolving various conflicts in connection with elections,

etc., has the same significance as preparatory training programs for

women candidates.

Long-term campaigning for

women’s political

participation

The national campaign "Follow your voice!" with unusual, innovative

products has become an inspiring event, primarily for the project

partners;

The products of the campaign with clear messages were the most in

demand in the field; In contrast, materials without identified specific

target groups made it hard to assess the effectiveness of the campaign;

Although the project had a common communication strategy, due to the

lack of coordination of partners at the national and local levels, there

was an impression that the campaign has a set of separate, interesting

but not interconnected instruments;

At the same time, the accumulated experience, tools (GRP, quests, etc.)

could constitute one of the foundations of a long-term campaign for the

women’s political participation, which is especially important for the

enhancing electoral rights (as part of the functional education of voters)

during the inter-election period.

0

Appendix 1. Additional information on methodology

This section represents the underlying princliples of methodology, target communities and categories of respondents, methods and tools of

information collection. The methodology of this apprailsal is based on the following approaches:

1) participation of the key stakeholders at all stages of assessment;

2) determination of shared vision of results / changes together with the key project partners, taking into account the variety of prospects

(peaceful elections, women’s political participation, minorities’ voting rights);

3) capacity building of the stakeholders and their networks.

The main data collection was carried out from October to December 2016 through 1) study of documents and statistical data, 2) implementation of

self-assessment in the groups, 3) semi-structured interviews, focus-group discussions and group interviews with the direct and indirect beneficiaries,

executing partners, donors and other stakeholders.

The main information collection tools were the formats of the interview, questionnaire and a matrix of pieceful development (MPD) to assess the

level of security and peace in the community. The peculiarity of PDM was that this tool helped the participants to carry out the complex and obvious

analysis of the diferent aspects of peacebuilding in the community during the group discussions, including the issues of the community members’

status/position satisfaction, credibility to the governance, assessment of the own possibilities for the establishing of stable/pluralistic safe world in

this community (see more details below).

The study’s respondents:

project coordinators,

members of the project team/training specialists/mentors/experts,

women-activists,

women-electoresses,

participants, volonturees of a youth component,

local NGOs – project partners,

representatives of Local Self-governments, regional administration,

1

representatives of the Parliament, Central Electoral Commission, Government,

members of political parties,

representatives of the Regional Centre for preventive diplomacy (project partner),

external experts (uninvolved NGOs, International Organizations),

representatives of JSC of the Peacebuilding Fund in KR,

In total, 188 respondents were covered during the field trips to the target communities52

. The following summarizes the respondents’ demographic

data of field trips:

Field trips Number of respondents

Batken oblast 58

Vasilievski

village district

22

Tokmok city 16

Uzgen city 23

Yrys village

district

13

Osh city 56

Total 188

52

Batken oblast (Karabak village district, Dara village district, Samarkandek village district), Chui oblast (Vasilievski village district, Tokmok city), Zhalal-Abad oblast (Yrys

village district), Osh oblast (Osh city, Uzgen city).

Age groups Number of

respondents

% Of them

women

17 aged 9 10 4

18-30 11 12,2 8

31-40 14 15,6 13

41-60 36 40 33

61-older 10 11,1 10

Age is not

indicated

10 11,1 8

Ethnic groups Number of

respondents

%

Kyrgyz 62 68,9%

Uzbek 16 17,8%

Russian 4 4,4%

Uighur 2 2,2%

Kurdish 1 1,1%

Lezghian 1 1,1%

Tatar 1 1,1%

No data 3

2

Interviews and meetings with the project partners were also held in Bishkek city (around 20 respondents).

Appendix 2. Instrument: Matrix of Peaceful Community Development with the assessment instructions

Matrix of peaceful community development

Community levels А. Satisfaction of own

position and status

В. Community

similarity

С. Power/possibilities

Negative

community

(NC)

1 – There are some groups

in my community, which are

not satisfied with their status

as their interests are not

taken into consideration

2 - There are some groups in

my community, which

cannot vent their political

preference

3- There are some groups in

my community, which

couldn’t be elected

4- Young women in my

community are usually not

allowed to make their own

electorial choice

1- People in my

community are divided

into groups and they

have different interests

2- There are some

groups in my

community, with whom

we cannot be on the

same wave

3- Women candidates

are not supported at the

elections

The following disagreements in

the community’s PA are solved

aggressively, sometimes

forcibly:

1- domestic problems

2- disagreements regarding the

community development

3- disagreements regarding

electoral processes (issues

regarding transperancy and

purity of elections).

4- Our community does not trust

in transparent and fair elections.

Stable community

(SC)

5- People in my community

usually maintain peaceful

relations and try to solve the

arising problems in a

peaceful way.

6- Around 30 years our PA

community maintains peace

and promotes mutual

understanding among the

different groups.

7- Every woman in my

community can take part in

the elections and represent

the interests of her group

4- For peaceful

development, we try to

respect the interests of

all community groups.

5- The members in our

village try to understand

each other, although

they speak different

languages.

6- Sex of the candidate

is not important – more

to the point is his or her

political program

5- There are some groups in my

community, which can

participate in the process of

decision-making.

6- I can and I know how to make

changes for the development of

my community at the PA level in

a peaceful (non-aggressive) way.

7- When the disagreements arise

in my community

(domestic problems, issues on

the community development and

electoral processes), the

representatives of the local

3

authority have a strategy and

tools to solve a conflict in a

peaceful way

Pluralistic and safe

communities (PSC)

8- The members of my

community are pleased with

the results of the last

elections in PA

7- We support the

community members

and understand each

other as we have the

same history, the same

ideology.

8- I trust all members of

my community – all

women and men of the

different age and

nationality.

8- We have a democratic

community, high level of

interdependence of one another

and share a common language.

9- I cannot image that any

disagreements in my community

would be resolved forcibly.

First stage: calculation of the amount of all marked answers by 3 categories separately:

1. Negative community – the answers А1, А2, А3, А4, B1, В2, В3, С1, С2, С3, С4 are summarized

2. Stable community – the answers А5,А6, А7, В4, В5, В6, С5, С6, С8 are summarized

3. Pluralistic and safe community – the answers А8, В7, В8, С8, С9 are summarized

Second stage: counting of a probable maximum score, in this regard, the number of respondents is multiplied by the number of questions by all 3 categories. For

example, X*11 = maximum probable score NC, X*9= maximum probable score SC, X*5= maximum probable score of PSC. Third stage: counting in percentage

ratio of respondents’ perception as situation demanded in their community. Amount NC/100%*(X*11)=perception of NC level; Amount SC/100%* (X*9) =

perception of SC level; amount of PSC *100%*( X*5) perception of PSC level.

4

Appendix 3. Matrix of results and instruments

IRF – Result framework

Country: Kyrgyzstan

PBF Focus Area: 2: Promote coexistence and peaceful resolution of conflicts (Priority Area 2): (2.2) Democratic Governance.

IRF Theory of Change: See Outcomes section.

Outcomes Outputs Indicators – Baseline Indicators – Final Evaluation53 Comments

Outcome 1

Women in selected areas,

especially from

minorities, exercise their

electoral rights and

participate in voting

Outcome indicator 1 a:

% of women (disaggregated by age and ethnicity, if

possible) in target LSGs voting in elections (compared

with previous elections)

Baseline:

31.8% of participants consider that their vote is

important

Data on the first case (rural, Northern community):

- 69,2% of women participated in previous municipal

(41,8%) and Parliament (27,5%) elections.

Disaggregated by age and ethnicity at last municipal

elections:

60% -18-30,

41,9%-31-40,

52% - 41-60;

Data on the second case (urban, Southern

community):

-87,8% participated at previous elections.

Disaggregated by age and ethnicity at last municipal

elections:

93,75% -18-30,

93,3%-31-40,

96,6% - 41-60,

90% - 61 and older

Target: % of women mush not less than previous

participation of women who have relevant access to

voting during parliament and municipal elections.

Final evaluation:

52,2% of participants consider that their vote is important

Data on rural, Northern and Southern communities:

- 94,4% of respondents participated in municipal (25%)

and parliament (75%) elections in 2015.

Disaggregated by age at elections in 2015:

66,7%-18-30,

100% -31-40,

95% -41-60,

100% - 61 and older.

Data on urban, Northern and Southern communities:

- 88,9% participated municipal (55,6%) and parliament

(63,9%) elections in 2015.

Disaggregated by age at elections in 2015:

75% - 18-30,

83,3%-31-40,

100% - 41-60,

85,7%-61 and older

At the time when the data

was collected in 2015 the

elections for the local

councils were held only in

several communities.

The general elections of the

deputies for the local

councils took place later in

2016.

Data on ethnicity

bachground was not full

53

Overall, there were 90 respondents who fillied out the questionnaires, out of which 79 respondents were older than 18 years old. This can be explained by the fact that as previously noted in the text

above, the sample was spontaneous – not representative.

5

Output 1.1 Voters in target

communities are

empowered to

exercise electoral

rights without fear

Outcome Indicator 1.1.1:

% of residents of voting age (disaggregated by age, sex

and ethnicity, if possible) are saying they know their

electoral rights and exercise them without fear.

Baseline:

Data on the first case (rural, Northern community):

- 80,2% of women exercised their electoral rights based

on their own choice and will – independently.

Disaggregated by age at last municipal elections:

76% -18-30,

85,7%- 31-40,

77,4% - 41-60;

Data on the second case (urban, Southern

community):

-81,9% of women stated that they exercise their

electoral rights independently.

Age:

81,3% -18-30,

78,6%-31-40,

26,4%-41-60,

11,6% -61 and older.

Target: the number of voters who are empowered to

exercise electoral rights without fear is not less than in

the previous elections, taking into account the

introduction of new voting regulations.

Final evaluation:

Data on rural, Northern and Southern communities:

– 94% of women stated that they exercised their electoral

rights based on their own choice and will – independently.

Age:

66,7% -18-30,

100%- 31-40,

90%-41-60,

100% - 61 and older.

Data on urban, Northern and Southern communities:

– 83,3% of women stated that they exercise their electoral

rights independently.

Age:

87,5% -18-30,

83,3%- 31-40,

75%-41-60, 85,

85,7% - - 61 and older.

Outcome 2

Women and men in

selected areas, especially

youth, activity promote

peaceful elections an

engage in electoral debates

on issues related to gender

equality and gender-based

violence.

Outcome Indicator 2 a:

Proposed Indicator54:

Women and men in selected areas, especially youth,

have enhanced their knowledge and skills on

participating in electoral debates and promoting

peaceful elections.

**based on the results

obtained from the analysis

of the data collected using

Matrix of peaceful

community developement

***these indicators reflect

the opinion quite a big

54 Initial Indicator: Elections-related conflict incidents in target communities (if possible indicating whether initiated by men or women, age and ethnicity - disaggregated)

However, during the discussion of indicators at the beginning of the project, it was changed due to measurement difficulties.

6

Baseline:**

Data on the first case (rural, Northern community):

- 13,6% of respondents have confirmed their

ability and knowledge to promote democratic

changes for communities in peaceful

manners.

- 67,9% of respondents consider that their community

does not believe in transparent and honest electoral

processes.

- 37% of respondents confirmed that their

communities in cases when they have disagreements

can rely on the local authorities as they have

strategies and tools for resolving conflicts in a

peaceful way.

Data on the second case (urban, Southern

community):

- 28,2% of respondents have confirmed their

ability and knowledge to promote democratic

changes for communities in peaceful

manners.

- 63,6% of respondents consider that their

community does not believe in transparent

and honest electoral processes.

-41,8% of respondents confirmed that their

communities in cases when they have disagreements

can rely on the local authorities as they have

strategies and tools for resolving conflicts in a

peaceful way.

Target:

At least 50% of respondents (women, men and youth)

confirmed that they received knowledge and skills in

the participation at electoral debates and promotion of

peaceful elections

Final evaluation**

Data on rural, Northern and Southern communities:

- 18,4% of respondents have confirmed their ability and

knowledge to promote democratic changes for

communities in peaceful manners.

- 39,5% of respondents consider that their community does

not believe in transparent and honest electoral processes.

- 50% of respondents confirmed that their communities in

cases when they have disagreements can rely on the local

authorities as they have strategies and tools for resolving

conflicts in a peaceful way.

Data on the second case (urban, Southern community):

***:

- 19,4% of respondents have confirmed their

ability and knowledge to promote democratic

changes for communities in peaceful manners.

- - 69,4% of respondents consider that their

community does not believe in transparent and

honest electoral processes.

- 30,6% of respondents confirmed that their communities

in cases when they have disagreements can rely on the

local authorities as they have strategies and tools for

resolving conflicts in a peaceful way.

Example, youth component trainings on electoral processes

- 92% of the participants stated that had improved their

knowledge (post-test)

group of respondents, who

were disappointed with the

behavior of party leaders

during elections and in the

post election period

(especially because they

deprived womrn of thei

mandates).

In general, it is necessary to

take into account that the

reasons for trust/mistrust in

regard of elections can be

different. More research is

needed on this issue.

Output 2.1 Political

parties at the local

level mainstream

gender into their

electoral programs

and respect gender

quota.

Output indicator 2.1.1

Rating of parties by “gender rating” study provided by

women NGOs

Baseline: Lack of methodology for monitoring the

gender equality policy within political parties

Target: to develop and test the methodology of the

The methodology is developed: 6 issues of gender rating

were published

7

gender rating of political parties. To publish and

disseminate 4 issues of gender rating.

Output 2.2

Public discourse

developed and

electoral

commitments set

with regard to

political

participation issues,

including those

faced by youth

Output indicator 2.2.1

Extent to which media (traditional and new (covers

political participations issues, including those related to

gender equality.

Baseline: Traditional and non-traditional media cover

the problems of women's political participation, not

focusing on gender issues or giving it a minimum of

attention

Target: Mass Media produced special materials on the

political participation of women in parliamentary and

local elections.To develop a targeted media campaign

for the participation of women and youth in elections.

See information on media materials in the Appendix 4

Result 3

Women in selected areas,

especially women from

minorities, run as

candidates during in 2016

local elections.

Output indicator 1 a

Number of women-candidates and number of women-

council deputies (age and ethnicity disaggregated) at

local elections in target geographic areas.

Baseline:

Women deputies of village councils in the target

communities * – 10,4% out of the total number of

deputies

Women deputies in city councils**

Issyk-Kul oblast -18%

Osh oblast - 22%

Chui oblast – 34%

Osh city -27%

Target: maintan the baseline data (related to the

consequences of amendments to the election code)

Final evaluation

Women deputies of village councils in the target

communities* – 11, 3%

Women deputies in city councils**:

Issyk-Kul oblast (Karakol city) - 23%

Chui oblast (Tokmok city) – 19%

Osh oblast (Uzgen city) – 10%

Osh city-18%

*10 target communities had

elections on 11th of

December, 2016 (majority

system)

** decrease in the

proportion of women

deputies in the city councils,

particularly it is due to the

use of a practice of

changing the lists of

candidates after the

elections (the party leaders

force candidates to

“voluntarily” declare off

their deputy mandates in

favor of different deputies)

Output 3.1

Women-candidates

in target

communities,

including young

women and women

from minorities,

have skills to run

for local elections.

Output indicator 3.1.1

Number of women –candidates (age and ethnicity

disaggregated) in target communities and supported by

the project running for local elections.

Baseline: The data is not available (to obtain this data it

is necessary to conduct a study on the results of the

2012 elections)

Target: At least 40% of women who have increased

their potential through the participation in the

leadership school participate in local elections as

candidates (with representatives of at least 15% youth

WSC: The number of participants in the Women’s

leadership schools - 131, out of which 89 (67%) women

were self-nominated to run for deputies positions at local

councils. Data on women candidates is not available.

8

and ethnic minorities - at least 15%)

Appendix 4. Media products

Organization/author Type of a product (for

example. leaflet, tele-

or radio broadcasting,

social media post, etc.)

Name or subject

of a product

Circulation

and audience

Short decription – for what and with

what purpose, whom it is intended for

Media channel

(newspaper, web

site, social

networks, TV,

radio) Reference

UNDP Soc. media article

Be on trend:

political woman in

KR -

Gender rating of political parties/Promotion of gender issues social networks

http://www.kg.undp.org/content/kyrgyzstan/ru/home/pr

esscenter/articles/2016/10/being-trendy-party-

woman.html

UNDP Soc. media article

Presentation of

both sexes means

equal opportunities in

decision-making - Promotion of gender issues social networks

UN system web-site in KR :http://kg.one.un.org/content/unct/kyrgyzstan/ru/home/n

ews/opinions/2016/representation-of-both-genders-

means-equal-opportunities-in-the-.html

PF "Open line" Soc. media clip

Follow your

voice // Оз

добушундан

жанба 213 Youtube

views

Drawing of attention to the issues of

women in the electoral process and

understanding of women’s political

participation importance social networks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAyfO63xnxo

PF "Open line" Soc. media clip

Interactive film

with the opportunity to

choose

206 Youtube

views

Drawing of attention to the issues of

women in the electoral process and understanding of women’s political

participation importance social networks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdjkw22-g5M

PF "Open line" Soc. media clip

Interactive film

“Менин ата - энем оз

тааныштарына

добушунду бер деп кысым жасап

жатышат. Эмне

кылышым керек?”

2,460 Youtube views

Drawing of attention to the issues of

women in the electoral process and

understanding of women’s political participation importance social networks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQt-XXHgmDs

PF "Open line" Soc. media clip

Parents force to

vote against my

will. What to do?

455 Youtube

views

Drawing of attention to the issues of women in the electoral process and

understanding of women’s political

participation importance social networks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeTKnrGD3Is

9

PF "Open line" Soc. media clip

The principal

forces to vote

against my will.

What to do?

1,074 Youtube

views

Drawing of attention to the issues of

women in the electoral process and

understanding of women’s political

participation importance social networks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoD-hQFzts4

Organization/author Type of a product (for

example. leaflet, tele-

or radio broadcasting,

social media post, etc.)

Name or subject

of a product

Circulation

and audience

Short decription – for what and with

what purpose, whom it is intended for

Media channel

(newspaper, web

site, social

networks, TV,

radio) Reference

PF "Open line" soc. media clip

My friends

participate in elections and call

me. What should I

do? 749 views

Drawing of attention to the issues of women in the electoral process and

understanding of women’s political

participation importance social networks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7bbbSCPenU

Peacebuilding Fund in

Kygryzstan soc. media article

Follow your voice

-

It is started the National awareness-

raising campaign «Follow your voice!” social networks

http://unpbf.kg/%D1%81%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B4

%D1%83%D0%B9-

%D1%81%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%B5%D0%BC%D1%83-

%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D1%81%D1

%83/

NGO "Social Technologies Agency" magazine

GRP -November 2015-2016 500 copies

Gender rating of the parties of

Kyrgyzstan/Implementation of the

monitoring system over the political

parties’ activity and coverage of the monitoring results. magazine

NGO "Social Technologies Agency" magazine GRP -2015 г 175 copies

Gender rating of the parties of Kyrgyzstan/Implementation of the

monitoring system over the political

parties’ activity and coverage of the monitoring results. magazine

UNDP Project

"Women-peaceful

voters and candidates" comic strips Follow your voice 10, 000 copies

Drawing of attention to the issues of

women in the electoral process and

understanding of women’s political

participation importance comic strips

UNDP Project

"Women-peaceful voters and candidates" leaflets

Women-peaceful

voters and candidates 2 ,500 copies

Awarness-raising campaign on the project’s activity leaflets

10

UNDP Project

"Women-peaceful

voters and candidates"

Brochure in the Kygryz

language Follow your voice 3,750 copies

Drawing of attention to the issues of

women in the electoral process and

understanding of women’s political

participation importance brochure

Organization/author

Type of a product (for

example. leaflet, tele-

or radio broadcasting,

social media post, etc.)

Name or subject

of a product

Circulation

and audience

Short decription – for what and with

what purpose, whom it is intended for

Media channel

(newspaper, web

site, social

networks, TV,

radio) Reference

UNDP Project

"Women-peaceful

voters and candidates"

brochure in the Russian

language Follow your voice 2,250 copies

Drawing of attention to the issues of women in the electoral process and

understanding of women’s political

participation importance brochure

UNDP Project

"Women-peaceful

voters and candidates"

game in the Kyrgyz language I am a voter 27,570 copies

Drawing of attention to the issues of

women in the electoral process and

understanding of women’s political participation importance game

UNDP Project

"Women-peaceful

voters and candidates"

game in the Russian

language I am a voter 6,250 copies

Drawing of attention to the issues of

women in the electoral process and

understanding of women’s political participation importance

game

UNDP Project

"Women-peaceful

voters and candidates" calendar A2 31,200 copies

Drawing of attention to the issues of women in the electoral process and

understanding of women’s political

participation importance

calendar

UNDP Project "Women-peaceful

voters and candidates" Table calendar 2,100 copies

Drawing of attention to the issues of

women in the electoral process and

understanding of women’s political participation importance

calendar

UNDP Project

"Women-peaceful voters and candidates"

Branded bag Follow your voice 300 pcs.

Drawing of attention to the issues of

women in the electoral process and understanding of women’s political

participation importance

bag

UNDP Project "Women-peaceful

voters and candidates"

leaflet/doll I am a citizen 15,000 copies

Drawing of attention to the issues of women in the electoral process and

understanding of women’s political

participation importance

leaflet

NGO "Centre for

assistance to women" resource book

Schools of

leadership for the women-candidates

to deputies 106 copies Resource book for deputies-candidates book

11

Appendix 5. Overview on the election situation

This review includes three electoral campaigns that were carried out within the territory of the project’s target communities.

3.1. Parliamentary elections 2015

Since 2010, the Parliamentary system has been established in the Kyrgyz Republic according to the new Constitution, at which 120 members of the

Parliament – Jogorku Kenesh (JK) are elected for the 5th

year period on the closed party lists in the unified nation-wide election constituency with

double vote threshold55

. In order to get deputy’s seats, political party shall poll no less than 7% votes of electors taking part in a ballot in a whole

nationwide, and no less than 0.7% in each of seven regions (oblasts), and in the cities of Bishkek and Osh56

.

On October 4, 2016, the scheduled elections to JK were carried out. Officially, the agitation campaign was launched a month before the polling day –

4th

of September. These elections became the first ones carried out through the compulsory biometric identity of the electors57

.

Participation of women and other vulnerable groups

Right to vote. The right to vote is granted to the citizens of KR at the age of 18 complete years at the polling day58

, thus, the voters’ list was compiled

based on the Unified State Register of the population containing biometric data (BD) of all registered citizens. Totally, the voters’ list included

around 2,6 million voters.

For the first time, fingerprint sensors were used to identify and check the voters at the polling stations, and the automatic reading ballot boxes

counted the votes automatically. However, the official results of the vote were made by manual vote count. The citizens, who did not provide

biometric data, were not included in the voters’ list, and thus, were not admitted to voting.

55

The independent candidates cannot take part in the parliamentary elections 56

Previously, this double threshold was criticized on the part of ODIHR OSCE and the Commission for Democracy for Law of the Council of Europe (Venice Commission). The

Constitution also contains the limitation, whereunder any party cannot get more than 65 seats in Jogorku Kenesh. The Bureau for democratic institutions and human rights OSCE

Election Observation Mission Kyrgyz Republic Parliamentary elections, October 4, 2015. Interim report: August 25 –September 14, 2015. Refer also to Parliamentary elections,

October 4, 2015 Final report of the OSCE/ODHIR Election Observation Mission. January 28, 2016 http://www.osce.org/ru/odihr/elections/kyrgyzstan/222521?download=true 57

According to the Law of KR “On biometric registration” dated July 14, 2014 http://cbd.minjust.gov.kg/act/view/ru-ru/205357?cl=ru-ru..Change in the conduct of election rules

were also relevant to the arrangement of the procedure for electoral disputes’ consideration, increase in electoral pledge, funding limits and expenses for pre-election canvassing

and others. 58

To the exclusion of the ciziens, who are in the places of detention under the sentence of the court and those, who have been declared legally incapable.

12

The extensive nation-wide campaign was held to inform the citizens of biometric registration. Although officially the citizens had the right not to

pass biometric registration, administrative pressure on the part of the state and municipal structures compelled the citizens to the active registration of

their data.

In the context of the participation of women and the other vulnerable groups in the elections as voters, the biometric data registration campaign had a

dual effect. On the one hand, many of them could get the identification documents (passport, register at the place of residence59

), which they did not

have before60

according to the requirements of BD registration. Moreover, new rules of the voters’ registration excluded the opportunity of “family”

voting (when one representative of the family, as a rule, senior, voted on behalf of all the rest family members). In this case, women were “forced” to

go to the elections, as required by the biometric registration conditions.

At the same time, it was turned out that many women were deprived of the right to vote, especially, among young married women living in the house

of a husband or his parents. It is not infrequent that they did not have a required residence permit to pass biometric registration. Also, settlers from

the other countries of the region (mainly, from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan) from the Kyrgyz ethnic group, who are not having the passports of the citizens

of KR, could not (had no time) to pass biometric registration.

In a whole, the observers noted low voting procedure awareness among the population. In addition, just few voters previously checked themselves in

the lists61

. Herewith, neither information materials for the voters, nor ballot papers were prepared in the languages of the national minorities that de

facto could lead to their exclusion from the voting process.

Right to be elected. The persons at the age of 21 years old as of the day of elections had the active right to vote62

. The non-discrimination and

equality principles are specified in the Constitution of KR. At the same time, the national legislation does not contain any special non-discrimination

legal acts.

Women are under-represented in the political life of KR, including in the elective positions. After considerable growth of the number of women from

0 to 23 (25.6%) among the deputies of JK in 2007 in then 90-seat JK according to the introduced quotas by the party lists (every fourth place in the

59

All the citizens of KR shall register at the place of residence: registration at the place of permanent residence or at the place of staying (in case of moving from the permanent

residence within the country’s territory for the period up to six months without de-regstration from the permanent place of residence. Frequently, women after marriage change

their place of residence, but at the same time, they do not pass a required registration (more vulnerable can be women having no job, education, in the cases of early and/or

unregistered marriage in the state bodies) 60

It’s worth noting that except this project, another public organizations worked on drawing the attention and voters' support of the women participation in elections through the

information meetings by woman advices, social development management (for example, Coalition for civil society and democracy, Centre for gender studies and others). 61

Those citizens, who checked themselves in the lists 15 calendar days prior the polling day and who passed biometric registration, can participate in the elections. 62

If they have no criminal history on record or unexpunged conviction.

13

party lists of the candidates shall be allocated to the under-represented sex), the general trend consisted in considerable reduction of their

representation in JK.

As of the date of registration, the lists of candidates from the political parties at the parliamentary elections 2015 considered the requirement of

quotas’ allocation for the women and minorities, and many parties arranged their representatives in the top ten of its lists.63

Herewith, there were the

examples when the percent of women in the list of candidates exceeded 35%. But after the elections, not all women could keep their seats. Thus, the

share of women following the results of elections in October 2015 decreased from 21.7% to 15.8% at the end of 201664

. Representation of ethnic

minorities (12%) and youth (8%) also did not correspond to the required 15%65

.

The legislation of the political party does not allow choosing optionally, who of the candidates from the list of this party becomes the member of the

Parliament or change the order in the list after his/her registration. However, the candidates can be excluded from this list after elections. After the

polling day, there were filed applications on their exclusion from the lists on behalf of 136 candidates belonging to 5 of 6 political parties, who

received mandates. It means that the voters were not aware, who of the candidates could get the place in the Parliament as a result of their support of

a given party. Some candidates declared that they were asked to submit the signed application on exlusion from the list (undated) since before the

candidates’ registration process was begun. The similar practice undermined the right of elected candidates to the accession to the office and lowered

trust to the democratic institutions and political parties.

63

Upon determination of the lsit of candidates, the political party shall take the representation into account:

- no more than 70 percent of candidates of the same sex, herewith, the difference of priority in the lists of candidates women and men nominated from the political parties, shall

not exceed three positions;

- no less than 15 percent of candidates not elder than 35 years;

- no less than 15 percent of candidates of the different national identity;

- no less than 2 candidates – people with disabilities, herewith, one of them shall be included in the list of the first 50 candidates. Legislative provisions do not contain

requirements on the priority of seats for the representatives of ethnic minorities and youth in the lists of candidates. For details refer to the Law of KR “Concerning the elections of

the President of the Kyrgyz Republic and deputies of Jogorku Kenesh of the Kyrgyz Republic” dated July 2, 2011 N 68 64

http://www.kenesh.kg/ru/deputy/list/35 65

According to the data of the National Statistic Committee in 2016, the different groups of ethnic minorities in the population structure represent 27% of the total country’s

population. The largest of them are Uzbeks (14.5%), Russians (6.2%), Dungans (1.1%), Tajiks (0.9%), Uighurs (0.9%), and Turks (0.7%). Also, the share of youth at the age from

21 to 35 years old (inclusive) comprises 26% http://stat.kg/ru/statistics/naselenie/

14

2.2 Municipal elections of 2016

The elections of the deputies of local keneshes are held by the following systems:

1. To the local keneshes (councils) of the deputies – by proportional system: the right of candidates’ nomination belongs to the political parties. The

number of candidates from one party shall be no less than by half of the deputies’ seats determined for this local kenesh66

. In this, there is also a

quota system for women, ethnic groups and youth. Moreover, here..

2. To ayil keneshes – by majority system: the right of candidates’ nomination belongs to the political parties, and to the citizens by self-nomiation.

Herewith, the number of the candidates nominated by one party shall not exceed the number of the fixed mandates.

On March 27, 2016 the elections on a local level were held in six major cities of Kyrgyzstan and 21 ayil aimak at 199 ballot stations. This electoral

campaign has covered several target communities of the project (Tokmok, Karakol, and Osh cities).

Considering that the elections on March 27 were held only in the given cities and ayils, with their coming up the Government did not carry out wide-

scale publicity and awareness of the citizens on the coming elections. As a result, not all citizens in the districts (where the local elections were

nominated) were aware of the fact that they would have to participate in polling again at the end of March67

.

In the observers’ opinion, these elections as compared to the preceding elections in 2012 were held in a more calm and unstressed situation in spite of

high level of political competition68

. According to the experts’ estimates, the application of new technologies as they were applied at the

parliamentary elections that were held in 2015 allowed to accept the results of the local elections with the sufficient level of trust that significantly

decreased conflict potential on the part of political parties and candidates. Complaints to the election commissions related to incompletely developed

technical procedures.

66

It should be noted that the electoral pledge is set for the participation in the election deputies of the local keneshes: in Bishkek and Osh, the amount of pledge comprises KGS

50,000, in the other cities – KGS 20,000. It is returned to the party after the elections are held, if there was a vote in favor of the party’s list with no less than 15 percent of votes

cast. The remaining amount of plede is used by the CEC by its target purpose for preparation and holding of elections, improvement of electoral system. 67

Materials of Coalition for civil society and democracy. http://coalition.kg/images/news/ 68

The social and political situation, in a whole, remained calm. However, the election experts noted: 1) escalation to the southward of the country in March 2016, which is

connected with the showing of military equipment in the frontier zone and military persons on the part of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. It prompted jitters among the local residents.

After the negotiations, military equipment and military persons have been withdrawn from the Kyrgyz-Uzbek state frontier in the territory of Chalasart of Aksyi region of Zhalal-

Abad oblast; 2) tensions, arisen due to the intent of the opposition to carry out protests also in the south of the country in March 2016. Subsequently, the opposition rescheduled the

date of the major kurultai for an indefinite period before the situation regarding near-border issues would be resolved.

15

However, in spite of the changes for the better during the ballot organization, many issues regarding bribery of voters were arisen: “if earlier faithless

candidates bribed the election commissions, at this time they began bribing the electors themselves on a massive scale”. In addition, there were cases

of the candidates’ order change in the lists of candidates of the political parties, as it also was observed in the parliamentary elections. This concerned

the women-candidates, as well. If during the women candidates’ recruitment their ethnic belonging to the minorities was an advantage according to

the requirements of quotas’ observance, this factor became an obstacle to get a mandate after the elections. Although there were less efforts to appeal

the change of their order in the list on the part of the candidates.

On December 11, 2016, the national elections to the local keneshes were held in 22 city and 384 village keneshes. The peculiarity of this election

campaign lied in the fact that it was combined with the holding of a nation-wide referendum on the introduction of amendments to the Constitution

(in this connection, the campaign was postponed from autumn, as it was planned earlier, to the winter period).

The high level of activity during registration of candidates in the regions was observed69

. The parties, foremost, complied with the law regarding the

representation in the lists of the different social groups. For example, the party lists of the candidates for the deputies to the city keneshes was from

15% to 26% of the representatives of ethnic minorities. Women’s representation in the party lists was also high - from 20 % to 30 %70

.

The share of women in the composition of the canddiates for the deputies of ayil keneshes were lower and, on the average, did not exceed 14 %.

Although there were examples of the territories, where a relatively high level - to 30 % of the women’s representations in the composition of the

candidates for the deputies was observed. However, in spite of the women activity, the end results for them turned out to be unsatisfactory71

. The

total share of elected women in ayil keneshes in December 2016 comprised 10% in total (by 3% lower than in the elections in 2012). The number of

ayil keneshes without the women deputies was also increased72

.

69

For details refer to the Results of long-term observation for the preparation to the referendum and elections of the deputies of the local keneshes of KR made on December 11,

2016 http://coalition.kg/images/news/pdf/2016/Предварительный%20отчет%20Коалиции122016.pdf 70

ibid 71

For example, no one woman was elected in Kamyshanovski village district (Chui oblast) in spite of the fact that the women’s representation in the candidates’ composition was

one of the highest around the country (25.8%). The materials of ARWEE project (Centre for gender researches ) 72

For details refer to the Results of deputies’ elections of the local keneshes 2012 and 2016 from gender’s perspective (based on the Provisions of CECК). Z. Kochorbaeva, NGO

“Social technologies agency”.

16

The results of the elections focused the issue strengthening the special measures on women support, which up to now had been repeatedly brought by

the public organizations, women deputies. A number of meetings and discussions and, in particular, the first forum of women deputies of the local

councils, which were held in January 2017, were devoted to this topic.73

73

For details refer to http://kg.one.un.org/content/unct/kyrgyzstan/ru/home/news/kg-news/2017/first-forum-of-women-deputies-of-local-councils-calls-for-introd.html

17

References:

G. Kolsarieva. Final analytical report on the Project’s results in the target communities and grant projects (projects’ assessments indicators).

December 2016

Report of the PF “Open line” for the preparation and creation of info-materials, creation of style and logotype of a campaign and video

materials (web quest), including printed materials for the promotion of public campaign in the pilot target populated areas. Dated 5.12.2015.

Women’s support centre. Final narrative report. Project “Organization and carrying out of training programs (schools of leadership) for the

women candidates”, dated 19.12.2016

Rural women’s association “Alga” Interim report of carrying out the public-awarness campaign with confirmation-certificates on the carried

out events according to the approved detailed plan of implementation attaching all materials elaborated within the frames of the project and

project publications in Mass Media. December 2015

Gender rating of the political parties of Kyrgyzstan. Review of 6 issues of August 2015 - October 2016 /edited by Z. I. Kochorbaeva - B.

2016

Coalition for democracy and civil society. Preliminary report. According to the results of prescheduled observation for the preaparation to

referendum and elections of the deputies of the local councils of the Kyrgyz Republic, which were scheduled on December 11, 2016. Click

the link http://coalition.kg/images/news/pdf/2016/Предварительный%20отчет%20Коалиции122016.pdf

OSCE election observation mission Kyrgyz Republic Parliamentary elections, October 4, 2015. Interim report.

Parliamentary elections, October 4, 2015. Final report of OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission

Reports of UNICEF partners: Report of IDEA CA on the results of the evaluation, Nov., 2015; IDEA CA, Evaluation of the Project’s Impact,

July, 2016; Progress reports 2015-2016 (IDEA CA); Programme progress/final reports 2015-2016 (Youth of Osh)