December, 7-10, 2007
Lucknow, India

Name:

Mrs Olga Djanaeva


Mrs Olga Djanaeva

Designation

Director

Organization/Institution

Alga

Country

Kyrgyzstan

   

Short Biography

Mrs Olga Djanaeva, is Director of Alga, an NGO in Kyrgyzstan. She has participated in various research work on energy sector, social mobilization, rural development, rural labor  resources, migration, women and violence, domestic violence, gender training, women's empowerment, womens' rights etc. She has participated in a number of seminars and workshops in different countries including India.

Presentation

Presentation:
RURAL WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP: OVERCOMING TRADITIONAL BARRIERS AND DISCRIMINATED CUSTOMS

NGO “Alga” is a voluntary public organization, which was founded in January 1995 by the initiative of the rural women of Kant region.

Mission of Alga is to improve rural women’s status and standards of living through stimulation of women’s awareness of realities and develop their capabilities for self – actualization, strengthening of the participation of rural women in development efforts and for the advocacy of their rights, development of empowering strategies and structures which promote the growth of economic and social status of women and communities.

For today Alga itself has grown considerably from a small informal group of volunteers in 1995, undertaking some activities promoting women’s rights in a few villages to a registered NGO, with a staff of 26 people of different disciplines with a continuously increasing variety of development activities to support women’s development in all its aspects in as many as 144 villages.

Alga aims to strengthen socio-economic and gender analysis capacities of women and communities at local level through using of participatory approaches, collection of gender disaggregated socio-economic information, appropriate trainings so that to make rural people to be able to better understand all the constraints and opportunities of the development process for the improvement of their social status and livelihoods. Alga was working for changing of women’s attitude to live, on enhancing of their capacities, leadership development and at the same time on the creation of favorable environment for women’s empowerment, advancement, recognition of their role and equal human rights and on development and strengthening of the relevant institutional and legislative mechanisms.

Alga provides a range of services, such as trainings, workshops, round tables and training of trainers and etc. Training courses had different duration and target groups, according to the specific objectives and needs. There is a collection of training modules; developed on the base of the Training centre. Other important activities were information provision, raising awareness on various issues among rural women, communities, stake holders, decision and policy-makers.

Alongside with education Alga provides practical support for improving of the economic and social status of rural women and to diminish isolation and social exclusion of vulnerable rural women and their families through widening access to resources such as micro credits, seeds funds, artificial insemination and through initiation of such projects like: access to pure drinking water, rehabilitation of the village infrastructure, creation of vocational courses, improvement of the conditions and quality of medical services, creation of community institutions for women support and protection, development a space for women’s leadership and activism, and etc.

Rural people, especially women do not have enough capacity or means to be heard at different levels of society. To change that, Alga made its input to development of the advocacy skills and to the facilitation of the process of organizing different advocacy campaigns, sharing knowledge, best practices and know-how through networking cooperation. Alga also continues to introduce some innovative social and economic technologies regarding key development issues such as gender equality, sustainable agriculture, and organic farming, sustainable livelihood opportunities. Alga also renders its assistance to develop and make available information and communication tools for rural women in order to strengthen their voices and possibility of being heard at all levels of society.

   

Organized by
World Movement for Global Democracy (WMGD)*
*an initiative of City Montessori School (CMS), Lucknow, India