For a better tomorrow for all Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Kyrgyz Republic Newsletter № 38 (August-September, 2008)

1. Our Events

Kyrgyzstan Will Always Remain in My Heart!

In August 2008 Charge D’Affairs of Japan in Kyr- gyzstan, Mr. Tatsuhiko Kasai, completed his work in our country and departed to Japan. We have asked several questions from Mr. Kasai before his departure:

M.D. – Mr. Kasai, you are leaving where you have spent over three years. What would you like to wish to Kyrgyzstan?

Mr. Kasai: I love Kyrgyzstan, I especially like its na- ture. Kyrgyzstan is a remarkable country and it has Mr. Kasai, Charge D’Affairs of Japan, the Kyrgyz Republic, a huge capacity for development, for which proper May, 2005 – August, 2008 governance and management are needed. I wish success and prosperity to the country.

M.D. – What is your opinion about the current situation in the country (frequent power outage and pessimistic forecasts for winter)?

Mr. Kasai: Being in my house I every day feel the energy crisis as SeverEnergo switches off the electricity very often. This crisis is connected with the world tendency however if the en- ergy company is properly managed the impact of the world crisis can be facilitated. I hope that proper management will take place in your country and you will overcome this crisis.

M.D. – You have spent three years in Kyrgyztsan – what moments of your stay here do you remember the most?

Mr. Kasai: I guess when I have been outside… My flight on paraglider…Snowboarding… dur- ing these moments I felt the beauty of Kyrgyzstan’s nature and it was a feeling of a desire to be here forever.. But when you come back to the city… you basically come back to the real- ity… no power… crisis… Being an economist I have a big chance to use my knowledge for establishing good govern- ance in Kyrgyzstan. During my mission the country has experienced economic and political problems and I couldn’t fully use my knowledge for improvement of social and economic situa- tion in the country. I hope that I will come back and will be able to use my knowledge in full for improving the lives of the Kyrgyz people. Moreover, I will still continue working for the benefit of Kyrgyzstan as a member of European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (Interview taken by M.D.).

P.S. The interview was held in Russian as Kasai-San speaks Russian fluently.

JICA Kyrgyz Channel – August-, 2008 1 To Gain Experience in the Country of Rising Sun!

On August 25, 2008 feedback seminar of the visit to Ja- pan and by three leaders of Disabled Peoples’ Organizations took place in the National IT Center. The participants were Mr. Alexander Dubina, “DAO”, Tokmok town; Ms. Gulmira Kazakunova, Union of Disabled “Ravenstvo”, Karakol City; Ms. Ukei Muratalieva, Asso- ciation of Parents of Disabled Children, Bishkek City.

From July 5, till August 4, 2008 three disabled persons, delegates of the Kyrgyz Republic visited Japan and

Gulmira Kazakunova, the leader of Union of Disabled “Ravenstvo”, Pakistan to participate in trainings organized by the Ja- Karakol City, one of the Participants of the Training pan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). These training courses are a part of the Project on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities into the Society of the Kyrgyz Republic implemented by the Ministry of Labor and Social Development of the Kyrgyz Republic jointly with JICA.

During the meeting the participants shared their experience and impressions about the training, how persons with disabilities in Japan organized themselves to uplift their living. The participants especially noted impressive visit to Independent Living Centers where disabled people are trained to manage their life using personal attendants. Persons with Disabilities are not recipients of ser- vices but users or consumers. “There are myriad of laws on support of disabled people in Japan”, - Gulmira Kazakunova says. “For instance the law on accessibility pursuant to which all new build- ings, transport and infrastructure in Japan is made accessible for persons with disabilities”. “We could not feel as disabled in the Country of Rising Sun” Alexander Dubina says, “All three of us were provided with electric wheelchairs which run by battery and we moved exclusively on these wheel-chairs. This was done so that we could in practice feel the accessibility of Japanese infrastructure for persons with disabilities”. An article of one of the participants of the training, Mr. Alexander Dubina about the visit to Japan and Pakistan can be found below in E-Alumni Associa- tion Column (M.D.)

Development of Eco-Toursim in Jety-Oguz Rayon

Project on Activization of Local Community of Tamga Village Through Development of Eco- Tourism has been completed. The background of the Project is of particular interest. It starts from Ja- pan, from Tokyo City, visited by the head of the ini- tiative group, Ms. Banur Abdieva. It is in Tokyo City where the Project has been discussed and devel- oped and where Tamga village has been selected as a pilot village. For the Project purposes a map of Tamga village has been drawn reflecting all its places of interest. It turned out that the history of Tamga village has close connection with Japanese people, as surprising it may sound. Medical block of Tamga military sanatorium was built by Japanese

Mr.Miyano with participants of the trainings on touristic products investigation prisoners of war during 1946-1948 period of the in Jety – Oguz rayon Great Patriotic War. During the Project implementation the initiative group was formed. The first step was to develop and publish a guide on Jety-Oguz district. Students of Issyk-Kul State University (ISU) after K. Tynystanov were involved in surveying the location and preparing the materials. The guide was published in seven languages of the world, notably, English, Kyrgyz, Russian, Japanese, French, German and Spanish. The next step was to conduct training for study the tourist products of the

JICA Kyrgyz Channel – August-, 2008 2 area. Representatives of the tourist sector, in par- ticular, guest houses, tourist information centers, association of guides and porters, tourist firms, as well as representatives of local authorities, NGOs, students of ISU and trainers took part in the training. Members of the initiative group, the head of Leader NGO, Ms. Banur Abdieva and head of Tourism Chair of ISU, Ms. Sagyntai kyzy Elvira organized the training. The goal of the training was to present basics of eco-tourism with direct involvement of the local community. During the training the participants had a chance to meet tourists from Japan. A special

Participants of International Volunteers Camp Tamchi village during trainings moment was a meeting with Mr. Miyano who was 19 years of age when he was taken as prisoner by So- viet soldiers during the war and who took part in construction of the medical block of Tamga sana- torium. Mr. Miyano shared his memories with the young people and participants of the training. Mr. Nagasawa, a journalist, who is working in the Japanese University, was also among the participants of the training. He was curious to learn about the Project’s plan and presented his opinions in the capacity of tourist services user. He, in particular, noted that it is very important for Japanese people that the guide speaks Japanese; that the villages have elementary comfort such as clean public toilets. The next stage of the Project was to organize international volunteer camp at the Issyk-Kul Lake in Tamga village in August 2008. During the stay in the camp the volunteers from different countries of the world cleaned the beach, helped the private companies in organizing tours, helped the rural council in promoting the eco-tourism and the ideas of environmental protection. During stay in the camp eco-tourism training courses were held in Orgochor district museum and Jety-Oguz resort. The volunteers took part in setting the “yurta” in village and were involved in preparing tracks in Barskoon and Tamga gorges. At the final stage of the Project banners, indicating directions and information about Jety-Oguz have been prepared, as well as booklets containing information about Jety-Oguz, Barskoon and Tamga gorges in two languages. Multitude of events and activities aimed at promotion of eco-tourism in Tamga village, in particular and in Jety-Oguz district, in general have been carried out during the short term of the Project. (Sagyntai kyzy E., member of the initiative group, Head of the Tourism Chair, ISU)

Inauguration of karakol Student Research Shop ‘Issyk – Kul Brand”

The official Opening Ceremony of “Issyk-Kul BRAND” was held on the 9th of September 2008. Over 80 participants celebrated the inauguration of this new kind of shop.

Karakol Student Research Shop (KSRS) called “Issyk-Kul BRAND” was established in the framework of Community Empowerment Project in the Issyk-Kul Oblast (J-CEP), which has been implemented by the Issyk-Kul Oblast State Ad- ministration in cooperation with Japan Interna- tional Cooperation Agency (JICA) since January 2007. The shop is located on the ground floor of the Institute of Economy and Management, shar- ing the premises with the Tourist Information Cen- Tape cut of Karakol Student Research Shop Opening ter, under the joint auspices of the Issyk-Kul State University.

JICA Kyrgyz Channel – August-, 2008 3 “Issyk-Kul BRAND” (KSRS) aims at promo- tion of Issyk-Kul local products to the national and international markets by applying One Village One Product (OVOP) Movement, which is a strategic movement designed spe- cifically for regional development and has generated many successful regional devel- opment in Japan. The movement is now practiced in many other countries. The prod- ucts introduced and sold at the shop are ex- clusively those that are produced by local community based groups (J-CEP pilots) and producers from the Issyk-Kul Oblast.

The following products were lined up at the opening: Herbal Soap by CBO Uzdar, The products of J-CEP Project, Sea buckthorn Jam by jaamat “Adilet”, Jerdez village, Ak- suu rayon Maman Village, Ak-Suu Rayon;Sea Buck- thorn Jam by CBO Adilet, Jergez Village, Ak-Suu Rayon;Barberry Jam by CBO Bereke, Chon- Kyzyl-Suu Village, Jety-Oguz Rayon;Dry Apples and Pears by CBO Shirin, Saruu Village, Jeti- Oguz Rayon;Apricot Juice by local producer Oregon, Barskoon Village, Jety-Oguz Rayon;Honey and Honey Products by local producer Tentrium Plus, Karakol; andFelt Handicrafts by local pro- ducers Belek and Saima, Karakol.

The ceremony started with his speech of Mr. Alyshbaev, the First Vice Governor, who is the J-CEP Project Director, followed by speeches by Ms. Guljan Suyunalieva from JICA Kyrgyz Republic Of- fice who delivered his message of Mr. Maruyama, the JICA Resident Representative, by Ms. Sagyntai kyzy Elvira, Head of the Science and International Affairs Department, Issyk-Kul State University, by Mr. Nasridin Shamshiev, Head of Regional Policy Department, Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, and Mr. Ishizuka, J-CEP JICA Expert Team Leader.Mr. Alyshbaev re- marked in his speech that the shop is a result of mutual understanding and collaboration of the Is- syk-Kul State Oblast Administration, JICA and the Institute of Economy and Management. He also stated his prospects of what the shop would bring to the Issyk-Kul Oblast if the stakeholders put efforts to support and make it work.

Mr. Ishizuka briefed on the missions of the shop, which were 1) Marketing Research on the prod- ucts introduced at Issyk-Kul BRAND; 2) Creation of New Mechanism for marketing of Issyk-Kul BRAND products; and 3) Sales of the products. He also noted the synergy to be brought to the Tourist Information Center and the Issyk-Kul BRAND.

Representatives of the J-CEP pilot and partner jamaats gave a short presentation on their products and experiences with J-CEP. Mr. Galiev, the director of Agro-Processing Association also gave remarks on the impact that the shop would bring to the local producers. Then the tape was cut to open the shop by Mr. Alyshbaev, Ms. Suyunalieva, Mr. Shamshiev, Mr. Ishizuka, and Mr. Rysku- lov, Director of Institute of Economy and Management, Issyk-Kul State University.

All the participants were led to enter the shop, where Student Volunteers explained the visitors about the products, gave samples for tasting, and assisted shopping. Young volunteers, most of whom are students of the Issyk-Kul State University, assisted visitors and customers at the shop. They also assisted in a survey on products which is expected to give the producers valuable feed- back to improve their products more marketable.

The volunteers participated in OJT at the temporarily opened shop in August as well as seminars to learn about OVOP Movement, bookkeeping, inventory, marketing research, customer services, PR and advertisement. All the participants including the Jamaat members and Student Volunteers expressed excitement of having this kind of shop in Karakol and promised their cooperation and support to develop this new mechanism work for the whole Oblast.

JICA Kyrgyz Channel – August-, 2008 4 2. Japanese Volunteers

We are 32 now and it is not it!

A number of Japanese volunteers working in our country is increasing every year. This summer we have stepped over “the border line”. Today there are 30 volunteers from the Country of Rising Sun work- ing in Kyrgyzstan and we hope that this is not it. We anticipate that in the nearest future their number will double. In July 2008 three fragile girls, Ueda Yuka, Baba Kaori and Morisaki Chika have arrived in our country. Ueda-san started working as labor therapist in the Pathology and Perinatal Life Unit of the National Center for Protection of Motherhood and Childhood.

Work with disabled children is very difficult yet de- Baba Kaori, Ueda Yuka and Morsaki Chika with Teacher spite the difficulties to be faced, Ueda-san started her work with great enthusiasm. She has been working with such children in Japan; she knows the specifics of the work and have a very rich ex- perience.

Bishkek Humanities University closely cooperates with Japanese Agency for International Coop- eration in terms of hosting volunteers – teachers of Japanese language. The University offers pro- gram of Japanese studies specialists. Students are very interested in attending classes of Japa- nese teachers and really enjoy them. Each class is not like another. Baba-san has already joined the faculty of the University and started teaching.

Morisaki Chika moved outside Bishkek City to the Issyk-Kul region: to work in Jety-Oguz district education department. Her work is quite interesting as children from the district center, like any other children, are very curious. For sure they will not give Morisaki-san to be bored. Nobody will remain indifferent in our rural area to music classes and introduction to the culture and tradition of Japan.

We would like to wish success to our volunteers in their difficult work for the benefit of Kyrgyzstan. (A.I.).

3. E-Alumni Association Column

I wish you could be there!

It is exactly this way I start my meetings with disabled people and NGOs. This is my baggage of experience, impressions, pictures, and stories that I brought from the Country of Rising Sun and unpredictable and brightly colored Pakistan. We could not feel ourselves as invalid or as it is fashionable to say as disabled over the time of our stay.

I would like to thank the organizers of our course for well-structured and tested in practice program, during which we had a possibility to “touch everything with our own hands” and to Participants of the Training with their new Japanese friend in Tokio personally feel “advantages and disadvantages” of a life of a disabled person and organizations working for such people. We have been provided with electric wheelchairs, which facilitated our

JICA Kyrgyz Channel – August-, 2008 5 transportation in the city. In order not to have language barrier we also were kindly provided with an interpreter who was a remarkable linguist and managed to make understandable all subtleties and complexities of language specifics for both parties. Organization of the training in training cen- ter (TIC) made us feel comfortable during the training even despite the earthquake that happened during our visit. We had everything: totally equipped classrooms, Internet center, recreation rooms, gyms, perfectly organized catering for participants where the whole palette of the world cuisine was offered. New acquaintances and communication with other participants representing different countries of the world living in the same Center have also been of great benefit. Organization of municipal services’ work and solution of transportation problem under urban conditions should be mentioned. We have also understood the attitude of “healthy” people toward the disabled people as this is usually one of the major problems, i.e. the environment and loyal attitude though we noted a huge aspiration toward inde- pendence among the disabled Japanese. I should admit that it was not easy to break the stereotypes and standards that we have got used to in our work and it was not easy to understand the way our Japanese col- leagues work. We noted substantial differences in the ap- proach to work with disabled people both from the side of the state and in the work of non-governmental sector. We have been familiarized with the work of giants of the Japanese movement, joining the Japan Disability Forum (JDF), we Alexander Dubina wearing Samurai dress learned about the history of initiation of forum of disabled people, its goals and objectives; the work of the committee on promotion of UN Convention on Rights of Disabled People; “basic plan of disabled people”; im- provement of legislation relating to rights and discrimination of disabled people; and international affairs issues.

We paid our attention to the large scale of activities carried out by these organizations, we saw the processes of replication, recording of the required information on various carriers and interpretation them into Braille, as well as national newspapers and huge libraries having video materials and books for blind people and people with poor eyesight. It was understandable that cultural leisure and flows of various information are easily accessible by any groups of disabled people. We were pleasantly surprised with the development of technical capacity of different modifications starting from light signals for deaf and mute ending with devices helping blind and people with poor eye- sight. We were pleased with achievements of the Japanese Federation of Deaf and Mute that pushed adoption of a new law empowering the persons with poor hearing to become a full-pledged participant of the traffic movement.

The large scale work of departments of all the federations impressed us: that is the care about young people, women, elderly people, as well as sports activities and international policy, labor relations, increase of welfare and culture, publishing activities.

One of the brightest moments of the visit was the visit to the Japan Council on Independent Living Centers (JIL). Everything that the representatives of the Independent Living Centers (ILC) showed and told us was a real discovery for us. Activities of the ILC, personal and system-based protection of rights covers many spheres: psychological consultation, study of independent living, and search for lodging, use of social resources. Very important component is the program of “Peer Counsel- ing”, which in a broader sense means sharing of experience and information by Counselors taking into consideration their personal involvement in the issue.

JICA Kyrgyz Channel – August-, 2008 6

Participants from Kyrgyzstan: Gulmira Kazakunova, Ukey Muratalieva and Alexandr Dubina visiting Independent Living Center in Japan

We got acquainted and took part in the “Peer Counseling” activity and also visited houses of se- verely disabled people, who have independent living rather successfully against to common opin- ion. No doubt this is a big victory of the organization network, it I would like to note the internal ca- pacity of the disabled people who refused wardship of their family members and have independent living, make plans for their future, have hobbies, use computers and etc., thus evoking admiration.

An important element in the work of these organizations is spread of experience and rendering as- sistance to establish identical organizations not only in their country but also in various countries of the Asia - Pacific.

We were greatly impressed while visiting the organizations of persons with psychiatric and intellec- tual disability. Intellectual retardation” and “psychic retardation” are the terminology that offers ob- scure imagination about the person in our minds. However what we had witnessed there made us strongly to refuse use of such terminology. The labor of intellectually disabled people brings real and tangible benefit to the local community and demanded which inspire the disabled persons be the part of the same community. Also we did not only witness but became participant of the dis- abled people meeting in front of the building of the Ministry of Labor, Health and Welfare.

The time has come to plunge into the cultural part of the program, history of the country and get acquainted with the activity of the disability organizations network in an ancient Osaka City. We moved by high-speed train, in a separate compartment for disabled people to destination station. This part of our trip was scheduled for home stay in the families of disabled people and for com- munication with them. Japanese colleagues, we should give credit for them, have developed a very good glossary with the help of which we could tell and show our own achievements.

“Muchu” Center is a center where dreams of many disabled people come true. The Center’s con- cept is as follows: “You are not alone; there are friends with whom you will manage everything in a reliable, friendly and nice manner”. I consider that mutual understanding was achieved and the bridge of friendship was built. Our pictures feature all the stages of cultural program, starting from traditional kimonos up to the samurai dress. We had a possibility to get acquainted with the family life and national traditions.

During our visit we could also share our ideas and experiences. As a result we had a very good feedback process. The activity on development and drafting of law, other disability issues devel- opment in our country caused real interest of our Japanese and Pakistan colleagues. Although the

JICA Kyrgyz Channel – August-, 2008 7 approaches to work do differ the goals remain the same, and therefore we can with confidence state that the training was mutually beneficial.

Stay in Pakistan

Our visit to the JICA Office in Pakistan and meaningful information about their work in this country demonstrated close partnership of these two countries. Pakistan welcomed us very friendly: neither hot weather nor unusually spicy food could shade our stay. For sure each country has its own specifics in terms of policy, mentality and other issues. However what had been started and done recently demonstrates that the changes are underway. As a result of CDSHOD necessary prerequisites for promo- tion of the disabled people interests to a high- grade level were already created. Trainings, visits of Japanese colleagues, support of the Participants of the Training in Pakistan World Bank favorably influence on the work of “Milestone” organizations network. We got familiar with the real work of the network, its publishing activities, and results of the projects on training of a large number of disabled people and assis- tants. All these cause enormous respect to the laborious efforts of this organization, more over there is an ambiguous attitude to the disabled people in the country due to the religion, solidarity of people, local traditions and attitude of the state. However thanks to the determination, leaders’ and other disabled persons’ confidence in their capacities all the difficulties will be overcome.

We have also visited other famous places such as historical city, Lahor. We have a possibility to see with our own eyes unpredictable movement of vehicles in the city, tropical rain when during one hour the city was flooded by the water flows. We went sight-seeing, visited medical institutions and prosthesis workshops. Our visited to the Zoo was a combination of culture leisure and gaining of skills to overcome barriers. During our conversation with colleagues we received good advices on conduction of CDSHOD forum in our country.

Travel Notes prepared by Alexander Dubina, President of PF “DAO” for persons with disability of loco-motor system, one of the participants of the training course.

The goal of this Newsletter is to introduce activities of JICA to all interested persons, to place invitations for participation in programs, to promote friendly information exchange among graduates of JICA courses. The newsletter is dissemi- nated among persons interested in JICA’s activities in the Kyrgyz Republic. Regarding posting of the information in the Newsletter, as well as regarding general issues about JICA’s activities in the Kyrgyz Republic, please, refer to the follow- ing e-mail: [email protected] If you wish to subscribe for this Newsletter, please, send a message with the word “Subsrcibe” in the subject line to the following e-mail: [email protected]. If you do not wish to receive this Newsletter any longer, please, send a mes- sage with the word “Unsubscribe” in the subject line to the same email. Many thanks! Please be kindly informed that starting from April, 2008 JICA Kyrgyz Channel Newsletter will be published in English. If you would like to receive English version of the Newsletter, please, send a message with the words “Subscribe for Eng- lish” to the above e-mail.

JICA Kyrgyz Channel – August-, 2008 8