Youth in Kyrgyzstan

MINISTRY OF LABOUR, MIGRATION AND YOUTH OF THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC Youth in Kyrgyzstan Bridging Tradition and Modernity Table of Contents 1. Introduction 5 2. Summary of the Main Findings 8 3. Values and Principles 16 4. Spare Time and Recreational Activities 21 5. Expectations for the Future 24 6. Family and Friends 29 7. Role Models and Gender Identity 36 8. Attitudes towards Politics 41 9. Religious Beliefs 46 10. Tolerance and Acceptance 50 11. Youth Work 52 4 YOUTH IN KYRGYZSTAN YOUTH IN KYRGYZSTAN 5 1. Introduction Background and research questions SINUS Markt- und Sozialforschung GmbH (Germany) in cooperation with the EL-PIKIR Centre of Public Opinion Looking at young people always means looking into the Study and Forecasting (Kyrgyzstan). future of a region as well. The members of the young generation are extremely sensitive observers of the In the frame of this study, the following questions were political, economic and cultural development of their to the fore: native countries, because they existentially depend on the chances for personal development. The occurrences §§ Which values are important to young Kyrgyz in their in Arab and southern European countries demonstrate lives? What are their benchmarks? how significant the voice of the young generation (cf. Chapter 3 “Values and Principles”) has become for (political) opinion making in a country. §§ What are they interested in? How do they spend Keeping this in mind, we have observed that youth stud- their free time? Which leisure time preferences do ies not only capture and characterise mentalities, value they have? orientations, political preferences and future prospects (cf. Chapter 4 “Spare Time and Recreational Activities”) of the young section of the population by means of empirical social and field research, but they also give §§ How do young people perceive the future? Which young people a “public voice” by introducing their hopes, expectations, fears and concerns do they self-assessment, self-concept and their view of societal entertain? What are their plans for the future? How contexts and interdependencies to a broad public. would they like to live? (cf. Chapter 5 “Expectations for the Future”) In no other age group can sociocultural change be detected as early and distinctly as it can among young §§ Which factors are important for the communitisa- people. Therefore, it is fascinating and illuminating tion of young Kyrgyz? In how far do they separate to know what makes young people tick. In order to and differentiate themselves from others? give insights into living environments of youth in (cf. Chapter 6 “Family and Friends”) Kyrgyzstan, the project “Prospects for Youth” has com- missioned the present qualitative youth study in Kyr- §§ Who are their role models? Who do they look up to? gyzstan at hand. The project that the Deutsche Gesell- Which pictures and ideals of the different genders schaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH do they have? What demands do they perceive, and implements on behalf of the German Federal Ministry how do they reflect on these normative concepts? for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) (cf. Chapter 7 “Role Models and Gender Identity”) and in cooperation with the Ministry of Labour, Migra- tion and Youth of the Kyrgyz Republic aims to build up §§ To what extent are they interested in political and sustainable youth work in Kyrgyzstan. The study should social issues/topics? What attitudes do they have provide an opportunity to consider better the attitudes, towards politics? How do they perceive politicians? wishes, needs and expectations of youth in the pro- (cf. Chapter 8 “Attitudes towards Politics”) ject and youth work. The study was conducted by the 6 YOUTH IN KYRGYZSTAN §§ How do young people assess religion(s) and beliefs? In the run-up to the interviews, all respondents were What influence does religion/one’s set of beliefs have asked to fill in a “diary” headed “That’s me – and that’s on everyday life? what I like!” This “diary” served two purposes: On the (cf. Chapter 9 “Religious Beliefs”) one hand, it acted as a source for insights into many aspects of young people’s everyday lives and, on the §§ How do young people perceive gender, sexual other hand, it helped reduce barriers or even skepticism orientation, handicapped people, homeless people, and fears on the part of the respondents (and their and other minorities? parents) prior to the interview. The “diary” comprised (cf. Chapter 10 “Tolerance and Acceptance”) questions that were easy to answer and which covered, for example, taste preferences or interests: §§ Are they politically or socially involved? If so, why, where and how exactly do they commit themselves? §§ What kind of music do you like to listen to? Which forms or structure do young people find §§ What do you like to watch on TV? appealing? §§ Which movies do you like to watch (at home, at (cf. Chapter 8 “Attitudes towards Politics”, Chapter 11 the movie theater)? “Youth Work”) §§ What do you like to read? §§ What do you like to eat? §§ What does youth work mean to young people and §§ What are the coolest things on earth for you? what expectations do they have? §§ Who are your role models? (cf. Chapter 11 “Youth Work”) §§ How would a day without a cell phone be? §§ How would a day without a computer be? Methodological design of the study To conclude the “diary” the respondents were asked to say something about the topic “This gives meaning The current study is based upon a combination of 56 to my life” and were invited to give free rein to their individual in-home everyday life explorations (lasting creativity: They could clip pictures or images from approximately one and a half hours each) and eight two- magazines, newspapers or the like, and paste them in hour focus groups consisting of a total of 64 participants. the diary; they could draw pictures or write down terms and thoughts. Individual explorations are particularly helpful to obtain deep insights into the everyday lives of the respondents To complete the picture of the private living environment and thus allow for a profound description and analysis a photographer took pictures of the respective homes of of them – especially if they are conducted in the home the respondents (provided they consented to it). These environment of the young people. This provides an photos constituted an important source of information authentic impression of practical everyday life contexts relating to self-perception and the everyday life aesthetics and the inclusion of, for example, spiritual needs and of these young people. practices. The interviews on hand were conducted as freely as possible, yet to make sure that all aspects of All interview partners were between 14 and 24 years old, interest were covered the interviewers used a prestruc- 50 per cent of them were male and 50 per cent female. tured topic guide when the possibilities of spontaneous The interviews took place in Bishkek and the greater answers were exhausted or single aspects weren’t men- Bishkek area, Karakol, Kyzyl-Suu, Naryn, Chaek, Osh and tioned and needed to be specifically addressed. Kurshab. Particular attention was paid to achieving an even distribution of urban and rural respondents as well as to an even age and gender distribution in the chosen sample areas. As to ethnicity, 41 young Kyrgyz, eight young Uzbeks, four young Russians and three members of other ethnicities were interviewed. YOUTH IN KYRGYZSTAN 7 KAZAKHSTAN Kara-Balta Bishkek Balykchy Karakol Lake Issyk-Kul Toktogul Kyzyl-Suu Chaek Naryn Kazarman Kara-Say UZBEKISTAN Jalal-Abad At-Bashy Kurshab Osh Kyzyl-Kiya CHINA Sary-Tash TAJIKISTAN All the focus groups consisted of eight participants (with The study was executed in close cooperation with a local at least one member of each group being of Russian or partner: the EL-PIKIR Centre of Public Opinion Study another ethnicity), and several creative techniques (e.g. and Forecasting, Bishkek. All interviews and focus groups collages) were applied to reveal (including subliminal) took place between October 2013 and January 2014. They opinions and attitudes. The focus groups were conducted were conducted by local interviewers and moderators of in Bishkek and recruited according to the following EL-PIKIR (native speakers of Kyrgyz, Russian and Uzbek) criteria: who at the outset of the study attended workshops on the techniques of individual everyday life explorations, narrative interviews and extended creativity groups 14 – 17 years 18 – 24 years including interview and focus group simulations, guided Male Urban 1 1 by the director and a senior researcher of the SINUS Institute. Informal settlements 1 1 Female Urban 1 1 Informal settlements 1 1 8 YOUTH IN KYRGYZSTAN 2. Summary of the Main Findings Within the context of the youth study, special attention §§ In many of the research issues young Kyrgyz shared was paid to differences between age groups (14–17-year- common values, attitudes, opinions and behavior olds and 18–24-year-olds), gender and youth from urban patterns. So we refrained from describing all the vs. rural areas. However, there were two points which surveyed aspects along all the subgroups and only needed to be taken into account: reported on emerging differences. §§ It is difficult to clearly distinguish and define a “pure” urbanite or a “pure” villager in Kyrgyzstan, especially Values and principles with a view to people living in Bishkek. Starting from the collapse of the Soviet Union (and especially To gain an understanding of young people’s mentalities, after the events of the tulip revolution in 2005), it is essential to know which values are important in several waves of internal migrants moved to (greater) their lives, what their benchmarks are, their basic orien- Bishkek. So in this study the assignment to the urban tations, their principles.

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