The Central Asia Outreach Initiative on raising awareness

The Alliance of Central Asian Mountain Communities (Kyrgyzstan),
CAMP Kuhiston (Tajikistan)
EcoForum (Uzbekistan)

Mid-Term Report
The Central Asia Outreach Initiative on raising awareness
on Sustainable Mountain Development agenda


September,2009

Table of Content:
I. Project Summary
II. Project Partners
III. Activities at country level (Kyrgyzstan/Uzbekistan/Tajikistan)
IV. List of Papers in e-version
V. List of websites/links hosting the bi-lingual versions of the papers
VI. Project Outputs and Feedbacks
VII. Immediate Actions to be undertaken

Abbreviations:

AGOCA- The Alliance of Central Asian Mountain Communities
SDC- Swiss Development Cooperation Agency
MP-Mountain Partnership
ICIMOD- International Center for Integrated Mountain Development
PF-Public Foundation

I. Program Summary

The Central Asia Outreach Initiative on Sustainable Mountain Development was launched in July, 2009 by Central Asia based Mountain Partnership members: AGOCA (Kyrgyzstan); Eco-Forum (Uzbekistan) and CAMP Kuhiston (Tajikistan) with support from Mountain Partnership Asia Pacific Decentralized Hub (MPS-APDH) located at the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).
The main purpose of the outreach initiative is to join the efforts in raising awareness of Central Asian public and inform the policy makers on the role of mountains; challenges the mountain regions and communities face, adaptations of people to the changes in mountain ecosystem. The project brings the experts from ICIMOD specialized in knowledge sharing and learning on mountains, a hosting institution for MPS APDH for linking their work to Central Asia by offering the bi-lingual platform and tools.
When needed, the local languages (Kyrgyz/Tajik/Uzbek languages) will be used for wider dissemination of info and effective communication with rural population in Central Asia.

II. Project Partners

AGOCA, Eco-Forum and CAMP Kuhiston: Project implementation
Mountain Partnership Asia Pacific Decentralized Hub: Funding support and technical guidance
International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD): Expertise and content (papers; staff time)
Swiss Development Cooperation Agency: Financial support
PF. CAMP Alatoo: Logistical support

III. List of Activities undertaken to date

Kyrgyzstan

Radio Broadcasting:
BC 1. Intro of the Project and Partners; June29, 2009 National Radio
BC 2. Project info; July, 13, 2009 National Radio
BC 3. Articles from ICIMOD Staff: Dr. Jodha’s paper; July 27, 2009 National Radio
BC 4.Climate change and eco-health; Aug 10, 2009 National Radio
BC 5.Mountain Livelihoods: local governance; Aug 24, 2009 National Radio

Newspaper:
A1. Intro of the Project and Partners; July, Aug 2009 Ayil-Ajary

Uzbekistan

Radio Broadcasting:
BC 1. Intro of the project and partners; Aug, 2009 Uzbekistan FM 103,1
BC 2. Continuation; Aug ,2009 Dustlik, 7,8

Newspaper:
A1. Project and Partners Intro; July 02, 2009 Novy Vek, issue # 27
A2. The Changing Himalayas, by Mats Ericsson; Aug, 2009
A3. Glaciers, Glacial Lakes & Glacial Lake t Floods in the Himalaya (Rus); Outburs Ovozi Tochik, issue # 74


Tajikistan

Radio Broadcasting:
BC 1. Who to blame for changing climate; June 2, 2009 Radio Sadoi Dushanbe
BC 2. Ecological Security; Jul 08, 2009 Radio Sadoi Dushanbe
BC 3. Climate change and eco-health; and Jul 20, 2009 Radio Sadoi Dushanbe
BC 4. Disaster Risk Preparedness: role of local knowledge; Aug 08, 2009 Radio Sadoi Dushanbe

Newspaper:
A1. Security emphasis on environmental state; June 25, 2009 Vecherniy Dushanbe
A2. Forum on ‘Labor Migration in Central Asia–Facing challenges and opportunities Aug 6, 2009 Vecherniy Dushanbe

IV. List of Papers (bilingual versions)

A bi-lingual Blog dedicated to the joint initiative was developed by the MP members and maintained by the AGOCA (Kyrgyzstan): http://ca-dialog.blogspot.com/
For the reporting period the blog hosts bi-lingual versions of papers by following ICIMOD Staff:
1. Glaciers, Glacial Lakes and Glacial Lake Outburst Floods in the Himalaya, by Pradeep K. Mool (Engl+Rus)
2. Indigenous Knowledge for Disaster Risk Reduction, by Julie Dickens (Engl+Rus)
3. The Changing Himalayas, by Mats Eriksson (Engl+Rus)
4. Mountain Perspective and Sustainability: a Framework for Development Strategies , by N.S. Jodha (Engl+Rus)
5. Sustainable mountain development and the law, by Elisa Morgera (Engl+Rus)

V. List of websites hosting the full versions of the ICIMOD Staff Articles translated into Russian:
1. www.caresd.net
2. www.camp.kg
3. http://ca-dialog.blogspot.com/
4. http://ecoforum.uz/

VI. Outputs and Feedbacks

For the reporting period the activities were directed towards establishing the dialogue and info exchange platform for Central Asian public from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and experts from Hindu Kush Himalaya region. The bi-lingual blog was widely publicized in three countries and SMS messages; phone calls were received in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan from rural communities. The interview was taken from Dr. Jodha at ICIMOD on July 17, 2009 by Ms. Gulzada Ilipbaeva, Secretary AGOCA to respond to the queries of readers on his paper on Mountain specificities.
VII. Immediate actions to be undertaken with the 2nd installment:
- upload the digital versions of all the radio programs from 3 countries
- continue preparing/broadcasting/publishing for full coverage of 4 papers from ICIMOD
- updating by each country on the feedbacks/SMS messages/calls received
- schedule the interviews with other paper contributors
- logistics: rotation of the project coordination