On the occasion of the 67th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, the Journalists and Writers Foundation co-organized 12 Parallel Events with 30 speakers from 12 countries, including Kyrgyzstan. One of the JWF CSW67 events was held in hybrid mode on March 11, 2023, in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in collaboration with UN Women Kyrgyzstan, UNDP Kyrgyzstan, Women Techmakers Bishkek, and Compass College as partners. 

The event titled “InnovaSHEon: Women’s Empowerment through Innovation and Technology” hosted various esteemed speakers reflecting on the CSW67’s priority theme: innovation and technological change, as well as education in the digital era, for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. The panel was divided into two sessions. The first part of the discussion was held in English, which was online at JWF`s YouTube channel as well and focused on intergovernmental expert panel discussions and engagements from a local to a global level. 

Priyanka Chahal, Program Associate and Youth Representative of the Journalists and Writers Foundation to the UN Department of Global Communications moderated the event. Ms. Chahal introduced the topic of the session and welcomed the Keynote Speaker, Victoria Mozgacheva, Vice-Mayor of Bishkek to speak on the government data reflecting on the status of women in the STEM field and information technology in Kyrgyzstan.

Vice-Mayor Mozgacheva said that the Kyrgyz government is currently working methodically to improve IT education at the school level and even at the preschool level. Ms. Mozgacheva also emphasized that 51 schools in Bishkek are working on the “Girls in Science”, a UNICEF-funded project. Within the scope of this collaboration, 168 girls in 11th grade were chosen from 81 schools in Kyrgyzstan. Out of 168 students, 105 joined higher education institutions in STEM fields at the end of the 2021–2022 school year.

Following the remarks of the Vice-Mayor of Bishkek, Ulziisuren Jamsran, the UN Women Representative for Kyrgyzstan took the floor and outlined the key outcomes of the central Asian countries consultation gathering on CSW67, which took place on February 28th and included participants from both the public and commercial sectors. Ulziisuren also spoke on the importance of digital literacy education and how it goes above and beyond in giving access to women and girls considering the country’s complexity and challenges. 

Farzana Abdilashimova, Spotlight Project Officer UN Women Kyrgyzstan, was given the floor after Ulziisuren’s address. Ms. Abdilashimova spoke about “GALS: Gender Action Learning System” a community-led empowerment methodology to encourage more harmonious and violence-free relationships in families and communities. Ms. Abdilashimova stated that innovation is a phenomenon that we do uniquely. It is not always about technology, but it can and usually does result in novel advancement. However, intangible innovation can be implemented in our daily lives. “Innovation is a state of thought,” said Ms. Abdilashimova. GALS is a community-led empowerment methodology created by Dr. Linda Mayoux, author of the GAME change family of empowerment methodologies, to promote more harmonious and violence-free relationships in families and communities. It aims to connect and create synergies among various groups of people in pursuit of a shared vision of promoting a harmonious life free of gender-based violence for women and girls within their families and communities.

Jenny Jenish Kyzy, Head of Experimentation at the UNDP Accelerator Lab Kyrgyzstan, commented on the status of women in STEM in Kyrgyzstan and the role of UNDP in implementing and supporting women in innovation and technology. She stated that UNDP Kyrgyzstan is actively working to promote women in STEM, such as by establishing a STEM Community by bringing stakeholders from various disciplines to one table for continuous exchange of practices. UNDP serves as an engagement facilitator, ensuring that all important stakeholders share ownership. To date, 32 STEM organizations have dedicated themselves to developing the STEM community in Kyrgyzstan through the regional UNDP and UNICEF platform STEM4ALL.

STEM role models are promoted by UNDP Kyrgyzstan through storytelling initiatives. UNDP aims to dispel myths and stereotypes about women in STEM and inspire women to follow their passions in these areas by highlighting the accomplishments of STEM role models. Jenish Kyzy Jenny acknowledged and said that “We hope to build a more diverse and inclusive STEM community in Kyrgyzstan through storytelling campaigns, where women and girls can realize their potential and have a positive influence on their neighborhoods and the wider world. We used the social network analysis method to create a mapping of the STEM stakeholders, which helped us find better collaboration possibilities to increase the impact of our work.” 

Ms. Jenny also discussed the three major issues that women in STEM face as the following: 

1. Low level of awareness among stakeholders about the importance of diversity in STEM leads to the limited participation of women and girls in STEM; 
2. Women and girls are not confident in their capabilities to excel in STEM; 
3. The gap between existing gender policies and their practical implementation is halting the progress of women’s participation in STEM.

Next, Talant Sultanov, Chair and Co-Founder of the Internet Society-Kyrgyz Chapter delivered his remarks. Mr. Sultanov discussed the difficulties of access to the internet and technology in remote regions. Especially after the pandemic, when remote communities with no internet connection went online and students in many rural areas were left without access to education. It has been discovered that several steps must be taken, particularly for Kyrgyz rural women, to empower them in STEM and innovation in terms of economic and employment development.

Next, Talant Sultanov, Chair and Co-Founder of the Internet Society-Kyrgyz Chapter delivered his remarks. Mr. Sultanov discussed the difficulties of access to the internet and technology in remote regions. Especially after the pandemic, when remote communities with no internet connection went online and students in many rural areas were left without access to education. It has been discovered that several steps must be taken, particularly for Kyrgyz rural women, to empower them in STEM and innovation in terms of economic and employment development.

After the conclusion of the first session at the JWF CSW67 hybrid event, the following panel on Interactive Expert discussions on contributions of civil Societies’ best practices and innovative solutions took place. The second panel was held in English, Russian, and Kyrgyz, with civil society specialists actively participating in the exchange of ideas which brought up significant outcomes.