Civil society, social capital and development in Central Asia

ABSTRACT

There is a paradox of social capital in Central Asia. Despite the efforts of the international community to promote civil society in the region, Central Asia has one of the most restrictive environments for associational life. Accordingly, the main goal of this paper is to change discourses about civil society in Central Asia and call for more research on the impact of social capital on development outcomes. Development efforts should recognize that besides non-governmental organisations, other networks and associated norms of reciprocity can foster positive social capital for the transformation of the region.

KEYWORDS:

• civil society
• Central Asia
• social capital
• development
• Kyrgyzstan

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who has been instrumental in the evolution of the concept paper into a fully developed journal article. However, I want to extend a special thank you to Dr Bohdan Krawchenko of the University of Central Asia, who was pivotal in introducing me to the concept of social capital. Your guidance has been invaluable in shaping the trajectory of this work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 This fieldwork trip was funded by the joint research project ‘JSPD Joint Covid Call – Comparative Research on Pastoral Societies in Post-Covid 19 Inner Asian Countries (PPIA)’ involving the University of Oxford, Kagoshima University, University of Central Asia and National University of Mongolia. A team from the University of Central Asia (Zalina Enikeeva and Kanyshai Makeshova) was commissioned to gain insights into the lives of people in the southern region of Kyrgyzstan.

2 For more information about GALS and BALI, see https://kyrgyzstan.un.org/sites/default/files/2021-02/GALS%20manual_ENG_SEP2020.pdf

3 The University of Central Asia team, led by Altynai Achilova, conducted a qualitative study on the implementation of GALS/BALI in Kyrgyzstan in February 2021. This study was conducted within the framework of the Joint Programme Accelerating Progress towards Rural Women Economic Empowerment (JP RWEE). The primary objectives of the study were to understand and assess the impact of GALS and BALI/GALS tools on women’s empowerment in rural Kyrgyzstan.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the UK's Economic and Social Research Council under grant ES/W011999/1.