Engaging Vulnerability

We are committed to solving the issue of unemployment of the vulnerable group of society and gave them the opportunity to self- fulfillment. We seek to empower people with disabilities, women, and adolescents to open up the path to self-realization, increase competitiveness in the labor market, and finally support their business ideas to implement them.

Project participants will be able to attend trainings on the theoretical and practical basics of social entrepreneurship, leadership, business planning, creating an organizational and strategic plan, as well as basic Internet promotion tools (SMM, marketing). The program also includes motivational meetings with talented entrepreneurs and participants will be completing on trainings including over a dozen self-awareness activities, exercises to increase emotional intelligence, and strengthening leadership abilities.

 Presented solutions tend to solve several complex problems: unemployment, illegal migration, family well-being, and appropriate psychological environment for children, usually in vulnerable society.

Labor market problems including employment of people with disabilities in the Kyrgyz Republic are among the most important. 176 thousand people with disabilities live in Kyrgyzstan and the labor market situation for people with disabilities can be characterized as unfavorable. According to various estimates, from 80 up to 85% of people with disabilities of working age are unemployed and ousted from the labor market. Government policy on people with disabilities is mainly focused on the payment of benefits and compensation, and not on ensuring the availability of employment job creation, infrastructure adaptation.

 According to people with disabilities, employers from the private sector do not show interest in hiring people with disabilities, as they reasonably consider their work less productive and more expensive than the labor of relatively healthy workers. Additionally, among unemployed, there are more women, than men, so in 2017 the gender ratio in the registered labor market was 50.9% of women and 49.1% of men, the problem of female employment also is one of the main problems characterizing the state of the modern labor market. So, in our opinion, the most effective way to employ unemployed is to promote the development of small and medium enterprises.

As an initial component of the «Empowering Marginalized» concept solution, we aim to prepare our beneficiaries (vulnerable groups of women, people with disabilities) to prepare, develop, and realize their business projects. Selected 20 participants will be able to attend training on the theoretical and practical basics of social entrepreneurship, leadership, business planning, creating an organizational and strategic plan, as well as basic Internet promotion tools (SMM, marketing). The program also includes motivational meetings with talented entrepreneurs and participants will be completing on training including over a dozen self-awareness activities, exercises to increase emotional intelligence, and strengthening leadership abilities.

After completing the first stage, all 20 participants will start to prepare their business projects. The commission will be organized to select the 10 best business ideas, which will get further support in the form of small grants or equipment purchases.

Further processes of the startups will be regularly monitored and evaluated by the EFCA’s M&E Specialists. The objective achieved through the organization of workshops, training, as well as consultations and accompaniment of experts and consultants in the field, not only for the duration of the program but also after its completion for the sustainability of launched projects.

Throughout, the years our foundation has been working on projects related to inclusive education financed by the Soros Foundation-Kyrgyzstan, aiming to adapt inclusive methods to our education system. In the same period, we started implementing projects on supporting women from vulnerable groups on receiving public services.   

Consequently, the questions on planning and supporting the professional life of people with disabilities and women from vulnerable groups have appeared.

   After the practices mentioned above, we are sure about their needs and on our solutions. Good inclusive entrepreneurship opportunities will be helpful for them and their families. Since, for the population, inclusive entrepreneurship models are the source better life, social inclusion, employment, and sustainable means to exist.

 The main point of our solution is the opportunity for our beneficiaries to implement their own business projects. Because they will be working on individually appropriate areas. For instance, if we will teach and support them in the IT area, they might be not as successful as they could be in another area, like producing Pastillas from fruits from their own garden. So, the conclusion is that they will be fully engaged with the overall project process.

2 people in total are working on this solution.  One full-time staff and one part-time staff.

Our foundation “Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia” is a public organization founded in 2005 to mobilize public and private resources, strengthening local communities and improving the welfare of citizens of Central Asian countries. We have tremendous experience in implementing projects related to women in any vulnerable groups in the Kyrgyz Republic. Precisely, in women entrepreneurship, women with disabilities and about women labor migration. Consequently, our background and experiences mentioned above, are makig us best fit for this Challange solution.

Currently, we are working in partnership with United Nations Children's Fund in Kyrgyzstan, Soros Foundation-Kyrgyzstan, International Organization on Migration, European Comission.