Trainings in Kyrgyzstan boost women's employment and opportunities
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Nuraim Kalilova lives in the city of Osh, Southern Kyrgyzstan and brings up two sons alone. Trying to feed her family, she tried various jobs from selling pies and buns on school grounds and at the bus stop to preparing meals and salads, but all this was temporary. After going through some difficulties, she was looking for a permanent job, and started working in the municipal territorial administration "Amir-Timur" in the city of Osh.
Being a social worker of the mayor's office, she became a participant in a project that brought up new opportunities for her. The Community for Sustainable Peace project is being implemented by UN Women with the support of the UN Peacebuilding Fund in cooperation with the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic. The project helps women from vulnerable families with educational trainings and seminars where women study their rights, learn crafts, and write projects that would improve their lives.
“At the trainings, I met many strong women who have overcome domestic violence. I listened to their plans for the future, their ideas and realized that I can do that too. I am a teacher by profession, but I resigned from this job. During the trainings, I learned about the competition and decided to take part. And it gave me new strength to move forward,” she says.
Now Nuraim Kalilova is a leading specialist on social issues in the municipal administration of Osh city.
According to Dildora Khamidova, the field specialist of the UN Women project, thanks to the acquired knowledge and skills, Nuraim not only defends her rights, but also helps others. “She takes part in various initiatives and has created a database including children of migrants people with disabilities, records of families in difficult life situations, and finds sponsors to support them. Nuraim actively involves women and girls from the municipality in conducting information campaigns to prevent radicalism and other negative manifestations, including discriminatory practices such as early marriage, ” Khamidova said.
Taking part in the project implementation process, Nuraim Kalilova increased her potential and acquired skills in writing a business plan. She concluded that it would be impossible to build a career without appropriate education in the state and municipal service and she decided to enter the master’s degree program at the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Kyrgyz Republic. Thanks to the project, Nuraim studied the market in detail and started her own business "decorative make-up at home". This undertaking does not require large investments, but it will help to supplement the family income.
“After working between 9:00-18:00 on my main job, I do make up. I trained to be a make-up artist and now I provide my services to my friends, colleagues and other women thereby finding additional income,” she says.
But the most important thing that the trainings taught her was not to give up.
“I am so grateful for your project. Thanks to it, I not only mastered a new profession, but also met other women who are like me. We were inspired and motivated together. Now I feel that I can guide and help other women who may be in a difficult life situation,” she says.