Duration: October 2, 2017 – September 30, 2022

Budget: $4,981,260

Implementing Partners:

• Kyrgyzstan Mountain Societies Development Support Programme (MSDSP KG)
• University of Central Asia (UCA)
• International Debate Education Association in Central Asia (IDEA CA)
• Association of Social Entrepreneurs (ASE)
• Aga Khan Foundation in Kyrgyz Republic (AKF)

Activity Locations:

• Suzak district, Jalal-Abad oblast
• Kochkor district, Naryn oblast
• Naryn town, Naryn oblast

The project promotes more active and positive engagement of youth in civic, social, and economic life, to help develop their families and communities.

MAJOR FOCUS AREAS

The project works to increase civic participation of youth and prepare them for the labor market by creating various opportunities. Through the project hundreds of young people will be able to enhance their leadership and life skills as well as strengthen their professional and entrepreneurial skills. The project will also facilitate youth participation in development of their communities and generate a robust research base to support evidence-driven youth policy development.

EXPECTED IMPACT AND RESULTS 

• 100 school parliaments will be strengthened or established to enable school students strengthen their civic skills by practicing the democratic parliamentary system.
• Life Skills Centers will be established in 100 schools, where school students will run debate, drama, and media clubs.
• Young people will be trained on identifying the challenges and needs of their communities through participatory research.
• Provision of seed grants to 90 youth-identified initiatives to improve their communities.  
• 10 online short courses on essential professional and life skills for young people will be developed and hosted on the website www.lifeskills.kg. 
• District-level career fairs for school students will be organized, bringing together a range of local employers as well as local and national higher education institutions, to provide students with information about locally available jobs and market-relevant higher education.
• 50 schools will incorporate the International Computer Driving License (ICDL), the world's leading computer skills certification program, into school curricula and 75 IT teachers will be trained on ICDL standards. 10 ICDL test centers will be established in schools, where students may take the exam and receive official ICDL certification.  
• A market assessment to identify two economic subsectors with high growth potential will be conducted, and 900 young people will be trained in relevant vocational skills with high employment potential.
• 400 young people will be trained on traditional entrepreneurship and 200 will be trained on social entrepreneurship in order to promote youth self-employment. 60 seed grants will be provided to the most promising business ideas.
• An enterprise accelerator, Accelerate Prosperity, will be launched in Naryn and Osh, providing small and growing business entrepreneurs with access to technical assistance, mentorship, and investment to advance their enterprises and ensure sustainable growth. 
• Achievements of young people in implementing their initiatives will be publicly recognized annually through 24 award ceremonies organized in each of target districts, as well as through mass media.
• Evidence base about youth challenges, their future aspirations, as well as youth specific social and economic indicators will be collected and included into the new youth section of the national “Life in Kyrgyzstan” panel study. Findings from the study will be conveyed to key stakeholders, and policy recommendations will be developed to support national youth-oriented policy dialogue.