SIPRI and the University of Central Asia will participate as research partners in a new research project entitled Social Cohesion Through Community-Based Development.
The project, which is funded by the World Bank and the Aga Khan Foundation, will be carried out in Kyrgyzstan with a budget of $3 million over four years, of which SIPRI will receive $605 000.
The project investigates social cohesion mechanisms by identifying and implementing community-driven development projects in a select number of communities. The project seeks to measure how people are affected by these projects by developing a social cohesion index. The index will measure people’s access to goods, services, opportunities, civic and political processes, social capital, and sense of belonging.
The project involves both research and intervention components, with the collection of baseline, intermediate, and follow-up quantitative and qualitative data. The interventions will take place in mono-ethnic communities in northern Kyrgyzstan and multi-ethnic communities in southern Kyrgyzstan.
A total of 30 Aiyl Aimaks (the lowest administrative unit in Kyrgyzstan) will be involved in the project, with 15 experiencing pilot interventions and the other 15 acting as a control group.
For more information contact Dr Damir Esenaliev or Dr Anastasia Aladysheva, Researchers with SIPRI’s Life in Kyrgyzstan project.