Regional Central Asian Conference held at AUCA

November 13, 2015

On November 12-13 of 2015 American University of Central Asia (AUCA) hosted the Regional Central Asian Conference “Effecting Synergies between Inclusive Economic Growth, Environmental Sustainability, Gender Equality and Development for Transformative Change”.

This two-day regional Central Asian conference with international participation was addressed the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development.

1. Common understanding about interrelations between gender, women empowerment, environmental sustainability, and development among practicing politicians in Central Asia.  
2. Creating of solid base for informing about the National 2030 Agenda and processes of planning of Sustainable Development Goals for integration and implementation of goals and objectives related to gender and environment.
3. Strengthening of regional networks and skill sharing on interactions with gender, environment, and development of Central Asia.

Conference was opened with a speech from Roza Otunbayeva, ex-president of the Kyrgyz Republic and founder of the “Roza Otunbayeva Initiative” International Public Foundation.

“I want to greet all who came from every corner of our country and world to this important conference. Today, we start an important regional dialogue about the interconnections between gender, economic growth and environment. How should we connect them, how can we force them to work optimally, in order to move all Central Asian countries to a middle income level among countries on the planet. Talking about women in our region, inequality of gender differences remains the main problem. These are stumbling blocks in the way of the sustainable development of our countries,” said Roza Otunbayeva.

AUCA President Andrew Wachtel welcomed the conference participants and expressed his gratitude that AUCA specifically was chosen as the venue for this conference.

“This campus we’re sitting in right now, was opened approximately two months ago. It may be one of the most interesting buildings in Kyrgyz Republic, or even in Central Asia. There are several interesting points to the campus; though some of them relate specifically to this conference. First of all, if we talk about gender equality, our university holds a leading positions in this area. About 62% of AUCA students and 70% of faculty and staff are females. AUCA demonstrates a model of gender equality for other universities” – said Andrew Wachtel.

The first day was covered “Gender equity for sustainable development in Central Asia” and was accompanied by three sessions:

1. Global frameworks for gender-sensitive sustainable development.
2. National processes of planning and budgeting: how to connect prevailing issues like gender equality and women empowerment (GEWE), inclusive economic growth and environmental sustainability.

III. Women’s economic empowerment and sustainable decisions.

The second day covered “Gender-sensitive sustainable management of natural resources” connected with two parallel sessions:

1. Gender aspects of management of natural resources.
2. Gender-aware climate change and biodiversity loss mitigation.

On the same day, the following two sections were presented: building partnership on sustainable development with a glance of gender and institutionalization of regional and local knowledge.

Within the framework of conference, post-conference session was held among students of AUCA, Academy of State Management under President of the Kyrgyz Republic, Naryn State University and Ysyk-Köl State University in Karakol. Students participated in creation of essay on the topic of “Understanding relations between issues of poverty, environment and gender equality in Central Asia”. 

<< go to news list