Is There Room for ‘‘Traditional’’ Civil Society in Central Asia? Case Study of UN Women and Aga Khan Development Network

Abstract

The present paper aims to study ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’ civil society in the context of Central Asia with a case study of UN Women and Aga Khan Development Network in Kyrgyzstan. ‘Traditional’ civil society encompasses the concept of ashar (community voluntarism), inclusion of local authorities and values, while ‘modern’ civil society is defined in terms of donor funded NGOs and projects in this paper. The main aim of the paper is to see how these two different models interact with each other. Through secondary sources and interviews, the question of whether modern civil society undermines the role of ‘traditional’ civil society is explored. Moreover, the present paper reveals how donor funded NGOs use ‘traditional’ elements and actors for development. Interviews conducted with experts from UN Women and Aga Khan Development Network illustrates how this integration happens.