Informal Volunteering in Kyrgyzstan: Covid-19 Case

Abstract

This thesis is focused on studying informal volunteering in Kyrgyzstan during the Covid- 19 pandemic. The research aims to understand how informal volunteering manifested in Kyrgyzstan during Covid-19, and what motivated individuals to engage in self-organized volunteer activities within this context. It also seeks to explore the perceptions of informal volunteers towards the government’s response to the pandemic and the role of established organizations. The main theory the research considers volunteer work as a combination of human, social, and cultural capital. This framework helps to understand the diverse motivations behind volunteering and the influence of individual beliefs, values, and social conventions. Additionally, the research applies community resilience theory to evaluate the capacity of individuals, groups, and institutions within the Kyrgyz community to respond effectively to the Covid-19 crisis, and to check how volunteering promotes better governance via creation of a more engaged and active citizenry. This approach will expand the existing literature on crisis management which is predominantly state-centric. Meanwhile the case study shows that sometimes state is not the key actor in crisis management. While studying motivations, I primarily focus on cognitive dimension of social capital, as suggested by Dr. Chiara Pierobon in her research. This means that volunteer groups are analyzed not as formalized structures/institutions but as ‘shared representations, interpretations, and systems of meaning, mainly codes and narratives, shared values and other cultural elements.’ In general, informal volunteering as a phenomenon and its role for the state has not been sufficiently studied in the literature. Moreover, the available articles cover the regions remote from Central Asia. Therefore, it seems relevant to study informal volunteering in Kyrgyzstan, to assess the level of activity of the population, their readiness to react on crises, and state communication with this group.