Outcome KGZ_D_3.1

Women and men, especially youth, value social norms supporting gender equality and women’s empowerment at individual and community levels

The progress towards the Outcome has been partially achieved with the focus on identifying existing positive and negative social norms which determine community attitude and behavior towards GEWE, including through: a) ethnographic review to define behavior, attitude and social norms on EVAWG in 12 SI programme pilot communities; b) defining social norms on the issues of women leadership and participation in decision making at local and national levels, peacebuilding processes and women participation in elections; c) identifying positive deviants who practice positive homegrown solutions to address the challenges of VAWG, low women status in communities, and increased burden of unpaid care work as a consequences of COVID crisis. The findings were used for strategizing the work on prevention of VAWG, reducing the burden of households chores and ways to empower women to run for elections and participate in decision making at all levels. Highlights on the results: 60 Gender-Action Learning System/GALS champions feel more motivated and open to changes, many champions spoke out that it is important to test and live these changes at the individual level and only then the cascading spread is easier in a sense that people start believing the changes in attitudes. The cascading by champions covered a total of 2817 people by end of December, by equipping them with all GALS tools where with the last “Happy Family Diamond” one they began to reflect on the diamond of their happy family: strengthening relationships between family members by discussing relationships in the family that they "really like", "like" and relationships that they "less like" and "very dislike". Champions are able to distinguish between the types of violence and know that a woman has the opportunity to contact the police, local institutions responsible for DV prevention, psychologist. Most champions note that significant changes are taking place in their families, for example, men began to perform some types of housework to bake bread, cook food, do cleaning with all family members and no longer see anything shameful in this, but on the contrary understand that all family members feel happy when everyone is involved in family life (see the video material broadcasted in Naryn Province TV https://youtu.be/pA5NeqcxbC8 ) 42 families of positive deviants (PDs) from 6 target villages took a lead in facilitating redistribution of family responsibilities thus boosting rural women’s economic empowerment. In all 6 communities PD families conducted a series of advocacy campaigns among members of the community about unpaid care work and the importance of equality and mutual respect in defining household roles and responsibilities. Going under the HashTag #EqualAtHomEqualAtJob. This campaign has covered 550 villagers. Thus, PDs served as role models for other members of communities to self-reflect on the attitude towards equal division of household responsibilities between men and women in household chores. UN Women made significant contribution to these results by upscaling and replicating Gender Action Learning (GALS) methodology that was successfully tested through previous UN Women work on changing social norms and behavior. The work on GALS was done by the IP Education for Community Development (ECD). Positive deviance approach was introduced by UN Women to partners in late 2021 and was further replicated by local partners and IPs. The Theory of Change is still applicable for this Outcome.

Women and men, especially youth, value social norms supporting gender equality and women’s empowerment at individual and community levels

During the reporting period, progress towards this outcome was significant compared to baseline data, which revealed deeply rooted discriminatory practices, attitudes, and gender stereotypes in target communities (ethnographic review in 2020). According to monitoring findings: After GALS, communities started to openly discuss the issues of violence, where before it was largely silenced as a strictly family matter. Families have begun to reflect on a possible reassessment of family values, a renewed sense of love for art, sports, and getting used to starting the day with positivity, saying polite and loving words to each other. 70% of the oblast champions have revised their attitudes towards the role of women and men in the family, with greater support for equal sharing of responsibilities and consideration of everyone's role. Families started to think about the need for a fair approach to child-rearing, regardless of the gender of the child, as well as rejecting ideas about division of work into male and female work. 30% of men are involved in education and upbringing process. Fathers started to take time for their children and not only for education, but also for their childcare (understanding their role in children's upbringing and that this is not only the duty of a mother to care for their children); 40% of fathers have improved communication with their families. They started to discuss family matters together, to value everyone's contribution, to be open to dialogue, and to openly discuss what matters to other family members. This improved a number of relationships (relationships: husband-wife, parents-children, father-daughter, mother-in-law-kin, among friends, among colleagues, and among neighbours). The needs of each family member are recognized and their interests are taken into account in the decision-making process. Champions have started to take more account of children's interests and needs, to prioritize children's development costs (both for male and female children) ). Champions have started to discuss the need to plan and distribute family budget and have started their own family business; Champions recognise that women can earn as much as men and can choose their professional activity. UN Women made significant contributions to these results by upscaling and replicating the Gender Action Learning (GALS) methodology, which was successfully tested through previous UN Women work on changing social norms and behavior. The work on GALS was done by the IP Education for Community Development (ECD). Success story and quotes as evidence of the transformation Changing social norms to end violence against women and girls in Kyrgyzstan (Success story was published on SI global website https://eca.unwomen.org/en/stories/feature-story/2022/12/changing-social-norms-to-end-violence-against-women-and-girls-in-kyrgyzstan Database of GALS participants by levels and pilot villages can be found here https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nXockSla2N-5N7z-MLnrMxpTVMcKODDf-zFq0DLVjXc/edit?usp=share_link Supporting documents: KGZ_D_3.1.1.21_ECD progress report_Jun-Sep2022_Russian KGZ_D_3.1.1.21_ECD progress report_Oct-Dec2022_Russian