IWPR Central Asia Regional Director Abakhon Sultonnazarov shared CABAR.asia experience in covering social issues at the Forum of Social Projects “State, Business and NGOs: 30 Years of Unity and Partnership for Sustainable Development” in Nur-Sultan.
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The prominent Kazakh and international speakers, representatives of NGOs, government officials, public figures, businessmen and philanthropists, recognised brands’ managers, representatives of international and charitable organisations, civil activists and Kazakh media representatives attended the Forum on April 22 and 23 in the capital of Kazakhstan.
The Forum of Social Projects was held in Kazakhstan for the first time. It was aimed at coordinating and strengthening cooperation between the state and civil society. The event was organised by the Nursultan Nazarbayev Foundation, which took the initiative in uniting various organisations to discuss the most acute and socially significant issues.
It should be noted that in Kazakhstan, as contrasted with other Central Asian countries, most NGOs receive funding from government agencies. The experts highlight that this has both positive and negative effects. Funding from the state budget increases corruption in this sphere and hinders the sustainable development of a functional civil society in Kazakhstan, according to the experts.
The conventions for discussing social ideas and projects by non-profit organisations (NPOs) are held in the country annually. During the Forum, the winners of this year’s convention were determined, eight of whom will receive grants from the Nursultan Nazarbayev Foundation.
The Forum included panel sessions, during which the participants discussed the best global practices, various aspects of social life in Kazakhstan and the necessity for cooperation between NPOs and the state to solve the problems in economy, social sphere, healthcare, ecology, etc.
During the panel session “Social Issues Media Coverage”, Abakhon Sultonnazarov shared the experience of IWPR Central Asia (IWPR), in particular, of CABAR.asia analytical platform.
The panel session was aimed at discussing the role of NPOs and media in covering social issues. The speakers of the session noted that non-profit organisations’ activities are extensive and engage in various spheres, starting from economic to social sector. Therefore, the NPO sector is one of the most important providers of social news, both for traditional and new media.
In contrast to the established opinion in Kazakhstan that “the cases of mutually beneficial intersection of interests of NPOs and media are the exception rather than the rule”, IWPR’s experience in Central Asia shows that cooperation between NPOs and media is possible. As part of its of activity in the region during many years, IWPR strives to bring journalists and civil society representatives together by conducting joint trainings during the implementation of important projects on human rights protection, prevention of youth radicalisation, fostering gender equality and conflict-sensitive journalism. Such cooperation successfully fulfils its mission in covering and solving important social problems in the countries where IWPR operates.
In his speech, Abakhon Sultonnazarov told about CABAR.asia activities in four Central Asian countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
He spoke about new tendencies in the region, in accordance to which the media began paying more attention to the coverage of social issues. Social media and their users began raising serious issues independently and thus, creating the agenda. The traditional media took up this initiative, and actively cover such issues.
“The media in our region are socially oriented. The coverage of social issues is the coverage of people’s lifestyles, a reflection of their problems, experiences,” said Abakhon Sultonnazarov.
This became especially obvious during the COVID-19 pandemic, when healthcare problems were exposed. The media began paying more attention to social issues when it came to medicines shortages, their poor quality, lack of hospital beds, and global wellbeing and health.
IWPR, which operates in Central Asia since early 2000s, supports local journalists by organising numerous trainings and provides a platform for publishing their materials in accordance with international journalism standards, also began paying more attention to social issues. IWPR research activities also contributed to this.
“In 2015, we launched CABAR.asia analytical platform, where we regularly publish the content in various formats: analytical materials, data materials, investigations, and photo reports. We try to cover social issues at the regional level, that is, if we analyse the situation in healthcare, we immediately analyse it in three or four countries, and obtain a comparative analysis across the region. The same applies to photo reports, data materials and other formats,” Sultonnazarov said.
Then, the speaker spoke in details about the work of the organisation in each country, about the cases and best practices in covering social issues, and how these issues were resolved.
According to him, the pressure on journalists covering social issues is intensifying in almost all countries of the region.
In 2020, during the pandemic, the social topics came to the fore in all media in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan – issues of unemployment, benefits, medicines provision, growth of domestic violence level, the economic situation of women, migrants, etc. In Kazakhstan, the focus on social issues is also linked with the fact that the coverage of political issues may result in detentions.
“However, during the peak of coronavirus decease, in July 2020, there were cases when doctors, who claimed a lack of protective equipment and doctors’ infections, were prosecuted and forced to publish their apology. The situation was similar in Kyrgyzstan,” he said.
CABAR.asia actively covers such cases and social issues in general. In organisation’s experience, there are many examples when published materials helped ordinary citizens to solve their problems.
IWPR Central Asia Regional Director spoke about the information campaign on harassment in taxis. The research results were presented in the longread titled “Harassment in Taxis in Central Asia: Impunity and No Right to Defence” (https://longreads.cabar.asia/taxi).
The material included the results of a survey conducted by 2020 winners of the online marathon of the CABAR.asia Media School from Kazakhstan – Dastan Akkozha and Zulfiya Raisova.
This longread became widespread, and was longlisted for the Moscow Dataviz Awards – 2021.
Many Central Asian media took up this topic and released their stories about harassment in taxis and the stories of those who faced it.
“It is important to note our work to promote investigative journalism in Tajikistan. For example, following the results of journalistic investigations and revealing corruption and violations of laws in various spheres, the criminal cases were initiated, some officials were removed from their posts. One of the latest examples is the investigation by journalist Yokub Khalimov from Tajikistan – “The Houses That Beg Built” – about the Head of the State Communication Service, who managed the construction business right from his office,” Abakhon Sultonnazarov said.
CABAR.asia published a number of materials on various social problems of Uzbekistan, including gender problems, problems of domestic violence, problems of orphanages and orphanhood, the dam collapse, organisation of charity, labour migration, response to the coronavirus spread, etc.
Abakhon Sultonnazarov spoke about the latest trends in journalism in the region and noted the problems, indicating the main one – the lack of access to official information in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
“Social issues coverage is not that harmless, and we all still have a lot of work to do in this area,” Abakhon Sultonnazarov said in conclusion.