By Sebastien Peyrouse and Emil Nasritdinov
When Western policymakers and development practitioners turn their attention to Central Asia, they too often overlook Muslim civil society as a potential partner for addressing the region’s economic and social problems. This report, which is based on dozens of interviews with representatives of Muslim civil society organizations in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, is intended to help generate a much-needed conversation about Muslim civil society in Central Asia and how Western donors and practitioners can begin tapping their potential.
About the Report
This report provides a tour d’horizon of Central Asia’s Muslim civil society organizations. Based on dozens of interviews conducted in four Central Asian countries, it finds that the region’s Muslim civil society organizations are highly diverse in terms of activities and structures, often politically moderate and supportive of democracy, and open to working with global development actors. The report was commissioned by the Central Asia program at the United States Institute of Peace.
