Leadership Manual Now Available in Kyrgyz

CAC’s executive director, Tolekan Ismailova, presents a copy of the new Kyrgyz manual

WLP's partner in Kyrgyzstan releases the newest (18th language) edition of Leading to Choices

WLP’s partner in Kyrgyzstan, Human Rights Center/Citizens Against Corruption (CAC) tested and adapted the newest language edition of Leading to Choices: A Leadership Training Handbook for Women in Kyrgyz. It is the 18th language in which the manual is available. CAC’s executive director, women’s rights activist Tolekan Ismailova, described the publication as the “first leadership training manual in the Kyrgyz language.” CAC added to the edition new scenarios that are meaningful to their constituents. One such scenario is about a journalist’s story of perseverance after being imprisoned on false charges in Kyrgyzstan.

Many of CAC’s Leading to Choices workshop participants, from Isfana and Naryn, were able to apply what they had learned when they became involved in the Fall 2008 elections, campaigning for local women candidates. Two of the Leading to Choices participants became deputies on local councils.

The Leading to Choices manual is used in over thirty countries to train diverse groups of women and girls in the practice of inclusive, participatory, and horizontal leadership. The goal is to empower women to take on leadership roles in their families, communities, and societies. The manual is based on the premise that effective leadership relies on the ability to communicate, listen, build consensus, and work in partnership with allies to develop a collective vision and implement an action plan. Sharing power and respect creates a strong group identity that both empowers individuals to achieve personal goals and mobilizes the group for collective action.

Additional culture-specific adaptations of Leading to Choices are currently available in: English, Maghreby-Arabic, Shamy-Arabic, Assamese, French, Hausa, Malay, Meiteilon, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Shona, Spanish, Swahili, Turkish, and Uzbek. Nigerian Pidgin and Urdu editions are forthcoming.