Help Build Healthy Families and Communities in Kyrgyzstan
Crosslink Development International (CDI) has been working in Central Asia since 1994, with projects currently active in Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan. Their mission is to “equip individuals and engage communities to bring transformation through a variety of holistic relief and development projects” and their vision “is to see the nations of Central Asia developed one life, one family, and one community at a time.”
Whether CDI is training rural women in issues of health and hygiene, working with disabled children in an orphanage, farmers in the countryside, or schools in distant mountain villages, they believe local involvement from planning to implementation is the key to changing communities. Therefore, they seek to identify key local partners, invest in them, and build their capacity to be agents of change in their own communities.
Central to their health education initiative is a focus on women since women are the lead influence on the health of their families and in their communities.
CDI’s group of trained local health educators gather community groups of women together to discuss preventive health information concerning issues the community has identified as problems. These sessions are participatory, range in length from 8 to 4 weeks and explore a diverse range of health topics such as diabetes, good nutrition, high blood pressure and sanitation. Participants are required to teach others what they have learned and report their success in subsequent sessions. Thus, the impact of the project is multiplied in the community. In alignment with their mission, CDI also incorporates into their sessions training around relational and social issues that have a significant impact on people’s well-being. These topics include conflict management, anger management, self-respect, respect of others, and forgiveness.
To expand the reach of this initiative, CDI started in 2020 to record their lessons and create an on-line video library that is accessible via YouTube. With the success of their on-line launch, CDI now has an integrated learning program of in-person and on-line programming to serve communities throughout Kyrgyzstan.
The current goal is to deliver 109 module weeks of seminars reaching 141 primary participants, 282 secondary participants trained by the primary participants, 2192 indirect beneficiaries (family members of the direct and secondary participants) and to have their staff follow-up with at least 70 (35%) of primary participants. The purpose of the follow-up work is to support the implementation of key learnings in the home, support any challenges and receive feedback to improve on the programming for future participants.
CDI is requesting your support to help achieve their current learning targets and to improve the production quality of the videos for their on-line library. Specifically with new video equipment, learning materials, further training of their local health educators and costs incurred to travel to remote villages to facilitate seminars. The organisation has created a solid follow-up and reporting structure for all of their programming that is shared with all their stakeholders.
This project is one of the many education focused causes that BBS is proud to support globally.
CDI operates on a set of 5 core values.
1. Holistic Approach ~ People are integrated physical and spiritual beings, and therefore there is a need to address the whole person, including the physical, spiritual, emotional and social aspects of life.
2. Relationship ~ Relationships are the foundation for real change.
3. Partnership ~ Different people have different gifts, and there is the need to partner with others to see work succeed.
4. Capacity Building ~ The development of individuals, their capacities, and their gifts is of equal importance to the output of our projects because as people develop, they grow in their ability to transform their own communities.
5. Excellence ~ Always strive to do quality work in all aspects of service.
