Funded by the US Department of State’s Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues, the project supports S/GWI’s goal to promote the rights and empowerment of women and girls through three closely linked Objectives:
- Objective 1: Young people are more resilient to restrictive gender norms affecting their life choices and opportunities.
- Objective 2: An enabling environment is cultivated in schools or community-based organizations and communities to foster equal collaboration amongst young people.
- Objective 3: A network of participants, stakeholders, and partners at the community and national levels better promote girls’ increased skills and opportunities.
The Community Action Plan of a “Happy Girls” team from Bishkek city on the south of Kyrgyzstan demonstrated the problem of a bride kidnapping (Ala Kachuu in Kyrgyz language), that still takes place in Kyrgyzstan. Forced marriage is legally prohibited in Kyrgyzstan. According to article 175 of the Criminal Code of Kyrgyzstan (abduction of a person for the purpose of marriage), the penalty for "ala kachuu" is from five to seven and a half years of imprisonment in cases when the abducted person turned 18 years old.
In the framework of the project the team has conducted trainings for 20 school students on “Ala Kachuu as a problem of communities”, organized a drawing competition inside the school on the topic: Ala kachuu is not a tradition, it is a criminal offense and as the final event the team has conducted and participated themselves in “Ala Kachuu” theatre performance in a form of a forum theatre where the audience (30 school students) was also able to perform on stage changing particular parts of the play. They showed and conveyed all the feelings that the victim is experiencing in ala kachuu.