2010 Small Grant Winner: Aizada Nurumbetova (Uzbekistan) “Training of women in skills of workmanship and needlework to develop alternative livelihood sources on the Ustiurt Plateau, Uzbekistan”

Aizada Nurumbetova is director of the “Keuil nury” Centre for Social Support of Women in Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan.

Aizada’s grant will be used to develop alternative sources of income for inhabitants of the Ustiurt plateau in Uzbekistan by training local women in needlework, embroidery and the production of handicrafts. This work both reduces the requirement for illegal poaching by providing alternative sources of income and raises awareness.

The trained women are then able to act as advocates for saiga conservation in their families and communities. This project will build on the development of a women’s cooperatives in Jaslyk village and extend the programme to other villages.