Traditional Embroidery in the Uzbek Ustyurt: An Alternative Livelihood

Kuralai ('baby saiga') grew from SCA’s efforts to address some of the social and economic pressures behind saiga poaching on the Uzbek Ustyurt. The idea was to support women in saiga-range communities to earn income through traditional embroidery, while creating a stronger role for women and their families in saiga conservation.

An important early step came through SCA’s Small Grants Programme. In 2010, Aizada Nurumbetova received an SCA Small Grant for a project training women in needlework and embroidery as an alternative livelihood on the Ustyurt Plateau. This built on a pilot embroidery initiative begun in Jaslyk in 2009 and helped develop the skills and local structures from which Kuralai later grew.

Working with experienced local embroidery organisations, SCA supported groups in Jaslyk and Karakalpakia to learn traditional Karakalpak and Kazakh embroidery, develop products, and organise themselves around production and sales. The conservation model went beyond providing an income. Women were encouraged to take conservation messages into their households, and participating families were involved in pledging not to poach saigas. SCA records explicitly describe the scheme as combining alternative income with family commitments to stop poaching.

The approach was also critically evaluated. The study The Impact of Community Conservation Initiatives in the Uzbek Ustyurt examined the embroidery programme alongside SCA’s education work, rather than assuming that alternative livelihoods automatically led to conservation benefits. Researchers interviewed 13 embroiderers, ten from Jaslyk and three from Karakalpakia, as well as ten adult relatives. The study found strong social and educational value but also identified weaknesses in the business model, particularly around profitability and the difficulty of demonstrating a direct effect on poaching. These findings helped SCA refine the programme and place embroidery within a broader community-conservation strategy.

From this early phase, Kuralai developed into a more structured enterprise. In 2013, group leaders Maina Bisenbaeva and Sulukhan Berdanova received further training in traditional designs, embroidery techniques, and bag production before returning to Jaslyk and Karakalpakia to train other women. That year, the first Kuralai products were successfully sold in the United States at the Wildlife Conservation Network Expo.

By 2017, 17 women had qualified as masters of Karakalpak embroidery, and the group had produced 270 items. Members developed new products, tested tourist-market sales in Tashkent, and organised their own fashion show and craft fair during Saiga Day.

Kuralai shows how SCA’s community work evolved through experimentation, evaluation, and long-term relationships. Rather than treating livelihoods as a simple solution to poaching, the programme combined traditional skills, women’s participation, family engagement, conservation education, and enterprise development to create new ways for local people to participate in saiga conservation.

With thanks to our funders
This work has been supported through different phases by the Wildlife Conservation Network, The Wilds, Disney Coins for Change, and SCA’s Small Grants Programme.

Project partners
The programme has worked with Aizada Nurumbetova, local embroidery organisations including Ornament and Keul Nuri, group leaders Maina Bisenbaeva and Sulukhan Berdanova, women and families in Jaslyk and Karakalpakia, and other community partners on the Ustyurt Plateau. WCN Year End Report 2013