Bishkek- On 4 March, IOM, the Ministry of Labour, Social Security and Migration of the Kyrgyz Republic, the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President in Chui Oblast and League of Child Rights Defenders organize a Forum to support women and their families in Chui province who are affected by migration. The Forum is a platform for open and effective dialogue, where migrant women will have a chance to discuss the problems they encounter when they come back and choose to stay in Kyrgyzstan.

The goal of the Forum is to change negative beliefs, values, attitudes, behaviours, norms and practices in the communities regarding women affected by migration, and to discuss what mechanisms and tools the state and public organisations have available to support women.

The forum is joined by women and members of their families in Chui oblast who are affected by migration, deputies, representatives of state bodies, public organisations and mass media.

The forum participants will talk about:

• what needs to be improved in the implementation of state migration policy in order to give more support to women and members of their families;
• what stops women who have returned home from getting direct access to state employment services;
• how can women affected by migration in Chui Oblast make money to provide a decent living for their families.

Forum participants can also watch the performance. The performance aims to change existing negative beliefs and attitudes about women in migration, which make them socially vulnerable. The Forum will produce proposals and recommendations based on real cases of women affected by migration, facing problems in their home country, based on the possibilities of their cooperation with state authorities and the business community, and enabling women and their families to reintegrate back home as smoothly as possible, overcoming difficult life situations and acquiring new professional and social skills.

The Forum is part of the project funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway.