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EBRD gender equality award presented to Kaliman Kobshekova, director of the Issyk-Kul Regional Centre for Development and Education

On October 24, 2016, Managing Director for Central Asia and Turkey of the European bank for reconstruction and development, Natalia Khanjenkova presented the EBRD’s Award for Promotion of Gender Equality to Kaliman Kobshekova, director for the Issyk-Kul Regional Centre for Development and Education at a reception in Bishkek dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the Bank.

Each year the EBRD recognises outstanding individuals for the personal contributions to the Promotion of Gender Equality. The candidates are the Bank’s clients from the countries where the Bank invests. This year three awards were presented to Haydar Yenigün, General Manager of Ford Otosan in Turkey who won the category “Promotion of Gender Equality in a Corporate Business”. The second award for the “Promotion of Gender Equality in a Financial Institution” went to Lyazzat Ibragimova, in her former role as Chairperson of JSC Enterprise Development Fund “DAMU”, in Kazakhstan. The third award went to Kaliyman Kobshekova from the Kyrgyz Republic for the “Promotion of Gender Equality in a Service Provider”.

The IRCDE education centre was established in 2009 in the city of Cholpon-Ata in the Issyk-Kul region. Today it is one of the market leaders in the field of vocational training. The Centre has a special focus on social and gender equality, which is reflected in its contingent of students: about 70% of those trained by the centre are women.

EBRD, with funding from Switzerland, has helped the Centre to create a development strategy, upgrade to a modern accounting system and to contribute to the cause of gender equality through its Advice for Small Businesses.

At the reception, Natalia Khanjenkova said: “Kaliman Kobshekova won the award due to her strong leadership skills, which helped the centre to develop a strong gender equality element to its work. That has significantly contributed to the promotion of adult education, as well as increasing the number of female consultants being trained in the agricultural, tourism and construction sectors”. K. Kobshekova thanked the Vice President for the award and noted that importance of the programs implemented by the EBRD in the Kyrgyz Republic.

Gender equality is an integral part of the EBRD's commitment to promoting sustainable and environmentally sound development across our investment and donor-funded activities. The EBRD is actively working to ensure women and men worldwide have the same opportunities in accessing finance, jobs and/or using services, recently adopting its very first Strategy for the Promotion of Gender Equality (2016-2020). The strategy mandates the EBRD to promote, through its operations, sound gender outcomes which contribute to equitable and sustainable economies.