Newsroom

CORVALLIS - Five women from Oregon State University and the Corvallis area have traveled to the Kyrgyz Republic in central Asia where they will conduct a leadership program for women from Tajikistan.

The Tajikistan Women's Leadership Program is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of State and coordinated by the Women in Development (WID) program at OSU. The Corvallis women will work with 13 Tajik women who are active in non-governmental organizations to promote women's leadership, organizational development, and local coalition building for social change.

Leading the project is Charlotte Moats-Gallagher, co-director of OSU's Office of International Research and Development. Assisting her are Nancy Rosenberger, a professor of anthropology and president of the OSU Faculty Senate; Muneera Spence, an OSU assistant professor of art; Joann DeMott, of the J. DeMott Co.; and Morgan Daniels, a program coodinator.

The 13 Tajik women will attend a three-week workshop in the Kyrgyz Republic beginning June 22 to develop personal leadership skills and explore concepts of community action. The program is designed to help these women leaders build or strength local organizations that can help rebuild economically depressed communities in Tajikistan - located directly north of Afghanistan. The country also was ravaged by a civil war in the 1990s.

"The work is especially important in Tajikistan because the need is great and the resources are limited," said Marion McNamara, co-director of the Office of International Research and Development at OSU. "The non-governmental sector is crucial to the country's recovery and progress."