Lessons from Uzbekistan: Addressing security concerns through civil society and government cooperation

Since the government began reforms in 2017, people in Uzbekistan have seen deep changes in society, including the easing of restrictions on expression and civil society activism. Many in civil society have taken advantage of this redefined space to address people’s problems across the country. Previously considered the remit of the government alone, civil society is increasingly involved in calling attention to communities’ security concerns. Yet this role is often undefined, and cooperation between government and communities has its own challenges.

From 2021–2022, Saferworld and partners ran a community security project in the Jizzakh, Namangan and Tashkent regions of Uzbekistan, in which community security working groups brought together community members and leaders to prioritise and respond to security concerns with local authorities. This briefing shares experiences from the project, shedding light on conflict drivers in communities as well as examples of interventions to address them. It also provides recommendations for improving cooperation on responding to people’s security concerns.

Read the briefing in English and in Uzbek.

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Read more about our work on people’s security and justice.