Ananyev municipality revives musical training offerings for children

Key results:

• Responding to demand for traditional musical instrument training of children
• Youth recreation opportunities expand the local cultural center capacity
• Showcasing good governance in practice

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Komuz, a traditional musical instrument of the Kyrgyz people, is a popular choice for youth interested in musical training. However, for Elvira Seidakmatova, a resident of the Ananyev Municipality, in the northern Issyk-Kul region of Kyrgyzstan, enrolling her 10-year-old daughter Aigerim Jumasheva in komuz training would either need taking private classes or driving to nearby villages.

“We haven’t had a komuz class in our village. Aigerim is a very creative child. She was excited about playing komuz and guitar, and I thought of finding such a place, even if I had to go to neighboring villages,” – says Elvira Seidakmatova, Aigerim’s mother.

As of this summer, Aigerim joined a komuz course at the municipal cultural center, along with the first group of 12 children.

Organized as a service offering by the Ananyev municipality, the course has a modest fee, voted for by the residents during a public hearing.

Ananyev used to have a bustling culture center and has struggled with maintaining recreational services for local residents.

“In the Soviet times, when Cultural Centers operated and had funding, there were many cultural and musical workshops available for adults and children” – recalls Tumar Kasymbekova, head of the Ananyev’s Cultural Center.

In 2018, seeing interest from local parents and children in komuz, the culture center helped organize a class by a music teacher that visited from a neighboring village. This meant additional costs both for the instructor and parents and the initiative didn’t last for long.

“It is a matter of legacy and continuing our culture. Residents would like to listen to national melodies during public events and we want to attract more youth to learn the skill of playing our national musical instrument” – says Kasymbekova.

For Ananyev’s parents and children that were missing musical learning opportunities, the solution was found when the municipality joined USAID’s Successful Aimak 2 Project (SA2 Project). The project trained Ananyev municipality staff on how to organize and manage vital services that improve people’s lives.

After several pieces of trainings on service organization, fee calculation, procurement, monitoring, public hearings, communication plans, gender-based approaches and inclusive plans for economic development – the municipality is better prepared to meet the residents’ expectations.

“All this knowledge helped my staff to learn the needs of the population through focus groups and surveys and spot what services people do need as a priority” – says Baktybek Baigazakov, who heads the Ananyev municipality.

Surveys and public hearings pointed out that along with solid waste removal and water supply service, villagers would like to have access to more cultural and sports recreation opportunities for their children. During public hearings, residents also voted for a service fee of 300 Kyrgyz soms ($3.5) per month.

Municipality then advertised that it would launch a komuz class offered by local musicians, willing to work with the municipality under an agreement. In an open selection process, the municipality opted to work with Chynybek Beishenbekov, a professional musician with many years of experience.

He started teaching in June 2022.

As a second stage, the municipality would like to extend the good practice and organize a dancing club by inviting another professional instructor on the basis of an agreement between the municipality and a professional instructor, a local resident with an entrepreneurial spirit.

The USAID’s Successful Aimak 2 Project is a four-year program implemented by the Development Policy Institute across Osh, Jalal-Abad, Issyk-Kul and Naryn oblasts aimed at improving the well-being of citizens in 50 municipalities by improving the quality of public services provided by local governments. Learn more at www.fb.com/SA2Project. 

Photo credit: Iskender Aliev