Leisure, business and fantasy worlds: exploring donor-funded “youth spaces” in southern Kyrgyzstan

This article explores the participation of university students in non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) and other forms of association in the city of Osh, Kyrgyzstan. While
the literature tends to criticize donor interventions in the post-Soviet space, an analysis of
donor-funded youth projects calls for a more differentiated evaluation. It is argued that
youth-oriented associations appeal to the students of Osh because these associations have
created much needed ‘youth spaces’. In some cases, however, the appeal has little to do
with the missions of the projects. Whatever the blueprints prepared by foreign donors,
youth-oriented clubs and NGOs provide young people with opportunities for
entrepreneurship, for leisure pursuits and for experimenting with their dreams and
fantasies. Offering a case study of a group of students who have joined a donor-funded
NGO, Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), the article then charts the students’ appropriation
of this NGO.