Speaker
Mr. Keneshbek B. Sainazarov has been serving as Search for Common Ground’s Country Director for Kyrgyzstan (2013-2015), Central Asia Programs Director (2015-2022), and Uzbekistan Country Director and Asia Regional Conflict Adviser since 2022. In his role, Kenesh manages the Search programming related to conflict-sensitive journalism, promoting freedom of religion, preventing radicalization leading to violent extremism, alternative narratives to recruitment, and youth and women empowerment.
Related to preventing violent extremism issues Kenesh and the Search team in Central Asia have been leading a number of initiatives that focus on 1) policy promotion at the national and regional levels, 2) confidence building and dialogues at the provincial levels, and 3) grassroots level work with vulnerable youth and women cohorts. Such all-rounded unique programming puts applied research findings into practical activities that strengthen social cohesion and resilience.
Before joining Search, Mr. Sainazarov directed the implementation of large-scale programs in the area of governance, democracy, youth empowerment, education policy, elections, voter education, disaster risk reduction, and conflict mitigation with United Nations, USAID-funded organizations in Central Asia, and the Caucasus. He has also played an active role in a number of sector-wide policy review exercises in education, anti-corruption, youth policy, religious and security reforms, and published policy documents on them.