The French Alliance in Bishkek, jointly with the Embassies of France, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada and the EU Delegation in Kyrgyzstan, are happy to announce the holding of the 2022 edition of the Week of the Francophonie from March 23 to April 2. The festival includes educational, cultural and entertainment events in offline and online format.
The "Francophonie Week" is the festival of the French language and cultures of the French-speaking countries, which is celebrated in the middle of March across the world. The organizers and partners have prepared a program for the broad public, which consists of 16 offline events and activities and 3 online webinars. This year, the festival will centre around questions on how to protect our planet and the environment.
French is the fifth language spoken in the world, the third language for business, used by more than 300 million people on five continents, and also is known as the language of diplomacy. 88 countries are members of the International Organization of Francophonie, in 29 of which French is the official language.
The Francophonie Week will be launched in Bishkek on March 23 with a public screening of the movie "Legacy / Notre Héritage" by the famous French photograph and environmentalist Yann-Arthus Bertrand, followed by an exchange with the latter, starting at 18:00 in Ala-Too Cinema (free entrance).
Nearly 200,000 low-income individuals in the Kyrgyz Republic were able to improve their homes over the last decade with support from an initiative developed by IFC, local microfinance organizations, and the financial support from the Swiss Government.
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, supported the home improvements through a 10-year-long partnership with Kyrgyz microfinance organizations. IFC helped the institutions develop an innovative lending product that combined a traditional micro-housing loan with construction-related support, including do-it-yourself home improvement videos, cost estimates for select home improvements, and discounts for quality construction materials.
The initiative, called the Housing Microfinance Project in the Kyrgyz Republic, helped channel $44.1 million of private funds to 41,505 families, allowing them to construct new homes or renovate existing ones. An additional $15.7 million was channeled to 15,434 families, helping them improve the energy efficiency of their houses, saving them a combined $7.5 million in heating costs. Those 57,000 households were home to 192,000 people.
The project was implemented in partnership with the Swiss Government.
“Improvement of the population’s well-being is what the Swiss development program aspires to achieve in the Kyrgyz Republic,” said Dr. Olivier Bangerter, Swiss Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic. “The housing microfinance project directly contributed to this aim as it reached low-income earners and helped them to fulfil their need of housing.”
Many low-income households struggle to secure loans in the Kyrgyz Republic, where banks are often hesitant to lend to people without substantial collateral. World Bank Group data shows that just 18 percent of people in the Kyrgyz Republic have access to credit while only a handful of lenders provide home improvement loans.
“Housing projects like this can deliver multiple benefits, such as encouraging home ownership, lifting consumption and investment, and, ultimately, helping drive economic growth and development,” said Cassandra Colbert, IFC's Senior Manager for Central Asia. “IFC’s collaboration with local financial institutions to promote housing micro-loans helped thousands of families build new homes or renovate existing ones while also bringing them security and a sense of ownership.”
The initiative is part of a broader IFC efforts to support private sector development in the Kyrgyz Republic and improve access to finance for low-income people.
