Keneshbek B. Sainazarov has been serving as Search for Common Ground’s Country Director for Kyrgyzstan since 2013 and the Central Asia Programs Director since 2015. He is a development professional with more than 13 years of experience directing large scale governance, democracy, youth empowerment, voter education, election, education policy, and conflict mitigation programming, including with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Mr. Sainazarov has provided technical assistance and operational advice to the Ministries of Education and Social Welfare of several Central Asian countries and is an active promoter for quality and access of education in his capacity as the Chairman of the Advisory Council for the Ministry of Education and Science of Kyrgyzstan.

 

Keneshbek earned his MPA in non-profit management and environmental policy from the University of Colorado at Denver. Under his leadership, Search for Common Ground in Central Asia implements several programs on preventing violent extremism among labour migrants, supporting rehabilitation and reintegration of returnees from Syria and Iraq, and facilitating dialogue between governments and civil society on the issue of returnees. In 2018 Search for Common Ground together with the Royal United Service Institute carried out large-scale research assessing factors of radicalization among Central Asian labour migrants in Russia and published it as a report.

Yulia Denisenko is the director of the public fund “Asia Group” (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan), which specializes in countering destructive religious movements, and is an expert in the field of extremism and de-radicalization with 15 years of experience. In 2017-2018, she served as an international consultant for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and was a de-radicalization expert at Prison Reform International (PRI) in Central Asia. She is the author of several reports and methodological manuals on factors leading to violent extremism in Central Asia, the rehabilitation of individuals involved in extremist and terrorist groups, and the risks and needs in rehabilitating returnees from areas of armed conflicts. Yulia holds an MA in religious studies.

 

 

Dr. Gulnaz Razdykova is the director at the Center for Analysis and Development of Inter-confessional Relations (Pavlodar, Kazakhstan) and an expert in religious studies, radicalization, and rehabilitation in Kazakhstan. She has carried out rehabilitation work with a female jamaat in Aktobe and currently works with women and children who were repatriated to Kazakhstan from Syria and Iraq. Dr. Razdykova holds a PhD in history and is the author of over 50 academic articles.



 

 

Oliya Ilmuradova is the director at “Barqaror Hayet”, an international social-enlightenment center in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Her center undertakes the rehabilitation and reintegration of women and children who returned from Syria and Iraq.