Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The “Stakeholder engagement for uranium legacy remediation in Central Asia. Phase II” project has organized a training series for women entrepreneurs in Angren (Tashkent region) and Pap (Namangan region). 

More than 40 women living in the territories of the uranium heritage and in nearby cities have gained new knowledge on the development of women's entrepreneurship and have learnt about new opportunities to contribute to green economy. 

Women in remote areas are main players in economic, environmental, and social transformations for sustainable development. Women empowerment is key both to the well-being of individuals, and to overall economic prosperity. 

UNDP supports women's participation in shaping laws and policies on all issues affecting their lives, including managing the impact of uranium waste on their health and the health of their families, as well as the environment. This training session aimed to improve women’s business skills and to engage women in solving social, economic, and environmental issues through their business projects.

The training workshop included interactive sessions on government-supported programmes for women's entrepreneurship, opportunities to integrate a green economy concept, and trends in social entrepreneurship. Participants of the workshop learned about a set of criteria that would allow them to choose business ideas and the ways to elaborate a business strategy based on a “guest tourism” business project.

“I have been engaged in entrepreneurship since 2002. I started with trading, but my interest in farming has led me to establish the “Oltin Muborak” enterprise. Now, I am planning to expand my business and develop eco and agro tourism on the farm to create new jobs for unemployed women. Therefore, I find such training sessions very useful. I gained knowledge about current trends in business development, got acquainted with social and green entrepreneurship. Previously, I did not know about social entrepreneurship, but now, I want to move in this direction, because I got inspired,” shared Nigora Tursunova, the training workshop participant.

“I have been managing LLC “Tashpulat Stroy Invest” for more than 10 years. Throughout this period, we have built more than 100 houses and other buildings. Many people wonder how it is possible for a woman to work in the construction industry. But for me, construction is my area of expertise. Before that, I worked at the plant as a specialist in estimating and as a design engineer for more than 30 years. Today's training workshop was useful for me, I learned new business trends and how I, through my activities, can contribute to the development of a green economy,” said Sayora Tashpulatov, another participant of the training workshop.

“I manage a family business. We have a sewing workshop, a hairdresser's, and a grocery store. I was inspired to learn about social entrepreneurship and a green economy. My business includes elements of social entrepreneurship - I provide temporary work for women who stay at home and care for children with disabilities. After the training workshop, I want to introduce the concept of a green economy in my business, and I already have ideas on how to do this,” said Gulmira Beisinova, a participant of the training workshop.

This training sessions were organized as a “Training of Trainers” to create a community of competent trainers. As a follow on project, every participant of the workshops will further train 6 people, and a total of 280 representatives of Namangan and Tashkent regions will gain new knowledge about women entrepreneurship.