Pushing the Boundaries

As a teacher with many years of experience, I am always interested in adopting innovation into my teaching. At one time I led a team which developed and successfully launched a credit-based study system for students at Kazakh-American University in 1998. Now, leading seminars and trainings for an adult audience is my primary work, and I am always on the look-out for new approaches.

In March 2014, I participated in a webinar on “Conducting Effective Webinars”, organized by the Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia as part of the Initiative for NGO Expert Development, supported by Chevron.

Then in May of this year, EFCA held a competition for interested trainers to hold a webinar on the theme “NGO Development through Social Partnership.” My application was selected and, with the professional support of expert trainer Makhabbat Yespenova, I conducted the webinar on “NGO Development through Social Partnership”, which received high marks from participants, representing NGOs from across Kazakhstan.

I couldn’t stop there, as skills and lessons learned are meant to be shared and further developed! So, I decided to participate in a government social contracting tender for NGO capacity building activities, including webinars, held by the “NGO School” program of the Department of Internal Policy of Almaty Oblast - and won.

In June 2015, we conducted webinars for NGO representatives from Almaty oblast on “Social Partnership for NGO Development”. There was a large number of NGOs who expressed interest in participating, though unfortunately, many NGO representatives have limited computer and internet access.

In addition, I very much liked the EFCA webinars on entrepreneurship development for NGOs as an opportunity for financial sustainability, conducted in May 2015 by trainer Nathan Kous. I so enjoyed communicating with marketing guru / specialist for increasing profit / successful consultant / “Best Business Trainer in Israel.” I plan to use the skills and knowledge I gained in my own seminars, trainings, and webinars with NGO representatives, as well as try opportunities to develop social entrepreneurship for the financial sustainability of my own public association.

It seems to me that the key to success of any idea you want to implement is a constant search for ways to implement it. Use any opportunity (in my case, the invitation of the Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia to participate in webinars) to develop your dream! Be true to your goal, no matter what!

May all of your dreams come true!

Thank you to Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia and Chevron for such useful projects, which make a genuine contribution to the development of civil society!

Nurzhauar Issayeva