A newly published book chapter by researchers and practitioners at the GLORI Foundation and Columbia University documents ten years of implementing the Women Initiating New Goals of Safety (WINGS) intervention in Kyrgyzstan, offering a detailed case study of how a community-driven, evidence-based gender-based violence (GBV) prevention model can be sustained, scaled, and adapted in a resource-limited setting.

The Problem: GBV Among Kyrgyzstan’s Most Marginalised Women

Gender-based violence remains a serious public health crisis in Kyrgyzstan. Women who use drugs and women engaged in sex work face especially elevated rates of IPV, with research showing that nearly 80% of women who use drugs experienced violence from intimate partners in a single year, and 68% of sex workers reported experiencing violence from law enforcement. Fear of discrimination and criminalisation often prevents these women from seeking help, creating a cycle in which violence and substance use reinforce one another.

When WINGS was first piloted in Kyrgyzstan in 2013, no sustainable, evidence-based mechanisms existed for changing behavioural norms around violence among government agencies, local communities, or survivors’ social networks.

About the WINGS Intervention

WINGS is a screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) model delivered in one to two individual sessions by trained non-specialist facilitators. Its core components include psychoeducation on the types and dynamics of GBV and IPV, structured screening to identify violence, motivational support and safety planning, goal setting, and linkage to relevant health and social services. In Kyrgyzstan, the model was further adapted to include optional overdose prevention training — reflecting the documented link between GBV exposure and drug overdose risk among women who use drugs.

WINGS was originally developed by Dr Louisa Gilbert and colleagues at the Columbia University Social Intervention Group in the United States, and adapted for the Kyrgyz context through extensive community engagement and collaboration between the GLORI Foundation and local NGO partners.

Key Milestones: 2013 to Present

WINGS of Hope (2013–2016)

The GLORI Foundation, with NGO partners Asteria and Podruga and support from Open Society Foundations and Soros Foundation Kyrgyzstan, launched the first WINGS pilot with women who use drugs in Bishkek and Osh. Between 2013 and 2016, 213 women received services. Participating women demonstrated significant reductions in all types of GBV and IPV, reductions in substance use, improved safety planning skills, and increased use of GBV-related referral services.

WINGS SUNFLOWER (2019)

In partnership with UNDP and six non-government crisis centers, GLORI integrated the WINGS model with South Korea’s Sunflower Center one-stop service framework, expanding multi-disciplinary GBV services to a single-location model. In the first year alone, more than 100 women received services. The project strengthened collaboration between NGOs and the Ministries of Internal Affairs and Labour and Social Development.

Rural WINGS (2023)

Supported by a grant from the BEARR Trust, the Chance Crisis Center and GLORI Foundation brought the WINGS methodology to the rural Moskovsky district of Chu Region — a community of more than 100,000 people with no crisis centers and limited access to trained psychologists. Municipal social protection agency staff were trained as facilitators, demonstrating the model’s adaptability to government infrastructure in underserved rural areas.

A Growing National Network

The number of agencies trained in the WINGS methodology grew from 2 in 2013 to 14 by 2022. Today, 14 WINGS Resource Centers (WRCs) operate across Kyrgyzstan — seven in Bishkek and Chu region, four in Osh, two in Karakol, and one in Naryn. Of these, four are advocacy and policy-making bodies and ten are frontline service providers. Three manage shelters. More than 1,000 women have received WINGS-specific services through this network.

A central feature of the network is the No Violence Coalition (NOVIC), a 35-member community advisory working group uniting NGO leadership, government ministry representatives, journalists, academics, and international donors. NOVIC members collaboratively pursue grant funding and advocacy campaigns to sustain and scale the WINGS model.

International Reach and Future Directions

Building on the Kyrgyz experience, WINGS has been adapted and implemented in the United States, India, Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Kenya, Indonesia, Georgia and Kazakhstan. In Kazakhstan, a fully computerised version of the intervention allows women to independently navigate all stages via smartphone or computer with interactive avatar guidance. The WINGS methodology is available in eight languages through an online resource center operated by the GLORI Foundation.

The authors identify several priority areas for future expansion: reaching border regions with high concentrations of labour migrants (currently underserved by any GBV-specific intervention), adapting the model for young people using novel psychoactive substances, and continuing efforts to integrate WINGS services into routine government-delivered care.

 

About the Organizations

GLORI Foundation (Global Research Institute, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan): The lead implementing and research organisation for WINGS in Kyrgyzstan and the Central Asia region.

Columbia University Social Intervention Group (New York, NY, USA): The original developers of the WINGS model, providing ongoing scientific, technical, and capacity-building support for international adaptation and implementation.

Funding

WINGS in Kyrgyzstan has been funded at various stages by the International Harm Reduction Development Program at Open Society Foundations, Soros Foundation Kyrgyzstan, UNDP in the Kyrgyz Republic, the Alliance for Public Health, and the BEARR Trust.

Citation

Nikitin, D., Bessonova, A., Gilbert, L., Jiwatram-Negron, T., & Terlikbayeva, A. (2024). WINGS in Kyrgyzstan: An Intervention for Gender-Based Violence Prevention. In Shadymanova (Ed.), NGO Involvement in Drug Treatment and Infectious Disease Prevention in Central Asia and China. Nomos.

 

Contact

Danil Nikitin

GLORI Foundation (Global Research Institute)

Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic