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 8 online events.  

French is the fifth language spoken in the world, the third language for business, spoken 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.

This year the Francophonie week will be launched in Bishkek on March 23 with the Swiss movie « Le jeu de l'amour et du hasard » (The game of love and chance) to be screened online at 17:30 in Zoom.  

Francophone Week includes various competitions of French song, dance, elocution and reading for children.

There will also be educational webinars: "Studying in France" (25 March at 11:00 am, webcast at Zoom) and "Studying at Francophone Universities" (25 March at 18:00 pm, webcast at Zoom).

The detailed program is presented below:

• French Alliance in Bishkek  - Facebook
  
• French Embassy Kyrgyzstan - webpage, Facebook
• Swiss Embassy Kyrgyzstan – Facebook

The funds will be used to support 80,000 people living in poverty. They will receive cash assistance in urban areas, with a possibility to participate in creating community assets and skills trainings for better job prospects and enhanced income opportunities. This approach will ensure that not only assistance is extended to the people whose livelihoods were impacted by the Pandemic adverse effects, but also give appropriate tools to make them better prepared and resilient to the future stresses. 

WFP in partnership with the Ministry of Labour and Social Development will prioritize poor families who have lost their incomes and are forced to deplete family assets to meet their basic food needs and reduce expenses for other essential services.

“The Swiss Government and people of Switzerland are proud to stand together with Kyrgyzstan in supporting the most vulnerable people who are hit by the COVID-19 crises,” said Ambassador of Switzerland to the Kyrgyz Republic Véronique Hulmann. “Our partnership with WFP will support poorest families to sustain their livelihood through these difficult times.” 

“Thanks to the generous contribution from the Government of Switzerland, WFP is able to provide cash assistance to food insecure people in the urban and semi-urban areas giving them the freedom of choice with the added value of creating demand in the local markets” - remarked Andrea Bagnoli, WFP Country Director for the Kyrgyz Republic.

In April 2020, as an immediate response, Switzerland through WFP had already allocated CHF 200’000 to support social inpatient institutions and boarding schools across the country, benefiting more than 3’000 people (orphans, elderly and people with disabilities) for three months.