A regional travel fund to enable local communities, stewards of biocultural diversity and their allies to participate in and contribute to major global and regional meetings, conferences, events and exchanges, and strengthen the local capacity to advance BCD field and provide logistical support for delegates of the Fifth Regional Learning Exchange of International Network of Mountain Indigenous Peoples (INMIP) which will take place in Kyrgyzstan. Thanks to the TCF support within the Regional Travel Fund Program from 2014 to 2018, over 312 delegates from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan were provided with unique learning opportunities to gain and share the best practices and knowledge through participation at 53 global/international and 13 regional events/study tours/peer-to-peer learning exchanges. As a result, this has helped them strengthen their national identity and practice and revitalize their traditional knowledge and philosophies through their manifestation and sharing with the global community. This project is the next phase of capacity building and network strengthening of NGOs working on a grass root level in the BCD field based on our previous experience of the same nature during 2014-2018 period and a 6-year experience of supporting local initiatives and several interventions funded by TCF and Institute of International Education (IIE) (2012-2015). 

The Project provides local NGOs, especially on a grass root level, with support to have the first person voices, experiences and insights of local communities in the policies and forums that concern biocultural diversity at a global level. We believe that this Project will strengthen the local capacities and create a learning network for experience and best practice exchange by linking NGOs from Central Asia with international networks/institutions and grass root groups. We believe that the practice exchange and networking building is a key approach to the BCD promotion in the Central Asia, particularly in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.