Lean Environmental Solutions

Guide · Kyrgyzstan

Organising together

One farm can't stop a mudflow. A valley that plans together can warn early, move animals in time, share shelter and tools, and speak to the authorities with one voice. This guide shows how to organise: households, village teams and regional clusters, linked across regions by LES.

Who and when

Any village, pasture group or valley. Start in a quiet season, well before the risky months. The first meeting needs nothing but people and paper.

Right now

Right now (autumn 2026)

  • Kyrgyzstan already has local structures you can build on: the ayil okmotu, local emergency committees, pasture committees, water users' associations and the Red Crescent's branches. The law allows search-and-rescue teams made up of volunteers.
  • Money from abroad brings registration rules for groups (see the guide "Getting heard"). Start informally, and talk to a lawyer before taking foreign money.

The shape: four levels

  1. Household. Each family knows where it meets, what it takes, and what happens to the animals.
  2. Village team. A small team of 5 to 9 people, each with a clear job and a backup.
  3. Regional cluster. The villages that share a valley, a river or a pasture. One or two people from each village. They share warnings, shelters, tools and labour, and speak together.
  4. Network. LES links the clusters across regions and countries. Farm checks show patterns, the knowledge bank shares what works, and remote volunteers help where outside skills change things.

Why cluster by valley or river? The danger follows the water and the slopes. A village upstream sees the river rise first and can warn the villages below. Shared pastures, roads and canals mean shared risks, so the plan has to be shared too.

Before

Before: set it up

1. Form the village team (one meeting)

RoleWhat they do
Lead (and deputy)Calls meetings, keeps the plan, talks to the ayil okmotu
Warning and phone treeWatches forecasts and the river, runs the phone tree and the agreed signal
Evacuation and shelterMeeting points, safe routes, where people sleep
Animals and feedWhere animals go, emergency feed, who helps move them
People who need helpA private list of the old, sick, disabled and children alone, and who checks on each one
First aidKit, training, the nearest clinic
Supplies and toolsShovels, sandbags, ropes, generator, fuel, and where they're kept
Records and factsPhoto log, damage records, papers for aid and insurance
Knowledge keeperAsks older farmers what worked before, and records it on the share page

One person can hold two roles. Every role has a backup. Include young and old, women and men.

2. Make the village plan (lean steps)

  1. Walk and map. Walk the village together and draw a map: the river, the slopes, safe high ground, the roads, the people who need help, and the tools.
  2. Seasonal calendar. Mark the months for each risk: floods, mudflows, frost, heat, hard winter, fire.
  3. Pick the top three. Not everything at once. Choose the three risks that would hurt most and are most likely (Pareto).
  4. Choose actions. For each risk, list fixes and sort them: big win and small effort first (the PICK chart).
  5. Write the emergency plan. One page: who does what when the warning comes (template below).
  6. Practise. Run a drill and time it from the first call to the last household. Then find the slowest step and fix it.

3. Form the regional cluster (one meeting per season)

  1. Invite one or two people from each village team in the valley.
  2. Warning chain. Upstream villages warn the ones below. Agree who calls whom, and a backup if the phones are down.
  3. Shared shelters and pastures. Which village takes people and animals if another floods?
  4. A tool pool. A shared list of machines, trucks, generators and skilled people.
  5. Help agreements. "If your village is hit, ours sends hands for three days." Write it down and sign it.
  6. One voice. Agree who speaks for the cluster to the authorities, companies and the press, and on what.
  7. Fill the gaps together. Find what no single village can fix: a shared road, the riverbank, an early-warning radio. That's where outside help can change things.
During

During: when it hits

  1. Upstream warns downstream through the warning chain. Don't wait to be sure.
  2. Each village team follows its one-page plan.
  3. The people-who-need-help list is checked first.
  4. The cluster leads share what's needed and what's free: shelter, trucks, hands.
  5. The records person starts the photo log at once.
After

After: recover

First days

  • Account for every household and every animal.
  • Pool tools and labour across the cluster.
  • Keep records of the damage with dates and photos, for aid, insurance and future planning.

First weeks

  • Hold a review in each village and then in the cluster: what worked, what was slow, who was missed.
  • Update the plans, the maps and the phone tree.
Build back better

Build back better

  • Make the cluster meeting a habit, once before each risky season.
  • Fix the shared weak points first: the riverbank, the one road, the single bridge.
  • Bring young farmers into every team, so the knowledge and the roles carry on.
  • Share what worked through the LES knowledge bank, so other clusters can copy it.
Templates

Templates

A. One-page village plan

  • Our top three risks:
  • How we hear the warning (forecast, upstream village, signal):
  • Who does what (roles and backups):
  • Where we go (meeting points, shelter):
  • Our animals (where they go, who moves them):
  • Who needs help, and who checks on them (keep the list private):
  • Supplies and where they are:
  • Contacts (team, cluster, ayil okmotu, emergency number 112; check it works where you are):
  • Next drill date:

B. Cluster agreement

  • Villages in the cluster:
  • Warning chain (who calls whom, and the backup):
  • Shared shelters and pastures:
  • Tool pool:
  • Help we promise each other:
  • Who speaks for the cluster:
  • Meeting dates:
  • Signed (one person for each village):

What the farm check looks for

Villages with no warning link to the village upstream, farms where one person holds all the knowledge, and patterns across many farm checks in one valley, which show a shared problem a cluster could solve together.

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Sources