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Background: Knowledge management (KM) emerged as a strategy to promote evidence-informed decision-making. This scoping review aims to map existing KM tools and mechanisms used to promote evidence-informed health decision-making in the WHO European Region and identify knowledge gaps. Methods: Following the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) guidance for conducting scoping reviews, we searched Medline, PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane library, and Open Grey. We conducted a descriptive analysis of the general characteristics of the included papers and conducted narrative analysis of the included studies and categorized studies according to KM type and phase. Results: Out of 9541 citations identified, we included 141 studies. The KM tools mostly assessed are evidence networks, surveillance tools, observatories, data platforms and registries, with most examining KM tools in high-income countries of the WHO European region. Findings suggest that KM tools can identify health problems, inform health planning and resource allocation, increase the use of evidence by policymakers and stimulate policy discussion. Conclusion: Policymakers and funding agencies are called to support capacity-building activities, and future studies to strengthen KM in the WHO European region particularly in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. An updated over-arching strategy to coordinate KM activities in the WHO European region will be useful in these efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to introduce different views regarding the concept of adaptive capacity in water governance and unpack it in the Central Asian context, specifically. The desk study research built on the recommendations provided by the academia, policy papers and by experts on enhancing adaptive water governance. The juxtaposition of the three sets of recommendations demonstrates that the further strengthening of IWRM, as well as experimental approach to resource management, improved access to climate knowledge and disaster risk reduction mechanisms can consolidate the adaptive capacities of Central Asian water governance systems. The research was limited by the specific set of selected opinions and should be expanded in the future. As a practical outcome, the analysis aimed to provide the decision-makers in Central Asian states with better science-based avenues to planning adaptation measures ensuite the water sector. Thus, the study can be considered a stepping stone in the discussion on the adaptive capacities of water governance in the Central Asian region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We study the relationship between women's empowerment and adherence to recommended infant and young child feeding practices in Central Asia. • We simultaneously analyze three dimensions of empowerment: attitude toward domestic violence, social independence and decision-making power. • Woman's decision-making power—a measure of her instrumental agency—predicts greater adherence to recommended IYCF practices. • A woman's attitude toward domestic violence and social independence are not consistent predictors of adherence to recommended IYCF practices. • Associations between decision-making power and IYCF practices vary little with child gender, cohabitation with one's mother-in-law, or wealth. This paper examines the relationship between women's empowerment and infant and young child feeding practices in Central Asia using Demographic and Health Survey datasets collected during 1995–2017. We employ a measure of women's empowerment with three dimensions that is available for many recent surveys as well as a measure of decision-making power over use of one's own income present for income-earning mothers in all surveys. We identify a positive association between a woman's decision-making power—a measure of her instrumental agency—and adherence to World Health Organization–recommended feeding practices. We find little significant association between a woman's attitude toward domestic violence, or her degree of social independence, and adherence to recommended feeding practices. Our results further show that the association between women's decision-making power and feeding practices varies little with child gender, whether or not she cohabitates with her mother-in-law, or household wealth. We thus provide evidence from Central Asia that policies and programs intended to empower women can improve child feeding practices, with similar benefits across a variety of household types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Islamist terrorism has become a grave problem in Central Asia. Terrorism has grown in scope, degree and frequency since 2001 despite strong countervailing forces, such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The ineffectiveness of the SCO in reducing terrorism is cause for puzzlement. The contention of this paper is that the SCO approach is not working because it fails to take into account the transnational nature of terrorism in Central Asia and the impact that this nature has on the incentives acting on each player state. Here we consider the impact of this transnational character on the player state and the terrorists in the geopolitical and motivational realms. Additionally, we will explore what further insights into the nature and boundaries of this phenomenon might be achieved by embedding it within the construct of modern game theory. Finally, the broad strokes of a policy prescription are painted in order to correct the underlying dynamic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transboundary regional infrastructure development projects are prone to multiple and multilevel challenges and risks due to the involvement of the multiple heterogeneous and diverse nature of stakeholders. It is necessary to look deeply to avoid any discrepancy in timely and sustainable construction and development of the projects of transboundary nature which involve multiple and diverse stakeholders. The study serves this purpose. The study uses the Graph Model of Conflict Resolution method used to conclude the most suitable and agreed-upon Transboundary Transportation Project based on the preferences of the most relevant stakeholders. The findings of the conflict analysis provide valuable insights for governments and policymakers involved in developing and implementing transboundary transport corridors as part of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation project. To strategize effectively in transboundary regional development initiatives, relevant stakeholders must be involved, and their preferences must be considered. This decision analysis adds to theory and practice by giving critical recommendations for the practical and long-term completion of such initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The article aims to examine the impact of women's decision-making power in families on their gender stereotypes about business executives in the promising but insufficiently explored regions of Central Europe (CE) and Central Asia (CA). Methodology: The study utilized multiple linear regression and Spearman's correlation coefficients to analyze survey data (No=6,869) from Central European (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia) and Central Asian states (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan). Findings: Central Asian women demonstrated stronger gender stereotypes about business executives compared to the Central European sample. Equally shared power in decision-making with a partner has a positive impact on weakening women's gender stereotypes about top managers. Men's unilateral decision-making correlates with their spouses' higher gender bias, whereas independent women's decisions do not reveal a relationship with their gender stereotypes. Research limitations: The study does not control respondents' marital and mother's status and excludes one of the Central Asian states, namely Turkmenistan. Research implications: Policymakers can use the present findings to forecast how familialist policies reproduce gender stereotypes and inhibit gender equality. The research complements the specificity of the vicious cycle linking gender roles and stereotypes in the context of CE and CA and expands the "family cage" phenomenon. Originality/value: First massive research on gender stereotypes about business executives embracing the Visegrad Group and four Central Asian states. The study discovers the internal aspect of family impact on women's views of top managers that has been neglected before. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The early grade reading assessment (EGRA) is frequently used in low and middle-income countries to inform the state of reading outcomes and reading instruction (Dubeck & Gove, 2015). Although the EGRA has been administered in languages with varying orthographies and scripts, there is little research on the cross-linguistic comparability of the psychometric properties of its subskills in a wide range of languages and diverse writing systems. In this study, Grade 2 and 4 assessment results in the Kyrgyz, Russian, and Tajik languages from the Kyrgyz Republic (4751 pupils) and Tajikistan (4328 pupils) were analyzed to determine the number and nature of the underlying EGRA constructs. These three languages represent very different languages families but all three use the Cyrillic or modified Cyrillic script. Principal axis factor analysis was employed on nationally representative samples to factor analyze reading results on nine reading subtasks for Grade 2 and seven reading subtasks for Grade 4. The results for all three languages indicate that the data structure confirms two common underlying reading constructs: decoding and language comprehension. By focusing our investigation on Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, we go beyond the "anglocentricities" (Share, 2008) and monolingualism inherent in the theoretical base that informs the development of many EGRAs. This is important not only for programmatic decision making and impact evaluation outcome measure identification, but also for the development and definition of literacy metrics that may be used in the measurement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) and other international development benchmarks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]