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# 131
April 09, 2001

In this issue:


DECENTRALIZATION

  • Regional Level Training for District Assembly Deputies

EDUCATION

  • Open Door Day in Karakol Adult Training Center

GENDER IN DEVELOPMENT

  • 6th Donors' Gender Coordination Meeting
  • Update on UNDP Women in Leadership program progress in Kyrgyzstan
  • Gender and media

NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS

  • Update on Counterpart Consortium/USAID/UNDP/UNHCR/EU-Supported NGO activities

SUPPORT TO PARLIAMENT

  • Round table of Kyrgyz Parliament with mass media
  • Training seminar for staff and MPs assistants of the People's Assembly

DECENTRALIZATION

Regional Level Training Held for District Assembly (Kenesh) Deputies in Three Provinces. In line with the objective of the UNDP Kyrgyzstan Decentralization Programme to enhance the capabilities of District assembly members, a 2-day training on Local Self-governance and the Functional Status of Raiyon Kenesh Deputies was held for a total of 138 deputies working in all six pilot districts of Talas, Osh and Jalal-Abad provinces. Designed in response to the expressed training needs gathered from the deputies through individual and group interviews, the objective of the training programme was to acquaint the deputies with the necessary knowledge and skills to competently undertake participatory and transparent methods of decentralized development initiatives and forge linkages with their locally established self-governing Community Based Organizations.

The training programmes were officially opened by the Governors and Chairpersons of the province assemblies. The training programme covered the subject areas related to the structure of the State Government system in the Kyrgyz Republic, the concept of decentralization, the functional status of District Kenesh deputies, including their powers, rights and responsibilities and role within the development of local self-governance, the division of powers between deputies working at the province, district and village levels and the mutual working relationship between the same bodies and complexities of budgets of local communities as well as the legal basis of local self-governance. During the training sessions, Programme UNVs shared their experiences of decentralization Programme focusing on the concept and process of mobilizing communities and planning local development projects in a participatory manner. The participants also visited pilot villages to view first-hand local development initiatives identified and realized by local CBOs. The participating deputies used this opportunity to hold a dialogue with the members of local CBOs. As a conclusion to the programme, the deputies worked in groups to discuss and develop plans for the future activities of the District Kenesh, determining and illustrating how they would apply the knowledge that they had gained in the 2-day training. The training was organized by Regional Project Implementation Units with the support of the Project Manager, Program consultants and CLC staff who delivered lectures on various topics.

The Chairperson of Talas District Kenesh, Mr. Kanat Nartayev, had the following to say about the training: “The training was important for developing the capacities of the District Kenesh deputies as the topics were related to the daily work of the deputies. I hope this training will help the deputies to participate in all activities of the programme, especially in the mobilization of the community for their development. I hope that the deputies will be active in the daily activities of the Aiyl Okmotu (rural councils) where they have been elected and will transfer the knowledge they have gained to the communities in their own areas.”

Contact: UNDP/UNV Decentralization Program, Mr. Kalyan Pandey, Chief Technical Advisor, Government House, 205 Prospekt Chui, Bishkek. Phone: (996 312) 66-00-80, E-mail: General information on the UNDP/UNV Decentralization Program can be found on the UNDP Internet homepage at http://www.undp.kg/ (see'UNDP activities') and DP Internet webpage: www.dppiu.elcat.kg

EDUCATION

Learn to defend workers' rights. March 2 became Open Door Day in Karakol Adult Training Center (Funded by Danida), organized by Adult Training Center and Issyk-Kul Regional Trade Union Council. The objective of the event was to increase population’s awareness within legislation and Trade Union activities. About 50 visitors received professional consultations from Regional Trade Union Council specialists and trainers of the Adult Training Center in the Labor Code, Pension Law, Labor safety, Social insurance and others. Visitors were also instructed what to do and how to react in case of violation of their rights in mentioned areas. They were also provided with materials within interested area. The event was publicly announced and the Center was opened for everyone at that day. The knowledge received will help people to be more confident when defending their rights and more actively participate in society processes.

Contact: Abdrahmanov Stalbek, Karakol ATC Director, Karakol Yesenina street, 1, tel: +996 3922 51515, e-mail: , or Yuri Didenko, ATC National Director, 27 Molodaya Gvardia, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Tel: +996-312 24-36-10, 65-12-14. Fax: +996-312 65-20-77. E-mail: , Web-site www.atc.kg in Kyrgyz, Russian and English was opened recently.

GENDER IN DEVELOPMENT

The 6th Donors’ Gender Coordination Meeting. The event was hosted by the GID Bureau on 2 March and brought together representatives of twenty international organizations active in gender-related programming. It was for the first time that a representative of the government (Ministry of Labor and Social Protection) participated in the meeting. As usual, during the meeting the hosting agency provided brief update on its activities and then there was an opportunity for all participants to talk about their on-going and planned projects.

Collaboration among donor agencies in gender-related programming has improved since last year but still has potential to grow. The donors’ gender coordination meetings were helpful in raising awareness among donors themselves of the necessity to be more gender sensitive in their programming.

The donors’ gender coordination meetings provide a good forum for information exchange and help to stimulate joint activities and avoid duplication. For example, the relationship between UNDP GID Bureau and Soros Foundation may serve as a model for demonstrating the potential of partnerships based on sharing knowledge and developing synergies: two organizations jointly organized Gender & Media training for 60 journalists recently (see information below). The next donors’ gender coordination meeting will take place at the new UN House, tentatively late May or early June 2001.

"100 percent more women in politics!" Under this lively title, a project with objective to strengthen potential of women-parliamentarians and women elected at local level, enhance solidarity to promote women’s political leadership and cooperation between women and men in politics, was launched last fall by the UNDP Gender in Development Bureau in close collaboration with the Swedish consultancy firm Springboard. The project is financed by SIDA.

The process of transition from centrally planned to market economy accompanied by abolition of quotas existing during the Soviet regime, resulted in drastic drop of representation of women in electoral bodies. This tendency is relevant for all CIS and Kyrgyzstan too. Training and exchange of experience is needed as well as the knowledge about the correlation between economic growth and women’s participation in politics. Among the first project activities was a study tour of women-parliamentarians to Sweden in November last year.

A more recent activity took place in Kyrgyzstan in March and was conducted as a follow-up seminars which brought together women-parliamentarians, women elected at local level, women's NGO members, women-entrepreneurs, women-voters, and media. Two rounds of seminars were held – in Osh and in Bishkek, with participation of more than 70 women, mostly deputies of provincial, city and district councils. “It is the first time when women-parliamentarians come together with a sole purpose to meet with us, and spend time together discussing many issues of mutual interest”, said one of the seminar participant, a woman-deputy of one of the regional councils. Swedish consultants contributed to the success of the seminars by sharing their experiences, which helped them to achieve one of the highest rates in the world in representation of women in Parliament.

Gender & Media. The UNDP-supported Women in Leadership project implemented by the Gender in Development Bureau continues to pay great attention to the activities towards gender sensitization of the media in Kyrgyzstan. Since the beginning of the project more than one hundred journalists have been provided intensive training in gender issues. Recent workshops were organized in close collaboration with the Soros Foundation – Kyrgyzstan who invited as trainers famous journalists from Moscow, with a proven record in advancing women’s rights. Nadezhda Azhgikhina, contributor to the Russian newspaper “Nezavisimaya Gazeta”, conducted the workshop together with her colleague, Svetlana Svistunova from TV-6 network. The workshops brought together female and male journalists from all over Kyrgyzstan and helped them in better understanding of gender concept to provide sensitive media coverage. Trained journalists have been invited to participate in the media contest announced by the GID Bureau and the Soros Foundation for the best product in gender subject.

Contact: Ms. Dona Abdurazakova, Gender Specialist, , UNDP Gender in Development Bureau, 24 Isanova St., Bishkek, tel.: 66 04 18; 66 38 85

NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS

Update on Counterpart Consortium/USAID/UNDP/ UNHCR/EU-Supported NGO activities. The workshop on Trafficking of Women and Children was held in the Issyk-Kul Hotel on March 26-27, 2001. The workshop was held by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in collaboration with Counterpart Consortium through funding provided by USAID. The workshop gathered 70 participants representing governmental agencies, women’s non-profit organizations, tourist and marriage agencies, mass media, international organizations and embassies accredited in the Kyrgyz Republic. The purpose of the workshop was to exchange information and experience in addressing the problems of trafficking, raise public awareness and discuss methods for coordinating efforts of the governmental and non-governmental sectors. The head of tkanhe IOM mission from Ukraine and an expert from the International Center “La Strada Ukraine” were invited to make a prevention of pilot projects on trafficking of women held in Ukraine and Poland. The workshop was the third one in the series of workshops and round tables, which will result in an Action Plan to prevent trafficking of women and children in Kyrgyzstan. The plan will envisage participation of all sectors of society.

The next seminar under the same program was held in Osh on March 28, 2001 in the building of local administration. The seminar was attended by 55 participants representing governmental agencies, non-profit organizations and mass media. Short presentations were made by Mr. I. Masaitov, head of Osh regional administration, Ms. Kakoli Rey, head of the IOM mission in Bishkek, and Mr. E. Kasybekov, Country Director for Counterpart Consortium. The participants summarized the results of the previous round table meetings and workshops dedicated to trafficking of women and children. They also discussed participation of law enforcement agencies and non-profit organizations in the program, as well as discussed case studies. An expet from “La-Strada Ukraine” NGO made a presentation on a pilot project in Ukraine and NGO collaboration with international, governmental and non-governmental organizations while implementing the project.

A series of training workshops was held last week under the Program of Civil Society and NGO Development in the Central Asia Region that is funded through USAID. A three-day training in Project Design was held on March 26-29, 2001 in Naryn by the Civil Society Support Center (CSSC). 26 NGO and CBO representatives participated in the workshop. The purpose of this training is to train in how develop logical, reasonable and justifiable project proposals that meet the requirements of Counterpart and other donors to receive funding and resources for a project. Some other issues were emphasized at the workshop such as:

  • information contained in applications received from donor organizations
  • methods of data collection
  • problem statement
  • setting project goals and objectives
  • drafting a project implementation plan
  • developing a project work plan and evaluating project resources
  • developing and justifying the project budget
  • monitoring and evaluating the project

22 representatives from NGOs, governmental bodies and the Association of self-help groups participated in the training workshop on Fundraising, which was initiated by the Civil Society Support Center in Kant. The workshop was held on March 27-28, 2001. During two day training the participants discussed issues such as:

  • Fundraising and its role in the NGO development
  • Marketing approach to raining funds and other resources
  • Fundraising methodology and alternatives
  • Effective fundraising: stages and techniques
  • Fundraising ethics and ideal fundraiser

A training workshop “NGO and Community” was held in Kara-Balta on March 15-16, 2001 under the Program of Civil Society and NGO Development in the Central Asia Region that is funded through USAID. It was organized by the CSSC "Consulting" (Kara-Balta) for 19 representatives of NGOs, governmental agencies and farmers. This 2-day training helped the participants analyzed the relationships between NGOs and various surrounding components, the place and the role of NGOs in democracy and civil society. They also discussed issues such as:

  • NGO mission, clients and environment
  • Value of NGO activities for the customers
  • NGO sustainability

On March 28, 2001 the Kant CSSC in collaboration with Counterpart Consortium conducted a Participatory Community Appraisal workshop in the Ivanonka village, Kant region. The purpose of the workshop was to identify problems that local communities faced with. The workshop was held with the participation of villagers and local governing bodies. The training was held by facilitators from local NGOs such as Sairon, Alga, Makendyshtyr. All of them were trained by Counterpart Consortium in PCA techniques. The workshop was held under Community Mobilization Program implemented by Counterpart Consortium funded through USAID and European Commission project “Building Capacity of Local Communities in Civil Society”. 45 villagers participated in the workshop.

A three-day training “Building Capacity on NGOs/CBOs working in the social sector” tool place in Talas on April 2-4, 2001. The workshop was held in the building of educational center "Meerim" and was funded by the UNDP project "Gender in Development". 12 participants from 4 NGOs and 8 self-assistance groups participated in the workshop. The workshop was held by a representative of Counterpart Consortium and a UNV from the Batken Region. At the workshop the following issues were discussed:

  • organizational management (goals, functions, principles of management, the use of strategic planning, project cycle, volunteer management)
  • financial management (major concepts of financial management, discussing activities of a model organization, budget line items, types of NGO/CBO incomes, paid services as a source of revenue, development of an annual budget, financial reports and audit)
  • fundraising (definition and alternatives of fundraising, defining sources of fundraising, major stages of fundraising, criteria of sustainable development)

A workshop on facilitation skills was held in Jalal-Abad on April 5-6, 2001 under Counterpart Consortium Program of Civil Society and NGO Development in the Central Asia Region, which is funded through USAID. The training was organized by the Civil Society Support Center of the Jalal-Abad Region. The workshop was attended by 17 participants representing non-profit organizations, governmental bodies and students of the volunteer center. The participants considered a series of issues. - defined characteristics of facilitation process - discussed methods of making group decisions - discussed why it is important to be prepared for facilitating at a meeting - discussed the process of facilitation The participants practiced in small group discussions and in the end of the workshop talked about skills and knowledge they acquired and in what kind of situations they may apply them. The training was held under Counterpart Consortium training program funded through USAID.

Civil Society Support Center (CSSC) in Batken initiated the event, which helped to identify ethnic problems among women in two countries – Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. On March 30, a Kyrgyz-Tajik friendship festival was held in Batken. It was a final point in implementation of a cooperative project that made women more active in preventive ethnic conflicts. The project was funded by Soros Foundation and implemented jointly by four non-governmental organizations – “Aylzat” Osh Regional Center of Women’s Initiatives, Omur Balagy Public Association (Batken), Ayal Jana Ui-Buloo Public Association (Leilek area), Irshod Public Association (Isphara, Tajikistan). A series of conflict resolution workshops was held under the framework of the project. The purpose of the festival was to revive and strengthen friendly relations between the two countries. The festival was attended by 30 women – leaders from the south of Kyrgyzstan, the CSSC members and more than 20 women-leaders from Tajikistan representing women’s NGOs, regional and local governing bodies. The participants offered to conduct more activities of this type, establish cultural exchange programs and strengthen partnership relations not only among NGOs but also among businesses and governmental agencies.

Contact: Counterpart Consortium, Lilia Kuchenova, IU/AUK Program Coordinator, Information Coordinator of NGO, 107 Kievskaya str., 5th floor, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Phone: 996(312) 610 135, 610 022, 664 636 Fax: 996(312) 610 021 Email: Internet: http://www.cango.net.kg/

SUPPORT TO PARLIAMENT

Round table of Kyrgyz Parliament with mass media. Rainy clouds enveloped the mountain tourist centre Kashka-Suu 30 km to the south of Bishkek, where on March 28 nine Members of Parliament (MPs) conferred with about 30 representatives of press, radio and television to build a bridges between parliament and mass media. Parliament, being the most open to media and public institution in Kyrgyzstan, deserved better treatment from mass media, which often demonstrated a biased attitude to the legislature, pointed out Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Mr. Omurbek Tekebaev and a number of other Parliamentarians speaking at the round table. There was a tendency to construct an image of Jogorku Kenesh, the Parliament of Kyrgyzstan, as an expensive appendage to the state machinery of the country, whose members were mostly engaged in pursuing their own private interests. Likewise, the executive power was accused of trying to tame mass media suppressing the opposition press economically and through legal action. Two MPs, who formerly belonged to the journalist guild, spoke of the need for better professional coverage of parliament in mass media and of changes in the legal framework for mass media they were discussing in the House committees. Both the MPs and journalists argued heatedly on the easing the tax burden of mass media the point of contention being VAT or all other taxes that should be lifted. The journalists called on the parliamentarians to improve their access to parliamentary information and to defend the opposition organs of press that were on the point of closure by the government. The participants also heard the views of Mr. Scott Kearin, NDI, and Ms. Olga Grebennikova, UNDP, on the status of mass media and its relations with the legislators in a democratic society. The speakers expressed their concern over the difficulties in accessing public information in the rural areas where 65% of the population reside. The outcome of the discussions was mutual consent that both the Parliament and mass media needed each other as guarantors of democracy and freedom, and that similar meetings should be held regularly in future.

Training seminar for staff and MPs assistants of the People's Assembly. In a drive to raise professionalism of Parliament, a two-day seminar was held on 29-30 March in Jogorku Kenesh, the Parliament of Kyrgyzstan, for staff and regional assistants of the People's Assembly (PA) members on issues of support to parliamentary committees and the House activities. The seminar was opened by the People's Assembly Speaker Mr. A. Borubaev. About 60 participants heard presentations on the status of economic and land reform in the country, delivered by representatives of academia and the government, on parliamentary support services in Norway, Germany, the Philippines and Thailand by the PA secretariat members as well as by the IPU consultant Mr. Gunnar Hals, permanent Secretary of the Storting (Norway) Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs. Legal and procedural issues of MPs work with the constituents and government officials were actively discussed. The PA Secretariat department managers spoke of the tasks and forms of work of their departments and answered numerous questions of the regional assistants of MPs. The seminar was a follow-up to a one-day seminar for the PA members’ assistants conducted in September 2000 also with support of the UNDP project.

Contact: UNDP Support to Parliament projects. Mr. Alexey Kashpur, Project Manager. Tel: 996 312 66-47-72, Fax: 996 312 66-47-73, E-mail:


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