"I am very pleased to present this edition of the Common Country Assessment (CCA) which is the outcome of a collaborative process involving all the members of the UN family in the Kyrgyz Republic.

The CCA process has involved a thorough analysis of development issues facing the Republic. In particular, it has drawn upon the country's first Progress Report towards achieving the Millenium Development Goals, the Comprehensive Development Framework and the National Poverty Reduction Strategy. The UNDP's National Human Development Reports, the World Bank's Country Assistance Strategy, Mid-term Reviews of UNICEF and UNFPA and many other studies and reports by international and national organizations have also been consulted in preparing the CCA. Taking as its starting point the quotation from the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, the CCA addresses the human rights dimensions of development in the country and examines the impediments to rights fulfilment for poor and vulnerable individuals in the Kyrgyz Republic. It then lays out strategies that are required to guarantee rights for all Kyrgyz citizens and identifies the UN's niche within these strategies.

The CCA exercise is a key component of UN reform, which seeks to strengthen the work of the UN in the 21st century and, in particular, create greater harmonization and joint programming between the different UN agencies. In this respect, the process through which the CCA has been prepared has been just as important as the product itself. From the very beginning, all UN agencies working in the Kyrgyz Republic, including the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, have made active contributions to the development of this CCA. Drafts have also been shared with non-resident UN agencies and Regional Offices for their inputs. I am indeed grateful for these wide-ranging contributions which have served to strengthen the CCA as well as the existing partnerships between the agencies.

The UN family firmly believes that the new edition of the CCA will be a valuable tool for the UN system to formulate its medium-term programme to provide optimal assistance to the Kyrgyz Republic towards social and economic development. The next step will be to prepare the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) together with governmental and civil society partners and further refine the priorities and proposed outcomes of the UN's work. Making rights a reality for every citizen of the Republic will be the driving force of our mission."

Jerzy Skuratowicz,
United Nations Resident Co-ordinator in the Kyrgyz Republic

Click here to download updated CCA 2003 (one file (0.9MB) incl. text and statistics).