In this issue:

UNDP SOCIAL GOVERNANCE PROGRAMME

• NGO Component of Social PASD

UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND

• Distribution of training literature

UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES

• The Last Overland Repatriation of Refugees to Tajikistan
• UNHCR/UNFPA joint project on HIV/AIDS awareness among refugees

MASS MEDIA

• A Training Seminar on Problems of Drug Abuse for Local Journalists

NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS

• The Central Asian Conference "An Effective Governance as One of the Key Factors of Sustainable Development of Noncommercial Organizations" held in Almaty
• A "Strengthening collaboration of NGOs in solution of social and economic problems" Round Table held in Osh
• A round table on voluntary movement in Kyrgyzstan held in Osh

UNDP SOCIAL GOVERNANCE PROGRAMME

NGO Component of Social PASD. The UNDP Social Governance Programme is planning to organize a National Information Sharing Workshop 22 November 2001 in Bishkek. The workshop will help to overview the NGO component activities nation-wide and interactively discuss the successes and drawbacks of the component implementation process with the purpose of analyzing lessons learnt for the next component phase. The UNDP Social Governance PMU has been implementing the NGO Component since October 1999. The Component is financed by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) and aimed at building organizational capacity of NGOs and CBOs through training and grant exercise. To date, the Component is close to its end, and the Component team is analyzing status and further sustainability of 55 social infrastructure projects, implemented within the Component and located in all 7 oblasts of Kyrgyzstan. Several NGO support organizations and donors will be invited to the workshop to present their NGO support programs and to be linked with the Component’s beneficiary NGO/CBO. This is believed to strengthen NGO/CBO sustainability. Besides, the workshop is meant for information and experience sharing purposes and called to strengthen information component of the project. The workshop is a one-day event and will be attended by 31 participants from all provinces of Kyrgyzstan. Selected were those NGO/CBO, who completed grant projects financed by SIDA within NGO Component of the PASD and expressed interest in further rehabilitation of social infrastructure in their communities and already have taken initiatives.

Contact: Ms. Aikan Mukanbetova, UNDP Social Governance Programme Task Manager. Email: . Phone: (996 312) 66-38-85.

UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND

Distribution of training literature. 16 November United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Kyrgyzstan made a present to Kyrgyz Russian Slavic University – a set of educational and training literature. The materials were passed to the Information Centre of international organizations for further distribution to departments of the University and a library. Along with the Law of the Kyrgyz Republic on Reproductive Rights, which was elaborated and printed with UNFPA support, the Fund presented demographic and statistical collections of European and Asian countries, materials of the latest international conferences on population, development, environment, books on gender etc. Upon request of KRSU UNFPA presented books not only in Russian but also in Kyrgyz, English and Arabic. They will be used by the students of foreign languages department and oriental studies department. To increase awareness of students about the family planning methods and prevention of HIV/AIDS as well as of sexually transmitted diseases, UNFPA presented brochures and pamphlets describing the contraceptive methods. According to University’s employees these materials evoke great interest and are much in demand.

Contact: Ms. Anastasiya Toropova, UNFPA Population Development Strategy (PDS)/Public Information Assistant. E-mail: . Phone: (996 312) 61 12 13.

UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES

The Last Overland Repatriation to Tajikistan. In early November, a group of 89 Tajik refugees from both northern and southern Kyrgyzstan repatriated overland from Osh to Murgab (5 persons) and Jerghital (84 persons) areas of Tajikistan. Refugee belongings were transported by specially contracted trucks. The repatriation convoy was accompanied by UNHCR and Department of Migration Services representatives, who reported a problem at the mountain range on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border. A strong snowfall made the clay road difficult to pass, so the refugee buses stuck in the mud. The problem was resolved with the assistance of the Kyrgyz border customs office, which provided caterpillar tractors to drive out the buses. All returnees have safely arrived to their final destination. It was the last overland repatriation of Tajik refugees in 2001, as climatic conditions in the area will not further allow the safe repatriation through high mountainous ranges. This repatriation brought a total of 1,127 Tajik refugees repatriated home in 2001, while over 5,000 people left for their motherland during the three years of the voluntary repatriation of Tajik refugees programme’s implementation. Although UNHCR in Kyrgyzstan has already over-reached a planning figure of 1000 refugees to repatriate in 2001, it still has nearly additional 370 Tajik refugees signed up for the voluntary return by the end of 2001. A regional effort to consider the opportunity of extending additional funds for the local office in Kyrgyzstan to implement the voluntary return of remaining refugees resulted in reallocation of the funds from Turkmenistan to Kyrgyzstan enough to repatriate 200 refugees. LO Kyrgyzstan will continue the repatriation of Tajik refugees to Dushanbe by plane in smaller groups.

UNHCR/UNFPA joint project on HIV/AIDS awareness among refugees. In November UNHCR, UNFPA and their implementing partner Kyrgyz Family Planning Alliance (KFPA) started conducting 20 two-days consultations on HIV/AIDS awareness for refugee youth. The consultations are conducted in various rural communities of Chuy oblast with large refugee population. The consultations, which use participatory methodology, cover the topics of physiological development of males and females, hygiene, HIV/AIDS and STDs, and contraceptives. The consultations are conducted by one experienced KFPA’s specialist and two refugee youth trainers. Given that refugee youth comes from a conservative background, consultations are held separately for males and females while some joint sessions are also taking place. Before conducting consultations, UNHCR, UNFPA and KFPA held meetings with the refugee communities’ leaders to sensitize them to the issues of HIV/AIDS awareness among refugee youth and conducted a survey to identify the current level of awareness of and attitude towards the issues of reproductive and sexual health. The content of the consultations was developed based on the results of the survey. The partners have also conducted two TOTs (training of trainers) among 40 refugee youth to identify the most active and knowledgeable participants, who became refugee trainers of the consultations. The overall objective of the project is to preserve the reproductive and sexual health of refugee youth by increasing their level of HIV/AIDS awareness. In addition, the project is expected to encourage family planning.

Contact: Ms. Elizabeth Zalkind, UNHCR Public Information Assistant. E-mail: . Phone: (996 312) 61 12 13.

MASS MEDIA

A Training Seminar on Problems of Drug Abuse for Local Journalists is to be held in Bishkek 27-28 November. The seminar is being organized by the Regional United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (UNODCCP) in Tashkent, National UNESCO Commission in Kyrgyzstan and UNDCCP Project in Bishkek together with UNDP Kyrgyzstan office. The seminar is aimed at training the mass media representatives on informing the population on the negative influence of drugs and supplying them with first-hand information on problems of drugs and drug abuse, including medical treatment of drug users. The specifics of the seminar is that it is structured in the form of presentations of various specialists dealing with drug control and treatment of drug users, which is a unprecedented training exercise organized specially for journalists. The presenters at the seminar are government officials dealing with drug control and crime prevention, local and international experts in narcology, UNODCCP, UNESCO, UNICEF and UNDP representatives. The participants at the seminar are local journalists from Bishkek and Osh that have professional interest in covering drug problems and those professional journalists who have expressed willingness to undergo training in this particular area.

Contact: Ms. Galina Fomaidi, UNODCCP ROCA Project Coordinator. E-mail: . Phone: (00998 71) 182 17 39, (00 9998 71) 120 80 50; and Ms. Oksana Gorbatko, UNODCCP Bishkek sub-office Administrative Assistant. E-mail: . Phone: (996 312) 22 42 64, 66 66 69.

NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS

The Central Asian Conference "An Effective Governance as One of the Key Factors of Sustainable Development of Noncommercial Organizations" was held in Almaty. From November 12 - 14 within the program of Counterpart Consortium and USAID the Central Asian Conference "An Effective Governance as One of the Key Factors of Sustainable Development of Noncommercial Organizations" was held in Almaty sanatorium "Alatau" with participation of 150 representatives from five Central Asian republics: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The participants of the conference were the leaders and heads of all Central Asian Civil Society Support Centers (CSSC), focus, target and health program organizations of Counterpart Consortium. The organizers of the conference were the regional office of Counterpart International and International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) under the support of USAID. Sarah Lindemann - Komarova was invited as an adviser on effective governance, NGO consultant and co-founder of Siberian Civic Initiatives Center (Novosibirsk, Russia). During three days of the conference the participants discussed the following main issues:

1) Legal Aspects of NGO Governance;

2) Models of Organizational Governance and the Russian NGO Experience;

3) Opportunities and Obstacles to Formation of NGO Governing Bodies;

4) Advantage and Disadvantages of Forming NGO Governance Bodies;

5) International Donors Perspective on NGO Governing Bodies;

6) Experience of NGO Governing Body Member;

7) Development of Action Plans towards forming NGO Governing Bodies: types, motivation, and selection of members of the governing body

A "Strengthening collaboration of NGOs in solution of social and economic problems" round table was held in the office of Civil Society Support Center (CSSC) in Osh. A Round Table "Strengthening collaboration of NGOs in solution of social and economic problems" was held in the office of Civil Society Support Center (CSSC) in Osh 12 November. The representatives of the Civil Society Support Center/Inter Bilim in Osh, OSCE, Asian Development Bank project "Monitoring of Environment" and ten NGOs of Osh oblast participated in this event. The following issues were considered during the Round table:

1. Strengthening collaboration of NGOs in solution of social and economic problems;

2. Creation of "NGOs' House" in Osh oblast;

3. Questions and answers of NGOs representatives. During discussing the second issue there were some statements of the attendees, that for strengthening cooperation of NGOs it is necessary:

• Regular meetings (once a month or once per 2 months);
• To design joint projects;
• To produce informational newsletter covering the activity of NGOs in Osh oblast.

A round table on voluntary movement in Kyrgyzstan was held in the office of Osh Resource Center. 14 November at the initiative of the Osh Resource Center "Inter Bilim" and thanks to its facilitation, the Round Table was held in the office of Osh Resource Center with the goal to activate voluntary movement in Kyrgyzstan and also support NGOs to implement effectively target programs. The objectives of the Round Table were the following:

• To inform representatives of voluntary movement about a contest "Volunteer of a Year";
• Criteria Selection of participants of the forthcoming contest "Volunteer of a Year";
• Discussion of the forthcoming meeting with representatives of the voluntary movement 20 November

Contact: Counterpart Consortium, Lilia Kuchenova, IU/AUK Program Coordinator, NGO Information Coordinator, 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 ,