The United Nations (UN) in Kyrgyzstan
» UN in Kyrgyzstan » Country info » Joint Programming and Activities » News & events » UN GTG » UN Day 2006
» The UN Link » MDG » CCA » UNDAF » Jobs » Procurement » Contacts » Report of the Secretary-General's High-level Panel
   The UN Link / The United Nations System in Kyrgyzstan
# 210
December 19, 2003

In this issue:


UNITED NATIONS IN KYRGYZSTAN

  • UNDAF Presented to the Kyrgyz President

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (UNDP)

  • The First National Congress of Women Councils
  • Local Self-Governance Forum

UNITED NATIONS IN KYRGYZSTAN

Mr. Jerzy Skuratowicz, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in the Kyrgyz Republic, together with the UN Country Team, including the Bretton Wood Institutions, presented a draft of the First UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) to the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, Mr. Askar Akaev, on 15 December 2003, in the Government House.

The meeting was attended by the UN Agencies Heads – Richard Young, UNICEF Resident Representative; James Lynch, UNHCR Head of Office; Mr. Chris Lovelace, the World Bank Country Manager and others. The document prepared jointly by all the United Nations agencies accredited in the country, together with the national partners, was presented at the highest level to discuss it and get feedback from the Government partners. The Kyrgyz Prime Minister and other high-level government officials were also present.

Such a meeting of the President with all the UN agencies heads was held for the first time, as well as for the first time the coordinated action plan of all UN agencies has been consolidated into one document.

UNDAF for 2005-2010 is a joint document of the Government and the United Nations, which provides a collective, coherent and integrated United Nations System response to national priorities and needs, including the National Poverty Reduction Strategy (NPRS) and the Comprehensive Development Framework (CDF).

In his presentation, Mr. Jerzy Skuratowicz, explained that the UNDAF is an organic component of the efforts on the UN Reform, undertaken by the Secretary-General since 1997. Now, the UN System worldwide has begun a coherent and integrated process of joint programming. It would be further improved as a result of harmonization and simplification, which will not only lead to cutting administrative costs associated with the UN assistance, but also would enhance an overall impact on the social and economic development of the country.

UNDAF for Kyrgyzstan is based on the Common Country Assessment (CCA) and the first National MDG Report and is the result of the consultative process of all UN agencies with partners from government structures and a non-government sector. The Resident Coordinator named three areas in which the UNCT will work under the UNDAF: poverty reduction, good governance and HIV/AIDS prevention.

President Akayev called the draft UNDAF a very good and important document aimed at "achieving more with limited resources." He urged the Government to actively participate not only in finalization of the UNDAF document, but also in monitoring and evaluation of the implementation. The President has requested that the Office of Prime Minister identify focal points to work together with the UNCT on the entire UNDAF process.

For more information please contact Arkady Divinsky, UN Coordination Associate. Tel.: (996 312) 61 12 13. E-mail:

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (UNDP)

On 18 December 2003 the I National congress of Women councils was convened in Bishkek. The main issues discussed during the Congress were the current problems of the women participation in decision making at the local level, the Statute on Women Councils of local communities and the prospectives of participation of women councils in 2004-2005 elections.

The women councils are representative local communities’ bodies, entitled to protect rights and interests of women living in the territory of ayil, village and city, and to provide the women empowerment and access to all levels of power.

The congress became a result of the joint project run by ODIHR OSCE, Agency of Social Technologies and UNDP (Local self-governance programme). As a part of the project within a year there were organised education seminars on “The participation of women councils in 2004-2005 elections” for more than 500 representatives of women councils in all 7 oblasts of the country. Those seminars aimed at support of capacity of women councils, increase of the knowledge of women in politics, development of the election skills and explanation of the role of women councils in stimulation of various social groups in elections. Also within the framework of the project there was established a working group of the lawyers and experts in self governance to develop the Statute on Women councils of the local communities, which was approved by the I National Congress of Women Councils and ratified by the Minister of Local self-Governance. The Statue is to empower the women councils in representation and protection of the women rights at the regional and national levels, establishment of close cooperation with local self-governments, development of the local action plans for women empowerment and analysis of the local policies with respect to gender development.

The Congress was attended by more than 250 women councils representatives, as well as by Ms. Edeltraut Gatterer, a member of the Parliament Assembly of the European Council, the representatives of UNDP, OSCE, ministries, deputy governors on social affairs and others.

For more information please contact: Anastasia Toropova, UNDP Programmes Gender Coordinator. Tel.: (996 312) 66 38 85; 66 04 18, e-mail:

Under the initiative of the President’s Administration and UNDP support the Republican meeting "On implementation of the National strategy on Decentralization of the government and development of local self- governance in the Kyrgyz Republic up to 2010” and development of good governance and social mobilization of the population was held in Bishkek on 19 December 2003.

On 17 December 2002 the National strategy on decentralization and development of local self-governance was signed by the President. About 700 participants of the Forum, including heads of all ayil okmotus, mayors and towns’ municipal heads, representatives of the Prime Minister’s Office, Chairmen of oblast keneshes, deputies of the Jogorku Kenesh and heads of nongovernmental and international organizations shared experience, reported about results achieved and discussed plans for the next year.

The National strategy on decentralization and development of local self-governance initiated by UNDP in 2001, includes seven primary goals on creation of an effective control system on places. They comprise effective legal base of local self-governance, implementation of political and administrative reforms in support of local governance, consecutive implementation of economic and financial decentralization; improvement of municipal service; implementation of measures on social mobilization and development of human potential; support to the processes of consolidation of the civil society and development of effective mechanisms of the Strategy’s implementation.

Since 1998 UNDP implements Local Self-Governance Programme and supports public administration reform and reduction of poverty. A key question in development of effective system of local self-governance on the basis of decentralization has been the task of an optimum combination of the state and public interests in local governance. For this reason during five years UNDP, using the best practices works in Kyrgyzstan at all levels – with community-based organizations and government officials, assisting in creation of the legislative base of decentralization and local self-governance, providing training for government employees, supporting initiatives of local communities and promoting development of partner attitudes between the population and governing institutions on places. For today in 30 pilot ayil okmotus all over the country there are 1260 community-based organizations functioning as independent self-governing institutions actively operate and participate in development of their territories, microcrediting processes, as well as in the processes of decision-making at a local level. Members of community-based organizations managed to save up already about 7 million soms of savings which alongside with other sources of financing villagers use to increase their standard of living, create workplaces and make their communities independent and stable.

Local self-governance cannot be free from the state, and should be free inside of the state - this principle stimulates aspiration of territorial bodies of all levels to development of partnership attitudes with a broad spectrum of partners, including community-based organizations with a view of consecutive and effective development of the country.

For more information please contact: Olga Grebennikova, UNDP Public Affairs Officer. Tel.: (996 312) 61 12 13; e-mail:


     Millennium Development Goals Progress Report - 2003

     Common Country Assessment - 2003

 
Copyright © UN in Kyrgyzstan, 2007
Hosted by UNDP in Kyrgyzstan
Design © Dmitry Yakhnov, 2007
Web site usage statistics » forum » search