The United Nations Development Framework (UNDAF) in Kyrgyzstan, which covers a five-year period (2005-2010) was officially endorsed by the Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic during the UNDG Chair & UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch Brown visit to Kyrgyzstan in May 2004. The UNDAF resulted from a consultative process between the United Nations, the Government and its partners. It is intended to operationalize global targets such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and is guided by national priorities, outlines at the time UNDAF preparation in the National Poverty Reduction Strategy (NPRS). The UNDAF translated key substantive elements into a common operational framework for development activities upon which the individual United Nations Agencies, Funds and Programmes formulate their actions.  

The UNDAF, although prepared several years back, focuses on three still relevant and inter-related areas for United Nations cooperation where UN could best utilize its accumulated experience, technical expertise and financial resources towards achievement of the MDGs:  

• Poverty alleviation and social services;
• Democratic Governance;
• HIV/AIDS  

2009 Progress Towards UNDAF Outcomes
In 2009, the UN system has developed a One UN Programme which is a result of the current UNDAF revision carried out in the middle of 2009, and contains a set of interventions/projects which expand current UN development assistance to address new developmental challenges, and will significantly reduce the severity of the impact of emerging challenges on the most vulnerable, while establishing the basis for sustainable and inclusive development in the period of the country’s next Development Strategy (2012-2017) and UNDAF (2012-2017).

In late 2008, Kyrgyzstan launched a revised Country Development Strategy (CDS, 2009-2011) as the medium-term development strategy document for the period 2009-2011. As the response, the UN system in consultation with the Government decided to extend the current UNDAF for additional two years (until 2011) to align the UNDAF cycle with the duration of the current CDS. The preparation for the next UNDAF cycle will begin in early 2010 with assessments of UN system’s current programming.

To put the UNDAF and Joint Country Support Strategy (JCSS) into operation, the UNCT in Kyrgyzstan has taken pragmatic steps over the past several years (2005 until present) to increase the coherence of the UN system in country to lead to more collaboration and harmonisation. 

In light of the Government launch of the Country Development Strategy (CDS) and the parallel creation of the donors’ JCSS documents, a review of the UNDAF will have to be undertaken. Nevertheless, the consensus of the UNCT is that the involvement of the UN System in the creation of the JCSS and UN subsequent use of the JCSS to guide our programming should minimize the need for an extensive UNDAF revision. Current UNDAF

2009 Progress in CDS Implementation
Good progress has been made in reducing external debt from 66 percent of GDP in 2006 to 55 percent in 2008.  Legislation for the business environment has improved significantly with the country moving up from 99th to 68th place in the World Bank “Doing Business” ranking.  A new tax code, introduced in January 2009, is also intended to improve country competitiveness. Visible progress has been made in gender issues with changes in the electoral code leading to women being elected to 27 percent of parliamentary seats.

To take account of new external challenges and reflect new economic policy directions, the CDS was updated in 2008 for the period 2009-2011.  The new CDS does not change the vision and goals but summarizes succinctly that the strategic development goal for 2009-2011 is “improvement of quality of life through improving the quality of economic growth, management and environment”. The new document also explicitly addresses the risks from changes in the world economy, and lack of food and energy security.

Considerable progress has been made in achieving the CDS results and indicators with the support of the JCSS program, with the most positive results in macro-economic management, legal reform for business deregulation, development of local infrastructure (in particular water supply) and improvement of the road network.  Little progress is seen towards achieving goals in the energy sector or in improving public administration and governance, where JCSS partners were unable to promote tangible reforms and improvements.

2009 Progress Towards Joint Country Support Strategy (JCSS) Implementation
The UNCT was a founding partner of the JCSS, which now commits eight major donors to work together in key areas to ensure coherence in response.

The JCSS presents a joint strategy of development partners to support the Government’s development agenda.  It was formulated in the spirit of national and international commitments and initiatives on aid effectiveness, particularly the Rome Declaration on Aid Harmonization and the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.  The JCSS is results-oriented, with a monitoring and evaluation framework derived from the CDS.  The reform agenda in the JCSS draws upon the authorities’ own stated commitments, explicitly articulated in the CDS, which is supported by donor engagement, policy dialogue, and financial assistance.

The JCSS is moving into its final year of implementation. The current Country Development Strategy (CDS) was extended to 2011 but the recent changes within the Kyrgyz Government are suggesting the current CDS will either be revised in 2010.

The JCSS approach has led to greater cooperation between donor agencies with a shared understanding of the development issues in the country and an expansion of shared commitments in support of the CDS.  Over 300 different interventions are planned by JCSS partners, with total planned funding of loans and grants for country specific projects of USD783 million over 4 years (USD341 million was disbursed in 2007-08).

The JCSS interventions for 2009-10 show continued strong support for public infrastructure, water and sanitation, and substantial increases in funding for: the health sector; transport; energy and financial sectors. Current JCSS