Duration: March 2013 – February 2018

Implementing Partner: East-West Management Institute

Funding level: $9.3 million

Key Partners: Ministry of Social Development, University Consortium led by Kyrgyz National University, civil society organizations

Location: Nationwide

The program is designed to foster effective collaboration between civil society, private business leaders, and the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic resulting in a more responsible and accountable government as well as a more credible and sustainable civil society.

MAJOR FOCUS AREAS

Under the program USAID supports Kyrgyz Government efforts to improve the delivery of services through social procurement mechanisms and enables civil society organizations to shape public policy, enhance government transparency and advocate for citizen concerns more effectively. The program also supports education institutions to foster development of civil society leaders and offers grants to promote civic engagement, enhance the work of civil society organizations, promote public policy analysis and reform, and support rapid response to emerging issues of public interest. Starting from 2017 the program works with the Supreme Court and Ministry of Justice of the Kyrgyz Republic to increase access to justice for the most vulnerable populations with a focus on victims of domestic violence.

EXPECTED RESULTS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

• Ministry of Labor and Social Development is promoting a new Law on State Procurement of Social Services with support from the program. The new law will help engage more civil society organizations in providing social services to citizens. The draft law was recently adopted by Parliament and is pending the President’s approval.
• More than 1,800 women engaged in various project supported activities aimed at fighting domestic violence and empowering women. As part of the annual campaign against gender-based violence, the program helped to inform 80,000 citizens on criminal responsibility for bride kidnapping in the Kyrgyz Republic via mobile text messages.
• Over 1,200 university students across Kyrgyzstan learned about the importance of civil society organizations and nonprofit management through special courses introduced with the program’s support. Four universities also host resource centers, where anyone can access textbooks, journals, academic research, and online resources about nonprofit management. The program also supports a network of professors that promote nonprofit management education.
• In three years, civil society organizations supported by the program implemented 44 initiatives to advance police reform, improve government procurement, increase transparency of local budgets, strengthen property rights, fight corruption and improve access to vital services like electricity, irrigation water and low interest loans.
• The program profiled over 600 civil society organizations in the Kyrgyz Republic, evaluated the organizational capacity, sustainability and leadership of over 300 organizations and trained more than 546 of their staff. The evaluation process developed by the program was embraced by a number of organizations that support civil society organizations.