NGO Development in Kyrgyzstan

by Asiya Sasykaeva

In the last two years, NGO development in Kyrgyzstan has been rapid. The number of active NGOs has now reached 200, and each year more and more are registered. The topics they address range from women's issues and the environment to youth work and poverty relief.

Many of these groups realized that they could help each other by creating an NGO coalition to address common problems, defend mutual interests and help develop the laws governing NGOs in Kyrgyzstan. The Central Asian NGO conference held in Issyk-Kul in September 1995 provided a good impetus for joining forces. At the conference, the Kyrgyz delegation presented the existing NGO laws and proposed alternative draft legislation to present to Parliament, planning a Kyrgyz NGO Constituent Assembly to continue their discussions.

The task of organizing the Assembly was entrusted to the Interbilim Center, which provides information, training and communication support to Kyrgyz NGOs. Held on January 20, 1996, the Assembly brought together over 70 NGOs from various regions of the country and was sponsored by the COUNTERPART Consortium. Those assembled recommended establishing an NGO Forum for Kyrgyzstan, and elected 15 NGOs to its Board of Advisors, six of which represent the six different regions of the republic.

The board made further recommendations on the draft of the alternative NGO legislation and the Assembly delegated the task of finalizing the draft to the Ukuk Fund for Legal Cooperation. In early May, Ukuk presented its work to the Forum for approval and the draft has now been offered to the Ministry of Justice and presented at a conference run by the International Fund for Electoral Systems. Kyrgyz NGOs have written an appeal to Parliament to consider the draft out of turn. We believe the new draft of the code is better and more democratic, having been devised by grassroots NGOs with practical experience in the issues.

From our perspective, the environment for NGOs in Kyrgyzstan today is positive. The government seems supportive of the third sector and international donor agencies such as COUNTERPART, the American Legal Consortium, Mercy Corps, the Eurasia Foundation and ISAR have played an important role in encouraging NGO development.

Asiya Sasykaeva is the director of the Interbilim Center.