Kyrgyzstan 

Meetings/Conferences/Contacts 

The Country Director, Citizenship Coordinator, and UNHCR representative J. Lynch participated 

in a ceremony to present passports to new citizens as a result of the joint Counterpart/UNCHR 

project.  

The Country Director met with Acacia Sheilds from Human Rights Watch to answer general 

questions about civil society and NGOs in Kyrgyzstan. 

April 28 29 the Country Director attended and facilitated some of the sessions of an INTRAC 

conference on M&E.  

The Country Director attended the meeting and facilitated some sessions at the World Bank 

Institute conference Knowledge Forum from May 21 23.  

The Country Director, together with representatives from CSSCs in Jalal Abad, Batken, Nookat, 

and Kerben, met with USAID representatives David Hoffman and Igor Tupitsyn.  

The Country Director participated in the Attacking Poverty Course Implementation of the Poverty 

Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) Policies in Central Asia: The Role of Civil Society workshop 

held June 16 20. The representatives from the World Bank Institute, Washington DC and the 

International Monetary Fund organized this workshop and shared their knowledge and experience. 

Participants included representatives from the Administration of the President, International 

Organizations, and NGOs/CBOs from Kyrgzystan and Tajikistan as well as a number of reporters. 

On June 24 the Country Director, Senior Vice President Counterpart International, CFO 

Counterpart International, and Regional Director Central Asia monitored program activities of the 

Nookat CSSC. 

On June 30 the Country Director met with Suzan Fritz, USAID/CAR Director Democracy and 

Media to discuss future project implementation and the roles of Counterpart and the Association 

of CSSCs. 

The Country Director and Senior Program Officer took part in regular USAID/DM meetings 

discussing recent activities of USAID contractors and addressing common issues. 

The Country Director, Senior Program Officer and EC Project Manager participated in the 

EuropeAid meeting in April 11 where the TASIC IBPP and EC DHR projects were presented. 

In order to share experience with similar projects, the Senior Program Officer participated in the 

SME donors meeting held on April 16, where the TACIS IBPP project was presentated. 

The Senior Program Officer participated in a meeting on Social Mobilization in the office of WB 

on April 23. The meeting was attended by international agencies and major NGOs working with 

communities. The participants shared their approach to social mobilization and the WB presented 

their  Village Investment Project. He also attended a follow up seminar on June 21 where 

participants discussed possible ways to transfer money from the national level to local level 

through ayil okmotus and investment councils of ayil okmotus, which most likely will have a 

status of NGOs. 

On June 27, the Senior Program Officer met with Elmira Shishkaraeva, the Program Director of 

Soros Foundation, to discuss areas of joint interest to develop cooperative proposals. 

Projects 

The new TACIS funded project Promoting Entrepreneurship at the Grassroots Level was 

launched and the start up phase was completed. After completing baseline studies in six pilot 

villages near Kara Balta and Nookat, meetings were conducted with potential entrepreneurs and 

the project team began the process of forming self help groups. The project team developed the 

survey questionnaire to select participants. In order to build the capacity of the local CSSC, 10 

interviewers from the CSSCs were trained in interview techniques by the local consulting firm 

Expert. The program staff delivered a training seminar on their approaches for forming self help 

groups. The project team also established contacts with the Kyrgyz Agricultural Finance 

Corporation (KAFC), who may provide additional credits to the project beneficiaries. 

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