Bishkek, June 5, 2017. The European Union’s "Strengthening Civil Society Participation in Public Councils in Kyrgyzstan" project presented first results on Friday, June 2, at a conference held in Bishkek. The conference "Public Councils of State Bodies: achievements and demands" was attended by around 70 participants from government authorities, civil society as well as international organizations and representatives of various public councils, representing all levels and regions of the country.
In his opening remarks, Almaz Kulmatov, Head of ethnic, religious policies and interaction with civil society department of Presidential Apparatus of the Kyrgyz Republic, underlined that the project supports an important goal of the Kyrgyz Republic’s National Strategy for Sustainability 2013-2017. He said, that to build a country of high responsibility “we need to establish good and functioning relations between government, civil society and all our citizens”.
The aim of the EU-funded project is to make public councils and their potential for the societal development in Kyrgyzstan more popular and strengthen their capacities. Public councils are made up of voluntarily committed citizens from the respective regions or municipalities. They advise authorities and public institutions to improve their work and services to the population.
Nicola Scaramuzzo, Project Manager, Operations Section, Delegation of the European Union to the Kyrgyz Republic, said it “is essential that the population knows about the public councils and engages with them”. The EU hopes that within the course of the project there will be a consolidation of the legal needs of all the different types of public councils. He encouraged the conference’s participants to “work jointly to receive satisfactory results.”
Gaisha Ibragimova, heading the project’s educational institutions unit, presented a summary of preliminary results of a survey conducted among citizens, members of the public councils as well as representatives of state bodies. The survey included a questionnaire, interviews and focus groups. A total of 455 people participated, coming from all levels and regions of the country.
The Public Councils of the State bodies introduced in 2010 were considered by all parties as a useful tool to promote local and regional development. At the same time, all stakeholders see ways to improve the existing practice and have given appropriate recommendations. Satisfaction with the work and the results is still very low among all stakeholders, mainly due to a lack of experience with these newly formed councils, the survey showed.
Recommendations given concerned the necessity of defining criteria for the candidates for the councils. Capacity building measures for council members should amongst other include teambuilding as well as introduction to government frameworks and legislative procedures, to ensure and further strengthen the quality of the council’s recommendations.
Gaisha Ibramigova praised the first generation of council members as pioneers and thanked them “for making our country better”.
An analysis of the existing legal framework under the leadership of the local partner, the Human Rights Advisory Board, presented by a member of the project’s working lawyer group, Bektur Tenizbaev, revealed gaps and provided suggestions for the further development of legislation. The lawyers working group recommends creating dialogue platforms throughout the country to further develop recommendations on how to amend and add to existing legislation concerning the work of the councils.
Ikbol Bakhramova, chairperson of the board of “Iseda”, a local public foundation, presented examples of practice from small public councils in the regions. These councils have a longer history in the Kyrgyz Republic. They were formed upon local initiatives dealing with local issues. Thus far, their work lacks legal basis. Participants of the conference strongly urged to amend this.
The second phase of the EU-funded project will focus on seminars, train-the-trainer seminars, press conferences, public hearings and information campaigns. These measures as well as the small-grants component will start within the next couple of months.