KYRGYZSTAN TODAY Policy briefs on - Department of Geography

• Support the development of self-help groups through tax rebates and central
and local governments’ in-kind and financial contributions, not only as a way of
resolving social problems, but also aiming at generating trust at local level.
by Donors
• Promote cross-sectional projects where professionalized NGOs are encouraged
to develop synergetic relations with NGOs from other fields, e.g. through broader
advocacy campaigns;
• Invest in NGOs and their associations, not only in projects as a way of instilling
human capital into an attractive environment, which, in turn, will develop social
capital;
• While supporting civil society, use more indicators related to increased and
sustained membership when it comes to advocacy and other collective action
activities.
Challenges Remain
The tension between liberal and conservative movements will significantly mark the
development of civil society in Kyrgyzstan for the foreseeable future. The conservative
movement usually has a wider social basis, and thus the possibility to increase social
capital and this puts their opponents in a vulnerable position. If liberal organizations
do not catch up, civil society’s composition of social capital would be skewed. The
current government’s attempts to restrain mass protests, coupled with a lack of ability
to channel public aggravation through engaging in policy processes, will provide
a certain negative backdrop for NGOs’ collective actions. There is still the issue of a
dominating paternalistic culture, which affects NGOs in such a way that, in many cases,
dependency on the state is replaced by foreign donor dependency and that inhibits
their initiative beyond participating in calls for proposals. To attract other resources
would require (besides, of course, an improved economic situation) NGOs’ ability to
broaden their social capital. The worsening economic situation is a challenge in itself,
diverting human capital to better paid sectors, but this would also probably negatively
affect volunteering and other types of social capital of civil society activities.
Bibliography
1. Сектор НПО в цифрах и фактах (по результатам анкетирования лидеров НПО Кыргызской
Республики). Бишкек, 2007.
2. Обзор истории становления и развития сектора неправительственных организаций в
Кыргызстане. Бишкек, 2006.
3. Отчет по итогам общенационального форума НПО – 2007. Бишкек, 2007 (www.acssc.
kg).
4. Civil Society, Social Capital and Economic Development, David Skidmore (www.iadb.org/
ethics).
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