KYRGYZSTAN TODAY Policy briefs on - Department of Geography

Sayragul Matikeeva,
Candidate of Political Sciences, Associate Professor,
International University of Kyrgyzstan
Non-Governmental Organizations and Political Parties
in Kyrgyzstan: Routes to Productive Cooperation
During the past sixteen years, civil society in Kyrgyzstan has been formed and
strengthened. Also during this period, it has undergone a number of significant changes
due to both political and economic environment, and social-psychological characteristics
of the civil society representatives.
As world experience has shown, the development of a country depends largely
on effective interactions between important components of the political process: the
state and civil society institutions. Modern political realities have made it crucial to both
institutionalize political parties and enhance their credibility among the population,
civil society and state, and to consolidate them with more stable institutions, such as
NGOs and the media..
Currently, the NGO sector is one of the strongest institutions of civil society in
Kyrgyzstan. 1 The emergence of this sector in the Republic began in 1992.
1
In the broadest sense, NGOs may include all organizations that do not belong to the state apparatus
and are based on voluntary actions of citizens. Most often the term refers to the public organizations
thatprovide charitable, financial and technical assistance to the poor. Most opponents of NGOs say that the
laws of 1991 and 1999 do not mention the term “Non-governmental organizations”, and thus try to ignore
the very existence of such organizations.
An analysis of the emergence and development of non-governmental organizations in Kyrgyzstan
allows for a number of points that define the essence of the term “NGO” in the context of the Republic.
First, it should be emphasized that the first voluntary organizations, dealing with existing social
problems, were created “from the top-down” by international donors and their programs. Methods,
technology and other conditions were borrowed directly, mostly from American practices. Later,
these organizations were established “bottom-up.” However, in the beginning people, accustomed to
dependency and relying solely on the government, could not understand the nature and mission of
NGOs. The public should have been informed about these. The NGO initiators and activists had to
establish themselves in society. The general population, which had not previously had the opportunity
to form organizations without state guidance or intervention, had to be told that NGOs “were not
established by the Government.” That leads to another important point. Since the very beginning, the
formation of non-governmental organizations in Kyrgyzstan was associated with the need to resolve
acute social problems, which the Government was unable to resolve. In this regard, NGOs may propose
alternative solutions in the social sphere.
The term “Non-Profit Organization”, it seems to the authors, does not reflect the entire spectrum
of NGO activities. Perhaps this term was introduced to emphasize one of the specific characteristics of
NGOs – “not to extract profit.” However, in our view, the fact that the founders of an NGO do not gain
profit is not important for the understanding of NGOs, the main thing is that an NGO is established and
operates freely, without government’s interference [see 14, pp. 38-42].
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