KYRGYZSTAN TODAY Policy briefs on - Department of Geography

Maksatbek Tashbolotov,
Director of “Kalys Consult” Public Foundation
Participation of NGOs in the Monitoring and Evaluation
of the Country Development Strategy (CDS)
Since the first days of independence, Kyrgyzstan has sought ways to increase
economic growth. What is the country’s leadership doing in the present conditions?
It is looking for opportunities to attract investments from international donors, and
developing programs to improve the socio-economic situation in the country. During its
years of sovereignty Kyrgyzstan has developed many national and regional development
programs, strategies and concepts. Currently, the Republic has over 275 conceptual and
policy papers. The most important are the Comprehensive Development Framework
(CDF) and the National Poverty Reduction Strategy (NPRS) [5].
The large number of NGOs in Kyrgyzstan (as of 21 May, 2008, 11,035 NGOs have
been registered [2]) might seem to be enough to ensure the participation of NGO
representatives in various monitoring and assessment activities, at not only national but
also regional levels. The Country Development Strategy (CDS) in section VIII, paragraph
672, emphasizes that “Monitoring, based on alternative assessments, is initiated in the
CDS for the first time. This will be its main difference from all previous programs and
policies in the context of enhancing cooperation with civil sector.” The same section states
in paragraph 677 that “... the coordinated efforts of official institutions, civil society and
donor community are a key to successful creation and strengthening an effective system
of monitoring and evaluation of the country’s development” [9, pp. 111-112]. Thus, the
CDS provides for the participation of the non-governmental sector in implementing the
tasks outlined in this document.
At an early stage of elaborating the Strategy, consultants of the Asian Development
Bank’s (ADB) project TP-4705, entitled “Support for capacity development and
realization of CDS at the national and regional levels”, analyzed the role of NGOs in
preparing an alternative (independent) assessment of CDS. Forty NGOs were selected
for this analysis. An assessment of the capacity of those NGOs revealed a number of
positive and negative aspects.
Positive aspects:
1. Almost all the organizations have participated in an evaluation of programs and
projects in specific areas of development;
2. High level of the technical base;
3. Individual organizations manage to conduct more than 20 independent studies
(estimates) a year;
4. A wide range of studies;
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