KYRGYZSTAN TODAY Policy briefs on - Department of Geography

Kyrgyzstan” Foundation, would provide a real opportunity for NGOs to participate in
monitoring and evaluation of programs, including the CDS.
Currently, the Asian Development Bank provides financial assistance to develop a
matrix of indicators for monitoring and evaluating the CDS and its regional programs.
Among the consultants working in the regions of the Republic and in cities of Bishkek
and Osh are representatives of the non-governmental sector. The early launch of pilot
projects by the “Soros-Kyrgyzstan” Foundation and other interested donors would
increasingly involve civil society in monitoring and evaluating the CDS and other socioeconomic
programs.
As indicated above, one important issue of NGO participation in the process of
monitoring and evaluation is the training of NGO representatives. They should be
able to use tools for monitoring and evaluating the CDS and the programs of regional
development. Unfortunately, discussion of the issue with some representatives of NGOs
has shown a low level of professionalism; i.e., they are unready to effectively use these
tools.
It is well-known that the nation’s development strategy was developed mainly by
public bodies (Ministries, state committees, agencies and provincial and district state
administrations). At the same time, independent experts, including representatives of
the non-governmental sector, also participated in developing certain aspects of the CDS.
For example, 14 members of the working group, established by the order of Bishkek’s
Mayor, participated in the work of the Bishkek development program “Favorite city”
for 2008 - 2010. Half of them were experts from NGOs.
Those NGO representatives who participated in the elaboration of some components
of the CDS and its regional programs could successfully participate in monitoring and
evaluating these programs. Today, governmental bodies do not object to the participation
of NGOs in monitoring and evaluation. However, they want NGOs to monitor and
evaluate those parts of the program in which the human and financial resources of
governmental bodies are insufficient. For example, the Bishkek Development Program
contains 29 new indicators that have not been previously recorded. This caused difficulties
in monitoring and evaluation by the specialists of municipal bodies. The specialists
(in particular, the Office of Economic Development of Bishkek City Administration)
asked program developers to help determine the values of those indicators. But neither
the developers nor independent experts from NGOs were able to help in this effort. It
turned out that the NGOs were not involved in developing a methodology to determine
the values of these indicators, because it was not their task. Representatives from NGOs
argue that this would have required additional resources, including financial, because
determining the values of certain new indicators would require more work in the form
of questionnaires and surveys of the population or specific target groups. Due to the
lack of funding, governmental bodies were similarly unable to perform this work. They
would like this to be done by NGOs, with financial support from external or internal
donors.
NGOs already have enough work in the area of monitoring and evaluating the CDS.
Experience has shown that many NGOs wish to participate in the process of monitoring
and evaluation of the CDS and its regional programs. For instance, NGOs I work for
tried to help develop the CDS. We participated in seminars organized by the President’s
Administration of the Kyrgyz Republic. By the end of one workshop, we sent to the
President’s Administration proposals and comments for inclusion in the CDS. However,
we have still not received any response, neither positive nor negative. Other NGOs have
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