KYRGYZSTAN TODAY Policy briefs on - Department of Geography

Government unit responsible for the third sector
The first attempt to create a special government body to work with the nongovernmental
sector occurred on April 19, 2001. This resulted from a meeting between
representatives of almost hundred NGOs and the Head of President’s Administration.
The idea was to establish a Council of NGO Affairs. At that time, 21 representatives
of various NGOs entered the Council. 13 Unfortunately, this progressive step was not
properly formalized and did not develop further, mostly because of the lack of interest
from the state.
Before and since this progressive but unsuccessful initiative, inter-sector cooperation
had taken place at the level of specific areas of social welfare (healthcare, migration,
unemployment, support of the most vulnerable, etc.) where and when possible. This
format of cooperation, based on concrete cases rather than on strategic and commonlyagreed
programs, remains the common practice today. Without doubt, it would be much
better to have a single government body that is responsible to coordinate government
activities and projects with respect to the non-governmental sector.
Recently (at the end of 2007), the Government Department on Public Complaints
and Public Organizations was created under the direction of the office of the Prime
Minister. This Department is intended to facilitate cooperation and interaction among
sectors. Civil society organizations are barely aware of this Department, which could
be explained both by its brief existence and the nominal nature of its establishment.
Some NGO activists expressed the view 14 that the government unit that will work with
the third sector has to be affiliated with pertinent agencies and ministries, such as the
Ministry of Labor and Social Protection or the Department of Economic and Social <strong>Policy</strong>
of President’s Administration. These have proved to be the most active and willing to
cooperate with the third sector.
Gulnara Derbisheva, a member of the Kyrgyz parliament and a member of the
Parliament’s Committee on migration, labor, social policy and healthcare, stated 15
that this group is working on the creation of a Special Commission on NGO Support.
The Commission will work to facilitate the implementation of the Law on State Social
Contracts, as well as of the anticipated Law on Social Partnership. It will regulate
distribution of state grants and work closely with NGOs to improve the legal framework
for inter-sector cooperation.
Lessons to learn:
Parliament member Derbisheva mentioned that the idea of creating a special Commission
was borrowed from the experience of Hungary. A committee with a similar name, established
in the early 1990s, significantly contributed to the consolidation of the non-governmental
sector and helped strengthen dialogue between the sectors. 16 Poland’s experience can be
similarly instructive. The adoption of the Law on Public Benefit Activity and Volunteerism
stipulated the establishment of a special Council for Public Benefit Activities. This Council is
13
“Review of the History of Establishment and Development of the NGO Sector in the Kyrgyz Republic,” by
Elmira Shishkaraeva and ohters, Bishkek, 2006, p.115.
14
From semi-structured interviews with NGO activists in Kyrgyzstan.
15
Stated at the round-table “Interaction of state and NGOs in policy-making,” June 25, 2008.
16
“The European <strong>Policy</strong> and Practice in cooperation between state and NGO,” collection of materials, the
International Center of Non-commercial Law, Almaty 2005, p.31 (accessed in Russian).
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