KYRGYZSTAN TODAY Policy briefs on - Department of Geography

not a decision-maker, but rather “an opinion, advising and supporting body” for the Minister
responsible for social security. There is also the Department of Public Benefit Activity, part
of the Ministry of Economy, Labor and Social <strong>Policy</strong>. This Department is responsible for
establishing institutional and legal conditions that promote development of the Polish NGO
sector and of NGO-government cooperation. 17
It must be noted, referring again to the experience of Hungary, that in 2003 the
parliament’s Committee on NGO Support delegated its functions on managing state
social grants to a specially-established agency named the National Civic Fund (NFC) 18 .
The NCF was set up as a separate state fund under the Prime Minister’s office, governed
by the Minister of Equal Opportunities, to coordinate state funds allocated for social
projects to be implemented by non-government organizations, and was designated a
unit of the executive branch.
These two lessons are instructive in the sense of identifying the primary agency of
state power that will be responsible to implement the Law on State Social Contracts.
The implementation of laws is the prerogative of the executive branch of government.
Therefore, it is sensible to consider establishing a government unit that will work closely
with the anticipated Commission on NGO support of the Jogorku Kenesh’s (the Kyrgyz
parliament) Committee on migration, labor, social policy and healthcare.
<strong>Policy</strong> document or strategy
Agreements or other written covenants
The Concept on Cooperation between Public Associations, Public Foundations and
state authorities was adopted and enforced by a Governmental decree of March 25, 2004.
This Concept includes an analysis of the current situation in the non-government sector
in the Kyrgyz Republic, outlines the principles and forms of government support to
NGOs, identifies major government measures to support NGOs, considers the state social
contracting as the most effective form of government support to NGOs, and concludes
with a recommendation to form a Program on government support to NGOs.
The first thing to say about the Concept is that it exists. Unfortunately, it appears
that this conceptual document has been forgotten, mainly by the Kyrgyz government
that itself originated the Concept.
Secondly, the Concept is not concerned with forms of inter-sector cooperation,
but with forms of government support to NGOs. Even so, it was a good attempt to
conceptualize the problem of relations between government and NGOs. The new
leadership of the country may find it useful to revise this Concept and, on the basis of
its changes, to develop a Program on Cooperation between the Government and NGO
sectors of the Kyrgyz Republic.
Another normative document designed to regulate NGO-government relations is
the President Decree #241 on measures to enhance, legally formalize and implement
in practice all forms of interaction between government agencies, bodies of local selfgovernment
and civil society, signed on 11 May 2006. This decree stipulates:
17
“The Liaison Office as a Tool for Successful NGO-Government Cooperation: An Overview of the Central and
Eastern European and Baltic Countries’ Experiences” by Maria Gerasimova, the International Journal of Notfor-Profit
Law, Volume 7, Issue 3, June 2005 [http://www.icnl.org/knowledge/ijnl/vol7iss3/special_
1.htm].
18
For more information on the National Civic Fund of Hungary, see [http://www.efc.be/cgi-bin/
articlepublisher.pl?filename=HI-SE-10-03-1.html] accessed 25 June 2008.
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