Adopted by The Decree of the President
of the Kyrgyz Republic
On December 17, 2002 N 381

“The world practice knows only one really democratic form of local community
mass activity demonstration – this is the
method of local self-government”

National Strategy

For Further Decentralization
and Local Self-Government Development
in the Kyrgyz Republic Till 2010

ABBREVIATIONS AND TERMS

SSHD - National Strategy of Sustainable Human Development
CDF - Comprehensive Development Framework: A National Strategy of the Kyrgyz Republic till 2010
NPRS - National Poverty Reduction Strategy.
LSG - Local self government
DECENTRALIZATION - process of transfer of state administration functions and authorities to LSGs.
LOCAL SELF GOVERNMENT - the right guaranteed by the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic, and the real capability of local communities to administer local issues through their representative and executive authorities and also by means of direct citizen participation.
NSD - National Strategy for Decentralization and LSG development in the Kyrgyz Republic till 2010 within the CDF.
TPSG - Territorial and Public Self-Government.
NHDR - National Human Development Report.
UNDP - United Nations Development Program

INTRODUCTION

This National Strategy For Further Decentralization and Local Self-Government Development in the Kyrgyz Republic (hereinafter referred to as Strategy) is drafted within the SSHD, CDF and NPRS framework with the purposes to reach and provide political stability in the country, to increase the economic well-fare of the Kyrgyz people, as well as their social well-being, by means of consolidation of human and material resources.

The aim of this Strategy is to determine basic directions, ways of decentralization of state administration and development of the effective system of local self-government by 2010 as a necessary condition for Kyrgyzstan to acquire qualities of a civil democratic state.

The experience of developed countries of the world testifies that, being closest to citizens and solving their routine and urgent tasks, the local self-government strengthens principles of democracy creating necessary conditions for vital activity of local communities and stabilizes the political system because it is an important mechanism for provision of the country’s unity and integrity.

Implementation of the Strategy’s aims and tasks, developed taking into account the experience of work of national and foreign municipal bodies, will make it possible to provide a systematic overcoming of the problems existing in the area of state and public administration, rational functional assignments among local self government and state bodies, organization of the effective cooperation between different levels of power by taking the decision adoption process closer to citizens, which will allow to improve the social-economic situation of the population and decrease poverty. Furthering the progress reached during recent years and introducing new principles aimed at overall strengthening of local self-government (LSG), the Strategy offers a comprehensive approach to determination of the aims for the future and suggests the ways for their implementation, establishing terms of their realization and responsibility for conducting reforms both in medium term and long term periods.

After official approval by Decree of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic will realize the Strategy through implementation of comprehensive measures on decentralization of state administration and LSG development by 2010.

The evaluation of the current status of local self-government in the
Kyrgyz Republic

The past decade has witnessed important changes in the social and economic life of Kyrgyzstan that covered the area of self-government. A strong base for LSG development was created in the course of targeted implementation of local self-government reforms initiated based on the Constitutional Principles and Decree of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic of August 18, 1994. Over 50 presidential degrees and resolutions, over 30 resolutions of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic and other legal acts on decentralization of state administration and LSG development have been adopted over the last 8 years.

As a result of adopted measures, the process of transferring settlements (villages, community and cities) to local self-government principles has been completed in 2001. Now there are 487 village, community and city LSG bodies. The Congress Of Local Self-Government Bodies of the Kyrgyz Republic, including the Association of Cities of the Kyrgyz Republic and the Association of Local Self-Government Bodies of Villages and Communities, have been created and operate to express and protect interests of local communities.

In accordance with the Resolution of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic, over 9,300 objects of social infrastructure were transferred into communal ownership of bodies of local self-governance with the total value of 7 billion 935 million soms. For the first time, in 2001 elections were held of local self-government heads in the Republic. With the view to involve more population into activities of bodies of local self-governance, people’s kurultais were held in the villages, towns and rayon centers at the end of 2001. All in all, over 90 thousand delegates took part in them. The fundamental legal acts are the Laws of the Kyrgyz Republic “On Local Self Government and Local State Administration”, “On Communal Property” and “On Courts of Aksakals” adopted in 2002.

With the support of UNDP, a comprehensive purposeful work has started for creation of community-based organizations and there is an experience acquired in social mobilization of local communities and formation of Local Development Funds that closely cooperate with LSG bodies. This process of social mobilization and formation of community based organizations and local NGOs allows to widely involve the population into administration of local issues, to overcome the sense of dependency by revealing the hidden resources of the population directed to solution of local tasks. As a result of purposeful implementation of LSG reforms, Kyrgyzstan has become one of the leading countries in the CIS in this aspect according to a number of international organizations.

At present, the Kyrgyz Republic has started implementing the tasks of the second decentralization and local self-government phase with the aim of overall development of the democratic system. For these purposes, it is necessary to implement a number of conceptual and urgent problems.

The analysis of the current situation in the Republic shows that the most important outstanding problems of further decentralization and local self-government development are:

§ Incomplete legal framework. A legal framework which provides for optimal decentralization of state administration, creation of effective institutes of management at the level of local power, effective economic and financial decentralization, creation of the municipal civil service system and development of its potential, social mobilization, etc has not yet been created.
§ Slow implementation of the processes of decentralization of state administration and insufficient government support of LSG bodies. Local self-government bodies do not have sufficient powers and financial and economic resources for effective implementation of their authorities. The legislation does not provide clear delineation of functions and authorities, responsibilities between different levels of executive bodies of state power and local self-government bodies. The process of function transfer and transfer of relevant financial-economic resources to LSG bodies is protracted. There is no clear mechanism of their transfer. This obviously slows down the process of more intensified introduction of democratic forms of mass activity of local communities and it also slows down the development of local self-government bodies .
§ Ineffective devices of financial- economic regulation. Finances and local budgets are still centralized, there is no effective tax base and the budget opportunities of LSGs are very limited. The legal framework for economic and financial decentralization has not been created yet. No mechanism has been developed for transfer of financial and economic resources to LSG bodies according to their functions and authorities.
§ Weak professional capacity of municipal civil servants, lack of effective manpower policy. The law on municipal civil service has not been adopted and the system of municipal civil servants’ training, retraining and upgrading of qualification has not been created. There is no motivation and social protection system. There is also no informational-technical and scientific-methodological service for the local self-government personnel.
§ Limited scale of social mobilization and development of human potential. The social mobilization of local people in a form created by their own organizations, assistance and advancement of its further development, use of personnel and other resources take place but, as yet, it is an insufficiently active process. It is noteworthy that the population still prefers to take a passive role in the process of making decisions which could improve their standards of living.
§ Undeveloped partnership and interaction of state administration with bodies of local self-governance, NGOs, private sector. The successful experience of pilot ayl-okmotu in social mobilization and strengthening of the public-private partnerships between government and community-based organizations is distributed to all regions of the Republic but remains limited in scope and is not supported by an appropriate legal base. In 2001, the President of the Kyrgyz Republic decreed that the process of social mobilization should be carried out in all areas.

Declaration of development prospects.

The key decentralization and local self government development principles are as follows:

§ Rule of law. Interests of citizens, community members and bodies of local self-government are protected by laws.
§ Delineation of powers. This is a general principle of institutional organization of power and management establishing that “decisions should be made by those closest to the people”. According to this principle, all issues which can be solved in the field should not be centralized to the higher level.
§ Exclusiveness. The authorities transferred to LSG bodies must be full and exclusive.
§ Limited control. Any administrative control of local authorities can be implemented only in cases when it is specified by the laws of the Kyrgyz Republic.
§ Importance. Rights and possibilities of local self-government bodies to regulate and manage a considerable part of public affairs under their own responsibility and in the interests of the local population.
§ Fiscal decentralization. Providing self-government bodies adequate economic and financial resources in accordance with their functions and authorities.
§ Partnership, transparency and effective management. The government of the Kyrgyz Republic, local self-government bodies, civil society, the private sector, international organizations and donor countries direct their efforts at implementation of the aims and tasks of this strategy based on partnership and consent.
§ Preventiveness. The strategy directions and components include preventive measures to overcome the expected potential barriers on the way to achieving the strategy aims and tasks.

It is planned to create the effective organizational, legal, financial and economic base for LSG development and decentralization by 2010, which will be formed according to the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic. It will reflect traditions of the Kyrgyz people and follow international standards and experience in LSG activities.

In this respect, it is planned to implement important political and administrative reforms on further decentralization of state administration and LSG development. This will require changes in the administrative and territorial structure of the Republic by putting certain amendments into the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic and adoption of the law “On Administrative and Territorial Structure in the Kyrgyz Republic”. According to tasks of SSHD, work will be implemented on creation of special okrugs (districts) (judicial, administrative and others) for the purpose of improving the system of administration and prevention of regionalism and corruption.

LSG bodies will have decentralized financial and budget resources and have an effective local tax system. They will be provided with such rights as to create local financial and credit establishments and to receive and borrow funds for long term investment into social infrastructure. All these rights and norms will be reflected in the Law “On Financial and Economic Rights and Principles of Local Self Government” which will serve as the basis for public hearings on formation and execution of LSG budgets. There will be a common procedure for compilation, consideration and approval of local budgets and for transparency ensured in all the financial and economic activities of LSGs, including information on tax revenues and expenses.

For many LSG bodies, the majority of their revenues will be formed from own source revenues with the land tax and realty tax being the most important ones.

LSG bodies will independently distribute budget funds for expenditures, based on the expected levels of tax revenues and grants to be received from the Republican budget and higher territorial levels. Expenditure authorities will be clearly assigned between all levels of local budget, as a result of which LSG bodies will become independent in managing their own funds. There will be a new method introduced – “program budgeting”. This will make it possible to estimate the budget data in different programs and provide the effective and rational use of budget funds.

An effective system of personnel management and municipal civil service will be created. LSG bodies will have the developed human and institutional potential necessary for the effective implementation of their functions. A Law of the Kyrgyz Republic “On Municipal Civil Service” will provide municipal civil servants with the appropriate status, conditions and opportunities (wages, grades, social security and others).

Higher education establishments of the Republic, including the Institute of State and Municipal Management of the Academy of Management under the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, will provide high quality education, periodic training and upgrading of municipal civil servants. Different short term and long term training courses and programs will be organized on this basis. LSG bodies will be filled with highly skilled specialists who will be educated and re-trained in regional Centers and Schools of Municipal Management. The information system “Electronic Ayil Okmotu” and a distance education system for municipal workers will be widely used. Measures will be undertaken to create Scientific – Research and Information Centers with the appropriate information and communication, technical and publication base.

Creation of an effective system of social mobilization and preventive development will support the active participation of the population in issues of local communities. Residents of villages and communities will be organized in self-governed, community-based organizations and associations, other institutions with the wide use of own funds and attraction of other resources. Stable, community-based financial and economic organizations, firms, companies and other self-governed institutions will help LSG bodies to increase the manpower potential, improve life of the population, and promote social and economic development of villages, communities and cities with the active support of state bodies.

Accumulated unique experience of social mobilization, formation of local development funds, micro-financing and micro-crediting of the population will be widely used. The status, role of community-based organizations and their associations, and norms of activity will be stipulated in the Law of the Kyrgyz Republic “On Community-Based Organizations”. In the future, rural municipal banks will be created such as credit unions, local development funds and other financial and credit establishments.

Various training courses, including those on planning, development of appropriate projects and programs, and human resource development will be held on a regular basis.

Work will be done on formation of a consolidated and fair civil society, provided with effective social security. It is planned to develop effective partnership of local and central state bodies of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic with civil society and the private sector. Efforts of LSG bodies will be aimed at creation of jobs, reduction of poverty and provision of access to high quality medical services and education. A different system of Associations of LSG bodies will be created in the Republic which will productively cooperate with the private sector, NGOs, political parties and movements. Their potential is planned to be directed to poverty alleviation, to improving the living conditions of local communities, to developing a social structure on the basis of active development of small and medium business in the local areas.

1. Formation of a harmonious legal framework

The existing legal base needs to be improved and the normative and legal acts brought in line with the principles of the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic. It will also be necessary to develop and adopt a number of priority laws such as “On Financial and Economic Rights and Principles of Local Self-Government in the Kyrgyz Republic”, “On Municipal Civil Service”, “On Community-Based Organizations” and “On Delineation of Functions and Authorities of State and LSG bodies”. The next stage stipulates adoption of such laws of the Kyrgyz Republic as “On Local Referendum” and “On People’s Law Making Initiative”. Also, it is planned to adopt the Law “On the Administrative and Territorial Structure of the Kyrgyz Republic”.

At the same time, the inventory and analysis of normative and legal acts will be conducted with the purpose eliminating contradictions and further systematic arrangement of legal norms in a common law.

The LSG bodies will also have an appropriate legal base for organization of the economic and financial and budget activity. For these purposes, the Budget Code and Law of the Kyrgyz Republic “On Amendments and Supplements in the Tax Code of the Kyrgyz Republic” will be adopted to regulate the issues of local budgets and taxes. Then, the laws “On Creation of Local Development Funds”, “On Creation of the Municipal Banks in Cities and Villages” will be adopted.

For the purpose of creating a legal base for organization of the effective system of municipal civil service, re-training and upgrading training of municipal officers and their scientific and methodological potential, the Law of the Kyrgyz Republic “On Municipal Service”, which contains the Registry of Municipal Positions and Functions, will be soon submitted to the Jogorku Kenesh of the Kyrgyz Republic. The Code of Professional Ethics of Municipal Servants will be adopted.

A stable legal basis will be created for social mobilization, development and further consolidation of civil society. The status and role of community-based organizations will be specified in a separate law of the Kyrgyz Republic “On Community-Based Organizations”. The laws of the Kyrgyz Republic “On Associations of Local Self-Government Bodies in the Kyrgyz Republic”, “On Municipal Social Order”, “On Local Companies and Establishments providing Public Services”, “On City and Village Planning”, “On the Municipal Militia” and the others will be adopted.

The Code on Local Self Government in the Kyrgyz Republic, consolidating these norms providing effective activity of LSG bodies, will be adopted by 2010.

Measures will be taken to improve charters of cities, villages and towns and legal acts of local self-government bodies to increase their role in the activity of LSG bodies .

For the purpose of organizing the productive activity of LSG bodies in line with legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic, to conduct comprehensive work in villages, communities and cities, for legal education of the population and implementation of other related work, positions of lawyers will be created in ayil okmotu and city administrations.

Accessibility of legal acts adopted by the bodies of state power and local self-governance will be provided and a comprehensive informational and technical system will be established for the purpose of legal education and comprehensive training of the population.

2. Political and administrative reforms and state support of local self-government bodies

Political, administrative and institutional aspects of the Strategy are targeted at definition and introduction of policy for fundamental decentralization and local self-government development principles. First of all, the following steps will be implemented like functional reforms, organizational and structural transformations, professional managerial promotion of employees from local self-government bodies. These include: delineation of functions and powers between territorial levels of management; elimination of parallelism and duplication, abolishment of unnecessary functions and powers of local state administrations and executive bodies of LSG for the purpose of creation of an effective and functionally balanced system of local self-government bodies and state power.

At the first stage of strategy implementation, it is necessary to clearly define aims and tasks of each state body and local self government and delineate, in law, their functions, authorities and responsibility having provided them with relevant financial and economic resources and the mechanisms for their transfer.

According to CDF, the Strategy stipulates delineation of functions of central bodies of state administration, as a result of which each level will have his own clearly defined basic and additional functions. For this purpose, it is necessary to overcome the current situation where each level of state administration fulfills functions at its own discretion (the functions which it considers to be most important, promising and revenue generating) and transfers minor authorities to lower levels. Therefore, functions, authorities and responsibilities should be delegated to such a level of power that will be capable to implement them most effectively. Further, based on such a principle, the corresponding management structures will be created taking into account the targets, objectives and scope of functions and responsibilities.

The recently adopted Law of the Kyrgyz Republic On Local Self-Government and Local State Administration is a main positive step in the decentralization process. The law stipulates principles and directions but requires further additions and supplements for the purpose of clear delineation of authorities necessary for elimination of duplication and parallelism between local self-government bodies and local state administration. This work shall be done as a supplement to the process of establishment of functional responsibilities at different levels and units. That is why there will be the law of the Kyrgyz Republic On Delineation of Functions and Authorities between Bodies of State Administration and Bodies of Local Self-Governance, and State Registry of Functions and Authorities of Bodies of State Administration and LSG bodies developed and approved by legislation.

The following principle of functional delineation is stipulated:

The Republican level is responsible for setting policy, defining minimum standards, providing guidelines for tariffs, and planning and mobilizing large-scale investment financing.

The local state administration provides administration of state property, control over implementation of the republican and national programs, as well over implementation of delegated state authorities by LSG bodies.

Local self-governing bodies manage the actual delivery of services to the population of local communities.

Community-based organizations help to define priority needs and mobilize partial funding and labor for small-scale investments in social infrastructure projects.

Openness and transparency of the state and municipal management system on all levels is to be provided together with efficient control by the people over the activities of local government bodies; first of all, over the work of heads of local self government executive bodies and mayors of the cities. For this purpose, certain measures will be introduced to increase and strengthen the role of the peoples’ kurultai, gatherings and meetings of local community members. Special attention will be paid to training and election of high quality deputies to local keneshes and LSG heads and increasing the political activity of the population of local communities. In such conditions, community members will be evenly represented in LSG bodies to carry out adequate analysis and consider needs and interests of all the sectors of the community (by gender, ethnic origin, age, economic and social status), and effectively use their potential.

Reform of the administrative and territorial structure is one of the most important problems of the government in the medium term perspective, because it impacts the number of vertical and horizontal management levels. The current practice of four-level administrative and territorial arrangement (Republic, Oblast, Rayon and City, villages, communities) is too bulky for such a unitary state as Kyrgyzstan. This problem, which has been being discussed since Soviet times, is one of the most disputable issues. Therefore, there is no common opinion on the optimal territorial arrangement for Kyrgyzstan. Based on international and internal experience, there are the following options to be chosen among: (a) liquidation of the oblast level, (b) liquidation of the rayon level, (b) expansion of rayons replacing them with the administrative okrugs.

A competent Republican Commission will be created for the purpose of detailed study of the issue and development of a scientifically grounded concept for reforming the administrative and territorial arrangement of the Republic. It is important to implement pilot projects which will help to determine important practical directions of future administrative and territorial reforms. The draft law of the Kyrgyz Republic “On Administrative and Territorial Arrangement of the Kyrgyz Republic” will be developed by the Commission basing on the above mentioned concept and pilot projects.

3. Economic and financial decentralization

This complicated problem includes issues to be solved both at the state and local self government levels. They include the issues of formation and development of communal property, creation of conditions for formation of full-fledged local budgets (taking into account the specifics of local self government units in allocation of state financial resources), creation of a stable normative basis of financial and economic activity of LSG bodies and others. Despite efforts undertaken in this area, the issue of financial and economic decentralization remains unsolved for a number of reasons, both objective and subjective.

The existing model of centralized inter-budgetary relations does not contribute to strengthening of financial and economic principles of local self-government. As a result, we have sharp differences among regions regarding the budget security of local self-governments, an absence of real motivations of LSG bodies to increase local taxes and other revenues, and inefficient spending of resources of local budgets, including the categorical and equalizing grants received from the republican budget. Moreover, territorial-administrative bodies of the higher levels annually change norms of deductions in republican taxes and regional regulated taxes when they approve local budgets, which leads to uncertainty in planning of social and economic development and in local budgets of bodies of local self-governance. Therefore, LSG bodies find themselves in a difficult financial situation; in most cases suffering deficiency of funds to support entities of communal property of a local community, to preserve and develop the historical and cultural heritage, to provide for the well-being of the population.

In order to enhance the quality of social services provided at the local level, it is necessary to delineate revenue and expenditure rights of each territorial level of the local budget and to ensure legislative independence of local self-government bodies in distribution of financial resources. Following the principle of subsidiarity, local authorities are closer to people and are better judges which of services are a priority and how they should be provided to the local population.

Efficient utilization of local financial resources necessitates introduction of a program budgeting model that allows local bodies of self-governance to allocate funds according to the goals in their priority programs. The local budget of local self-government bodies made in the format of “Program budgeting” has to be planned with a long-term outlook, the process, during which the role, aims and objectives of each organization and institution are defined, are controlled by the heads of these institutions and organizations and local self-government bodies. The process has to be focused on important issues of policy, which are the requirements on assignment of funds and influence of these requirements on the future of the local community. Thus, the program budgeting method facilitates the assessment of performance and enhances transparency of expenditures.

The state expenditure policy should be based on principles of completeness of provision and availability of basic services to all citizens taking into account the maintenance of macroeconomic balance along with economic growth.

Distribution of revenue sources between different levels of budget system on a constant basis and establishment of fixed norms of deductions of national taxes and regulated taxes is, to a great extent, a condition of efficiency of budget relations, which means perfection of the tax and budget legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic and development of new transparent methods to calculate and plan amounts in the categorical and equalizing grants. Besides this, it is necessary to introduce stimulating grants which will be directly provided to local self-government bodies of the primary level (Aiyl okmotu) with execution of tender for capital investments in social-cultural and communal facilities. At the same time, the introduction of stimulating grants will promote allocation of means from the local budget of Aiyl okmotu for capital investments and to stimulate income growth and to increase the taxable base of local self-government bodies.

In this connection, the Budget Code being drafted should clearly define budget authorities of republican budget, local state administration budgets, and the budgets of local self-government bodies.

Such reform will allow to calculate revenue capacities and budget security of LSG bodies and amount of support they need. Therefore, the Budget Code of the Kyrgyz Republic and the draft law “On Financial and Economic Basis of Local Self-Government” should establish standards of transparency in financial and budgetary systems of local self-government bodies so that, ultimately, effective control can be done by informed local populations.

Communal property, rental income, and property management, taken as a package, provide the organizational instruments and opportunities to address the structural reorganization tasks and implement local economic reforms of LSG. However, in order to achieve a stable economic basis of local self-government, it is necessary to improve the legislative base, allowing local communities to be the true governing subjects in the state, instead of being its appendages. Currently, there are still state enterprises which mainly deal with water supply, sewage, removal of solid waste and provide other local services using the communal property of LSG under the principle of economic management. In such cases, LSG bodies have no real legal control over these monopolistic service providers. These enterprises need to be restructured and LSG bodies, not the state, should be founders. In case this issue is solved positively, LSG bodies, as founders, should introduce mechanisms for general management of enterprises without direct involvement into operational management so that enterprises could work effectively and be oriented to business. In particular, if enterprises are to survive and regularly provide services to the local population, it is necessary to introduce full recovery of production costs, as much as possible. This will require political courage from LSG bodies in introduction of rational tariffs and their collection.

It is anticipated that the effective utilization of communal property will allow local self-government bodies to obtain maximum possible non-material results in the form of quantitative growth of entities that ensure vital activities of the local community (trade, household service, catering); strengthening of competitive the environment, reduction of prices in the consumer market for goods and services; creation of new jobs and formation of preconditions for favorable investment climate in the territory of a local community.

Local self-governments should utilize communal property more effectively and attract private sector and community groups for stimulating local economic growth. Therefore, the Law “On Financial and Economic Bases of Local Self Government in the Kyrgyz Republic” should clearly underline the legal base and direction of LSG in the Kyrgyz Republic and communal entities for active participation in this activity; not as a competitor to the private sector and community organizations, but as a partner. In the future, this area will require significant support for the institutional development of local self government bodies, private sector and community organizations.

4. Municipal and civil service development and improvement of work with personnel

For effective accomplishment of increasing aims and goals, local self-government bodies must have an effective municipal civil service with developed human and institutional potential. This will be stipulated in the law of the Kyrgyz Republic On Municipal Civil Service which will provide municipal employees with appropriate conditions and opportunities (salaries, ranks, upgrading, social protection and others).

There will be an effective system of training, re-training and upgrading of skills of municipal officers. New conditions of providing services will take into account the specifics of the LSG system and will provide the ability to attract and keep the personnel. In order to implement effective training activity, training handbooks and materials on issues of decentralization, local self-government, social mobilization, financial, economic and personnel issues, organizational methodological and informational communication issues will be elaborated and introduced in practice. Also, there will be cooperation established with academic and educational structures regarding organization of systematical training, retraining and raising the level of municipal employees’ skills.

There will be a broadly developed system of filling vacant municipal positions on a tender basis. There will be created an effective system of attestation of municipal civil servants. Everywhere there will be established municipal servants Commissions on Ethics. Municipal Civil Servants Code of Ethics will be designed and adopted. There will be crucial changes in the psychology of thinking of not only municipal civil servants. Managerial knowledge and skills of local self-government bodies officials will be improved in the programs on preparation and raising the qualification that will be designed specially for categories of municipal civil servants, local council members and technical personnel.

In accordance with the law of the Kyrgyz Republic On Municipal Civil Service, once in five years, local governance officials and experts will have to be retrained and raise their skills at regional Centers and the Institute of Public and Municipal Administration (IPMA) of the Academy of Management under the President of the Kyrgyz Republic. Special attention will be focused on the issues of training and raising of skills; first of all of deputies of local keneshes and aiyl okmotu heads, village monitors and other managerial personnel.

In the majority of higher educational establishments, and primarily at the IPMA, there will be carried out municipal employees training. A sustainable system of training outreach will include various short term and long-term educating and training courses and programs. On their basis there will be training of current and newly elected deputies of local keneshes, aiyl okmotu heads, their personnel, association leaders, TPSGs, community-based organizations, NGOs, the private sector and others. Bodies of local self-governance will have 100% highly qualified specialists who will successfully implement reforms on-site. Innovative forms and methods of training, encouragement and informing of officials and citizens will become constant incentives and means in their continuous education and retraining. The succession in local governance personnel skills will be ensured. Special attention will be given to gender equality development.

Organizational, Informational and Scientific-Methodological Support of Local Self-Governance Bodies and Municipal Civil Servants. There will be established a Remote System for municipal servants training. The National Information, Scientific and Research Center of Local Self-Governance will be created under the IPMA of the Academy of Management under the President of the Kyrgyz Republic having all the necessary logistics, editorial and publishing capabilities. Various handbooks, instructions, manuals and other materials will be published and distributed. Human capacities development activities will start with creation of Information Centers in local self-government bodies. Those centers will maintain databases for social and economic development of villages and towns. Each aiyl okmotu must have an e-mail communication system. Decentralization and local self-governance development in the Kyrgyz Republic will be implemented based on scientific achievements, strictly valuated and tested stages, scientific calculations and projects and world experience. The center will serve as a Regional Resource Center for the whole Central Asian region. The republic will have an Electronic Aiyl Okmotu System.

There will be functioning an effective system of continuous municipal civil servants education and their informational and scientific-methodological service. Exchange of experience on issues and problems of local self governance will be held all over the republic as well as innovative seminars, trainings, scientific seminars, practical conferences and symposiums.

Low women’s representation in the state and municipal governments (only 4% in the Parliament and only 9 out of 102 higher officials in the Government), causes considerable problems. Thereand gender responsiveness in the process of the state and municipal administration, will serve as prerequisites for achieving equal, responsive and responsible development. The partnership with Bureau Gender in its development will allow to improve gender knowledge among state and municipal employees in order to provide equal rights development at all levels of management.

5. Social mobilization and development of human capacities

Social mobilization. Social aspects of the Strategy include such issues as: social mobilization, effective involvement of the community in processes of village and town development and strengthening the role of communal organizations in these processes.

The President of the Kyrgyz Republic, Askar Akaev, recently announced that “Kyrgyzstan accumulated a unique experience of social mobilization” that should be extended to all aiyl okmotus in the country with all deliberate speed. In this respect, it is planned to create an effective mechanism of development and support of social mobilization processes with involvement of the population in the process of development of villages and cities to increase the role of community-based organizations in these processes. International experience and the experience of pilot activities in Kyrgyzstan demonstrate that, for social mobilization to succeed, it is necessary to acquire a sufficient number of trained and full-time personnel and financial resources over the next several years

When first introduced to social mobilization, people, especially in rural areas, do not believe that it will work or that they can really help to solve problems themselves. It takes time and practical demonstrations of success to convince people. It also takes seed money to act as a stimulus for group formation and local resource mobilization.

It especially provides good opportunities for women to become actively involved in the processes of social mobilization and public affairs.

More effective partnership between local and central authorities will be established and also between the state and civil community. Measures will be taken to strengthen management potential of all engaged parties.

The activity of state authorities and local self-government bodies will be targeted at rendering assistance to all levels of society and, first of all, to these people which belong to the category of the least protected groups of population including poor people, residents of rural regions, women, aged and unemployed people. For this purpose, in all the regions of the republic, there will be created a broad network of community-based organizations with considerable savings placed in local development funds that will use various forms including issuing of micro capital-grants and micro financing.

A subprogram will be developed to support the institutional development, targeted at the creation and development of the capacities of local self-governments and community based organizations. Special attention will be paid to the development of community based organizations created and functioning at the initiative of citizens. This element of activities will be realized through a process of social mobilization of all residents of local communities willing to participate in the social and economic development.

Activities to build the capacity will be started from the creation of Information Centers at local levels. In these Information Centers a comprehensive data base will be collected on the social and economic development of villages, towns and cities. In each location, city administration or aiyl okmotu there will be installed the system of electronic communication. Also, in the centers there will be regularly displayed information on activities of state power and local self-government bodies, on meetings of local government representatives with leaders of community based organizations, of civil and private sectors, highlighting the results of joint projects. Local development funds and revolving funds at the aiyl okmotu level with the partnership from aiyl okmotu and community based organizations are planned to be formed. The main purpose of the revolving funds and local development funds will be provision of financial assistance to community members and small enterprises for profit generating activities. The use of grants, revolving funds and local development funds by local self-government and community based organizations will allow estimation of the capacity of those organizations for joint partnership activities and effective use of resources.

As a result of the subprogram the following will be achieved: LSG bodies strengthened by means of transfer of certain functions and responsibilities to them; community based organizations capacities improved; partnership and cooperation between the government, local authorities, civil society and private sector increased and improved; knowledge and experiences on gender issues disseminated for the purposes of provision of equality principles in the decision taking process, reform implementation and monitoring of the process in its dynamics.

Institutional development of LSG bodies will be carried out through organization of trainings for LSG and community based organizations, exchange of experiences, and assistance to initiatives of planning and development program implementation at local levels.

Current efforts to widely replicate the concept of social mobilization will be followed up with a training program. Training courses on planning, development of different projects and programs will be held. The program should be implemented on a stage-by-stage basis over several years. Special courses should be developed on training-of-trainers for social mobilization. Training of trainers and successful leaders of social mobilization should help other specialists on the program “Training of Trainers”.

Priority Issue – poverty alleviation and income generation. The ultimate purpose of decentralization and local self-governance is to improve people’s living standards and economic opportunities. The formation of CBOs, with the support of the aiyl okmotu and technical assistance from trained social mobilizers, greatly helps local communities to address several facets of poverty. One important aspect of the definition of poverty is inadequate access to basic facilities. CBOs efforts to repair or build schools, extend drinking water availability and other similar activities have a direct and relatively rapid impact on the quality of life and the reduction of poverty.

Equally important are the activities of CBOs and government programs to promote “income generation” activities and micro-enterprise through revolving funds and individual and group loans. It is necessary to continue assisting local self-governments and CBOs to address poverty alleviation and income generation. This requires: provision of expanded finance and micro-finance programs; clarification of the legal status of micro-finance institutions; improved understanding and guidelines regarding the sustainable management of credit funds; and expanded training on the management of income generation projects and micro-enterprise development.

International donor organizations are active in these important areas and there should be adequate funding, technical expertise, and training materials available within the country to support this national priority concern.

Legal status and role of Community-Based Organizations and Local NGOs. Priority Issue. At present the newly formed CBOs have no legal status or protection. These fledgling institutions face many problems due to their indeterminate status. First of all, a draft Law On Community-Based Organizations must be developed that will clearly clarify the status, rights and responsibilities of CBOs. As legal entities, their appropriate spheres of activity will be defined. They will be clearly defined as independent entities, not as arms of the local self-government. Also clarified under the new law would be the not-for profit status of CBOs, including the limitations of CBO roles in for-profit activities. They will also have temporary relief from selected taxes.

An important element of strengthening the status of Community-Based Organizations is the establishment of an Association of CBOs to provide representation, information and other services for the members. Given the small size and limited experience of individual CBOs, this single representative organization would provide some strength to otherwise small and vulnerable village and neighborhood organizations.

6. Civil society consolidation

Worldwide experience shows that the local self governments (both rural and municipal), even after training and capacity development, cannot fulfill their responsibilities alone. Successful local governance requires an active partnership with the state administration, on one hand, and with a range of citizens’ groups and organizations, or community-based organizations, private sector - on the other hand. Indeed, it is a direct linkage between citizens and government, state and LSG bodies which is necessary. There will be enhanced mobilization and promotion of a dialogue between local power bodies and various partners, NGOs, private sector through conducting of meetings, workshops, roundtables and so on.

Bodies of state power and local governance will consistently create jobs and alleviate poverty, develop targeted and effective social protection, provide access to qualified medical service and education in all locations. Efforts will be directed at revival of culture and arts, national traditions and propaganda of a healthy life stile. In all locations local self-government bodies will introduce experience of social mobilization, formation of local development funds, micro financing and micro crediting. The experience of pilot ayil okmotu will be actively used in non-pilot ayil okmotu. The status and roles of community-base organizations will be provided in the Law “On Community-Base Organizations”.

Associations of Local Self- Government Bodies.

The formation of associations representing local self-government bodies has been an important step forward in LSG development. Such organizations can function as entities to represent the interests of local self-governments in policy deliberations and provide information services and technical advice to the population. They also provide important opportunities for members to share their experiences, frustrations, and ideas with one another as LSG bodies may face many problems in organization of their activity.

At this time, the Association of Villages and Communities of the Kyrgyz Republic, Association of Cities of the Kyrgyz Republic, registered as NGOs operate partially as state organizations. The challenge over the next few years, will be to gradually transform them into truly independent associations, funded directed by their members. The Associations should develop work plans and financial plans for this transition into truly independent organizations.

The republic will develop a broad network and enhance an effective activity of various regional associations in partnership with the private sector and NGOs, public associations, political parties and movements. Their potential will be mobilized and directed at poverty alleviation, upgrading of the level of living of local community members and social infrastructure development. Small-scale and medium–scale business and entrepreneurship will be supported as an effective means for job creation and poverty alleviation.

There will be an effective reforming of the health care and education systems. The undertaken reforms will enhance the educational and cultural level and social-economic position of the population of villages and towns. There will be achieved a high mobilization of the society and an effective partnership in the activity of bodies of state power and local self-governance, civil union and the private sector in achievement of this strategy, CDF, NPRS and SSHD aims and goals.

Preventive development. There will be developed a subprogram to develop the methods of effective preventive development, for organization of special measures to avoid conflicts of social and economic nature in the south of Kyrgyzstan. This subprogram will include the following mainstreams: formulation of systems of preventive development for the support of efforts taken by the Government and local power in organization of measures to avoid conflicts, both at local and central levels; development of practical instruments of social mobilization to prevent crisis in the oblasts; establishment of the institutional mechanism at the lowest level for an early prevention of conflicts; support of the consolidated efforts for the increase of the institutional capacity of organizations involved in assistance coordination. A system of preventive development will be created including the methods and instruments for an early prevention of conflicts. These methods and instruments will be developed and introduced at the level of local communities, first of all at the south of the republic and later in other regions. Information and resource centers will be set up at oblast and village levels on preventive development, assistance provided to community based organizations in resource mobilization, creation of the Small Grant Funds for projects related to the preventive measures. The efforts of local government will be directed at creation and development of community-based organizations and initiation and undertaking activities on creation of conditions for attainment of social harmony, tolerance, peace and development. Training will be conducted on gender issues at the local community levels, for aiyl okmotu staff and community staff for the purposes of their capacity development.

7. Principle of strategy implementation

In order to implement this Strategy the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic shall adopt a plan of complex activities that shall specify the activities, responsible bodies and organizations, implementation terms. Besides, it is necessary to identify sources for financing.

Coordination of the Strategy implementation process shall be made by a specially established collegial body having the status of a coordination council that will include representatives of state administration and LSG, public organizations, civil society.

Successful implementation of the Strategy will largely depend on the efforts made by state administration and LSG at all the levels, contribution of funds by national and international donors.

On a constant basis it is necessary to attract various international institutions, establishments and organizations in order to receive financial and technical support in implementation of the Strategy and a plan of complex activities.

The Coordination Council shall regularly conduct monitoring, analysis of the Strategy implementation processes and based on them make relevant suggestions to the Presidential administration and the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic.