Representatives of 23 municipalities of Osh and Naryn provinces of Kyrgyzstan were awarded grant certificates in the amount of KGS 38 million at the ceremony held on March 23 in Bishkek. The grants will be used to solve priority issues identified by the citizens, such as construction of kindergartens and improvement of water services.
The event was organized by the project “Strengthening Voice and Accountability: Citizens’ Participation and Oversight of Budgetary Processes”. This project is implemented by the Development Policy Institute and financed by the Swiss Government through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). It ensures participation of citizens in budgetary processes and strengthens the capacity of municipalities to improve citizens’ livelihoods.
Citizens participate in budgetary hearings organized by municipalities during which they identify and select priority problems. Municipalities then applied for grant support from the Swiss-funded project. The grants were awarded on a competitive basis to provide funding for municipalities to realize these community initiatives.
“I hope that citizens will continue to be involved in the budgetary processes at the local level, it is an important element of democracy, which strengthens accountability of local authorities towards citizens and enables an effective and efficient use of public resources,” said Danielle Meuwly Monteleone, Deputy Head of the Embassy of Switzerland in the Kyrgyz Republic.
The competition for grant support covered all municipalities of the Osh and Naryn provinces, which are applying a participatory budgetary process model. The committee has selected 38 projects out of more than 120 applications. The committee consisted of the representatives of the President’s Administration of the Kyrgyz Republic, the Ministry of Finance, the State Agency for Local Self-Governance and Interethnic Relations, the Union of Local Self Governments and the Development Policy Institute.
Out of 38 initiatives, 20 (53%) will address pre-school and school education services; 11 (29%) will improve access to municipal services; 6 (16%) – recreation services for local community members; and 1 (2%) – access to information.
The Swiss-funded project “Strengthening Voice and Accountability” has been working since 2011. Previously, it covered Issyk-Kul, Jalal-Abad and Chui provinces.
