Poverty remains high in the Kyrgyz Republic, although the level of extreme poverty is moderate. In 2007, an estimated 39.9 percent of the population lived below the poverty line (as defined by consumption per capita) and 9.1 percent lived in extreme poverty. Almost three-quarters of the poor live in rural areas.
UNDP’s work in poverty reduction stands on its own as one of the pillars of development work in the Kyrgyz Republic, and has also been integrated into other spheres of operation. The UNDP Poverty Reduction Programme has been operating in Kyrgyzstan since 1998. It aims to complement the efforts of the government and civil society in poverty alleviation by enhancing economic opportunities for the poor (especially women), supporting income-generating activity and providing access to financial services.
The UNDP Poverty Reduction Programme is currently being implemented at both the macro level (policy advice) and micro level (grassroots activities). At the macro level, the programme supports the priorities set forth by the Kyrgyz Government by assisting the government in developing and implementing policies and strategies that support the socioeconomic advancement of the poor. To this end, the programme participates in and supports analytical work to help policy makers come to informed decisions. UNDP commissions National Human Development Reports, which provide independent analysis and a range of policy options for accelerating the progress of human development in Kyrgyzstan. In 2009, UNDP Kyrgyzstan supports development and publication the National Human Development Report on Youth. The report’s launch is scheduled for the fall of 2009.
The programme provides policy advice and support in the implementation and monitoring of the Country Development Strategy for 2009-2011 on issues related to poverty reduction and the Millennium Development Goals. Policy support is also provided at the local level. In 2008, UNDP launched an initiative to help develop MDG-based participatory local development plans to ‘localize’ the Country Development Strategy (CDS) priorities, to translate the CDS priorities into local level development plans for targeted budget allocations and improved service delivery.
The programme is currently active at the grassroots level in all six oblasts of Kyrgyzstan, mainly operating in remote and isolated villages. UNDP and Ayilbank JSC (formerly the Kyrgyz Agricultural Financing Corporation, the main non-collateral micro-credit lending agency in the country) helped expand access to formal micro-finance services, and provided approximately 3,000 target groups with non-collateral loans totaling more than 250 million soms from 1999 until 2008. UNDP has helped about 100,000 people (2 percent of the population) improve their economic statuses through capacity-building programmes for local communities and social mobilization, development of micro-financing, and the provision of grants for local infrastructure development.
Since 2006, the programme has begun to help self-help groups (SHGs) and self-help associations (SHGAs) evolve into business enterprises and individual entrepreneurs, marking the programme’s new focus on small and medium enterprise (SME) development. The programme contributes to the domestic economic base by developing new financial and economic products and services and continuously investing in people’s individual capacities.