More than 60 percent of the population of Kyrgyzstan lives in rural areas and depends on agriculture for a livelihood. Most of the farms are small and are run by individual farmers who have been identified as vulnerable groups for poverty. Women make up for 30 percent of the economically active population in agriculture.

In 2016, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) with the financial support of the Government of Switzerland started the implementation of a project in Issyk-Kul region with a special focus on rural women. The main objective of the project was to support the development of agriculture in the Issyk-Kul region through improving the technical capacity of farmers, especially rural women.

The project was implemented in the Ton and Tyup districts of the Issyk-Kul region; each of the districts included five villages with a total estimate of more than 2000 beneficiaries. The project facilitated the establishment of two Associations of self-help groups (SHG) with total number of members 400, including 114 males and 286 females. These SHGs are covering all aspects of self-employment and are strengthening the capacity building. Organization of the rural poor into self-help groups helps them to plan activities, build up infrastructure, technology, credit and marketing.

The main aim of the project was to disseminate knowledge and impart skills on improved crop and livestock management, including promotion of conservation agriculture, diversification of cropping systems to produce more fodder and production of feed – silage and silos to increase milk yield and further development of dairy farming.

“Within this project our lives have changed. We managed to improve the livelihoods and change our social life in the village,” – said Taaryndyk Abdyldaeva, woman farmer from Temir-Kanat village, Ton rayon.

A large number of activities, such as farmer field schools, business planning training, the establishment and running the Revolving Fund and many other capacity building activities were held within the framework of the project. The project also facilitated the cooperation between the seed farms with the small-scale famers for growing maize, fodder beet and other fodder crops. Today, the project participants actively apply the knowledge and are happy to share them with new people who want to join the ongoing activities. It is important to mention that self-help groups have collected certain amount of funds that is used, as a community fund upon needs of poor farmers.

It is worth noting that the financial support provided by the Government of Switzerland made it possible to procure and deliver key field equipment to the Associations. The equipment is used in feed cultivation, to help ensure sustainable results from the assistance. Moreover, the heifers were provided to young families and produced calves which were then distributed to other members of the Associations.

Women make a critical contribution to agriculture and rural economic activities in all developing regions. Expanding women's access to land, livestock, education, finance, information services, technology and employment in rural areas would improve the livelihood of families and provide additional benefits in terms of agricultural production, food security, economic growth and social welfare.

The conference was supported by the Swiss-funded Public Service Improvement project. It provided a platform to present and exchange on concrete examples of improved services at the local level in the municipalities of Issyk-Kul and Jalal-Abad provinces. For example, representatives of Kumbel municipality shared their experience in organizing the drinking water supply service, and representatives of Toktogul city spoke about improving the collection and removal of solid waste in their city. In addition, other municipalities shared their experience on improving services on lightning of public areas, preschool education, including education for children with special educational needs, and maintenance of internal roads.

The head of the Development Department of Local Self-Governments at the State Agency on Local Self-Government and Interethnic Relations Azamat Shameyev noted the importance of such events in development of regions and improvement of services at the local level. He informed that the Development Program of Local Self-Governments has been recently adopted, which includes a number of activities to improve services at the local level. Also Azamat Shameyev informed that jointly with the Ministry of Economy they work on the document that will reflect the public opinion about the quality of provided services.

The Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of Switzerland in the Kyrgyz Republic, Danielle Meuwly Monteleone, emphasized that the next important step will be to ensure that improved services are sustainable and best practices are institutionalized at the national level. It will also be crucial to enhance local finances and to address deficiencies in intergovernmental relations.

150’000 people benefit from the 38 action plans on improving services supported by the project over the past four years. This included 9 initiatives to ensure sustainable access to clean drinking water, 11 services to improve the quality and accessibility of pre-school and school education (including education for children with special educational needs), 9 services in the field of cultural and leisure activities (park areas, cultural and sports services) and 8 plans for maintenance and cleaning of public areas.

The overall cost of the implementation of these action plans was more than 97 million soms. The own contribution of the municipalities amounted to more than 33 million soms or almost 26%, which shows the importance and relevance of the problems in municipalities.

The Public Service Improvement Project is funded by the Swiss Government through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and implemented by Helvetas Kyrgyzstan and the Development Policy Institute.