Public Services Improvement


To improve people's quality of life, municipalities have to deliver efficiently and effectively services such as safe drinking water, waste collection, cultural facilities in a socially inclusive and gender responsive manner. In rural Kyrgyzstan, their capacities still need to be improved in a sustainable way. To achieve this, the project will develop the municipalities' support system which shall then provide adequate counseling and training to those municipalities not only today but also in the long run. 

Country/region Topic Period Budget
Kyrgyzstan
Governance
Decentralisation
Democratic participation and civil society
01.05.2019 - 31.07.2024
CHF  5’370’000
Background Local self-governance is the primary level of the public administration system in the Kyrgyz Republic meaning that municipalities are responsible for the provision of the crucial services that define the quality of life of the population, e.g. access to drinking water, preschool education services, maintenance of public builings and areas. However, due to insufficient resources, low capacity and gaps in regulatory framework, local self-governments (LSGs), particularly rural ones, are not able to provide sustainable quality services in accordance with the needs of the population, expecially socially excluded groups. 
Objectives People in rural Kyrgyzstan enjoy better living conditions thanks to improved public services. 
Target groups

Beneficiaries: community members, i.e. women, men, youth and socially excluded groups in the municipalities.

Other stakeholders: the councils and executive of municipalities; organized civil society as well as private providers of services at local level.

System actors at the district, reginal and national level who have influence to improve the enabling environment for public service provision, namely the district and regional administrations in Issyk-Kul and Jalal-Abad regions; the State Agency for Local Self-Government and Inter-Ethnic Relations; the Union of LSGs; State Personnel Service; the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Finance 

Medium-term outcomes

1. Rural municipalities provide local public services in an effective and efficient manner.

2. The various system actors create enabling conditions — technical, legal and financial — fostering socially inclusive and gender responsive local public service provision. 

Results

Expected results:  

1.1 Men, women, public interest groups and LSGs participate and understand their role in sustainable service management at the local level

1.2 Innovative approaches for effective service provision are introduced and applied

2.1 National and regional policy framework for local services is improved

2.2 National mechanisms for knowledge dissemination and learning are in place and provide guidance to municipalities 


Results from previous phases:   The porject has significantly contributed to changing management of service delivery at the local level as well as to improving quality and ensuring sustainability of service provision in pilot municipalities of Issyk-Kul and Jalal-Abad regions of Kyrgyzstan. 38 priority services were improved in 30 pilot municipalities. As a result, more than 150 000 people directyl benefited from the improved services. The satisfaction rate with public services provided in pilots increased frm 39% in 2015 to 47% in early 2018. Municipalities were also capacitated in tariff calculation to ensure full cost recovery for provided services. The project has been also promoting a change of mindset towards serving the public rather than being self-serving or exclusively serving demands of central authorities. Based on the experiences of Phase I, it is recommended for the next phase to continue strengthening the instruments and processes for local public service delivery and to support sustainable replication mechanisms for improved local public service delivery countrywide. 


Directorate/federal office responsible SDC
Credit area Swiss cooperation with Eastern Europe
Project partners Contract partner
Private sector
Swiss Non-profit Organisation
  • HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation
  • Foreign private sector North


Coordination with other projects and actors

Swiss projects: SDC-funded Voice and Accountability project (VAP); Capacity Building on Public Finance Management (PFM) co-funded by SECO and the European Union (EU); SDC-funded Strong and Inclusive Parliamentary Democracy (SIPD).

Other projects: USAID-funded local governance Community and Municipal Governance Initiative (CAMI); Integrated Rural Development Programme co-funded by BMZ and the EU; and Helvetas-funded Irrigation Water Integrity Project; rural water supply and sanitation projects funded by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. 

Budget Current phase Swiss budget CHF    5’370’000 Swiss disbursement to date CHF    5’084’626 Total project since first phase Budget inclusive project partner CHF   10’501’000
Project phases Phase 2 01.05.2019 - 31.07.2024   (Current phase) Phase 1 01.11.2013 - 30.04.2019   (Completed)