Karakol Mayor’s Office to Launch Two Social Projects

The Karakol Mayor’s Office is launching two social projects to be implemented through the state social procurement (SSP) mechanism¹. On a competitive basis, Public Foundation Baldarga Tirek was selected to implement the project “Children of Labor Migrants”, and Public Union Ulukman Daryger will implement the project “Women - Victims of Domestic Violence”.

“The total amount secured in the Karakol local budget for the two projects is 400,000 Kyrgyz soms. The projects will be implemented until the end of the year. A competition will be announced soon for the third project, entitled “Maintaining Public Order” and aimed at working with homeless people”, - said Tolumbekova G., Karakol Finance Department Head.

Karakol has become the third city in Kyrgyzstan to apply a new method of collaboration with non-commercial organizations (NCOs), engaging them to address priority social issues. In this case, the Karakol Mayor’s Office invited NCOs’ to submit proposals aimed to protect the interests of labor migrants’ children and provide assistance and support to female victims of domestic violence.

Karakol is a partner of the project “Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Labor and Social Development for State Social Procurement” implemented by the Development Policy Institute (DPI) with the support of the USAID Collaborative Governance Program. DPI has selected municipalities willing to apply state/municipal social procurement practices and currently provides consultative support through all the implementation stages: identifying priority issues, selecting NCOs, and monitoring project implementation.

The Collaborative Governance Program (CGP) promotes effective collaboration between civil society and the state bodies of the Kyrgyz Republic. The Program is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and is implemented by the East-West Management Institute (EWMI).

¹ In 2017, a new version of the Law on State Social Procurement was adopted, which allows local self-governments to use social procurement to solve social problems in municipalities with the participation of noncommercial organizations.