The project will provide local self-governments and local communities of Naryn and Osh oblasts with new opportunities for capacity development. It will improve citizens’ engagement in budgetary processes at the local level and promote enabling environments for building dialogue between citizens and local self-governments.   

The events will be attended by representatives of the Government’s Office of the Kyrgyz Republic, the State Agency for Local Self-Governments and Interethnic Relations under the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic, representatives of the Government in Naryn and Osh oblasts, the Embassy of Switzerland, representatives of the rayon state administrations, as well as heads of all municipalities of Naryn and Osh oblasts.

“Switzerland has been providing long-term support to Kyrgyzstan in improving local self-governance and service delivery at the municipal level in various oblasts across the country already for a number of years. I am convinced that the project will now also contribute to more transparent budgetary processes and better services for citizens in the villages of Naryn and Osh oblasts”, said Lucien Aegerter, representative of the Embassy of Switzerland.

The project includes the provision of competitive grant support to address priority issues of local communities. This project was previously successfully implemented in Jalal-Abad and Issyk-Kul oblasts from 2012 to 2015, and is currently ongoing in Chui oblast. 

The competition’s aim was to visualize problems faced by local governments and local communities as well as to identify solutions and good practices. 

Artists and authors of the posters from different regions of Kyrgyzstan, representatives of the State Agency on local self-governance and interethnic relations under the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic as well as representatives of the Embassy of Switzerland in the Kyrgyz Republic participated in the opening ceremony. During the event, winners and successful participants received awards.

“I am convinced that the visual art works that we see today will encourage citizens of Kyrgyzstan, including women, youth and vulnerable groups, to actively participate in the life of their communities and get involved in local self-governance,” – said Lucien Aegerter, representative of the Embassy of Switzerland in the Kyrgyz Republic.

The competition was organized by the “Municipalitet” magazine (www.municipalitet.kg) under the “Voice of citizens and accountability of local self-governments: budgetary process” project (www.vap.kg) funded by the Government of Switzerland through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).  The competition was conducted by the Development Policy Institute with participation of design.kg, the Union of artists of Kyrgyzstan and the Chuikov Art college.

The project aims at more transparent and effective management of local finances by local self-governments through increased accountability and citizen participation in decision making processes.