Kyrgyz Republic Parliamentary Strengthening Program (KPSP)

Duration:
October 1, 2010 – September 29, 2015

Sponsoring Partner:
Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom

Implementing Partner:
Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI)

Key Partners:
Parliament of the Kyrgyz Republic

Activity Locations:
Bishkek / Nationwide

Activity Goals

The Kyrgyz Republic Parliamentary Strengthening Program (KPSP) is a five-year technical assistance initiative funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID).  KPSP supports the Kyrgyz Republic’s transition to a well-established parliamentary form of govern-ment.  It is a non-political, non-partisan program that devotes equal attention to both the parliamentary majority and the parliamentary minority.

USAID has been providing technical and financial support to the national parliament to build its legislative and institutional capacity.  The development of a strong legislature provides for improved performance of the legislative, oversight, and repre-sentative functions of parliament.  After two years of successful work, KPSP received additional support from DFID which has allowed it to respond to new challenges and needs in 2013-2015 and significantly contribute to parliamentary capacity building.

Activity Major Focus Areas

KPSP consists of the following four components:

Component 1:  Legislative Process

Component 2:  Parliamentary Committee Strengthening

Component 3:  Information and Communications

Component 4:  Parliamentary Leadership and Human Resources Management

Activity Expected Impact and Accomplishments

Over the past four years, KPSP has initiated and successfully implemented such initiatives as:

  • Training Center for Legislative Drafting;
  • Russian-Kyrgyz Dictionary of Legislative and Other Terms;
  • KPSP- Jogorku Kenesh (Parliament) Research Fund;
  • School of Parliamentary Journalism;
  • Parliamentary Brief in Russian, Kyrgyz, and English;
  • Informational Brochure on the Kyrgyz Parliament in Russian, Kyrgyz, and English, in regular type and in Braille;
  • Parliamentary Women’s Club;
  • Access Monitoring and Control System in the Parliament building;
  • 221 different programmatic events including:
  • 100 training sessions and presentations;
  • 39 public forums;
  • 72 policy seminars and working groups;
  • 2 video conferences;
  • 8 study tours to the USA, the UK, Mongolia, Malaysia, Germany, Hungary, Turkey, Sweden, and Denmark

KPSP pays due attention to increasing the capacity of parlia-mentary staff and partners.  These events have been attended in aggregate by 10,400 persons, including over 4,400 women. 

KPSP initiatives address a variety of issues crucial for parlia-mentary development and capacity building, such as coordina-tion of legislative activities between the Parliament and the executive branch, effective oversight mechanisms and proce-dures, balanced coverage, effective human resources policies, women’s leadership, improved standard of living for people with disabilities, good governance, and economic sustainability.