Support to National Budget Transparency

Duration: 2012 - 2014

Budget: $1,090,519

Implementing Partner: UNDP

USAID and UNDP have partnered to assist the people of the Kyrgyz Republic in their efforts against corruption and to improve national budget transparency and oversight.  Success in these efforts will increase state efficacy, improve citizens’ trust in government, and reduce the potential for conflict.

This assistance is channeled through oversight institutions such as the Chamber of Accounts, Parliament, civil society, media and other relevant stakeholders.

Since the project began in March 2012, it has conducted 27 events, including two parliamentary hearings, a study tour to Lithuania, and a regional round table for nine countries. These events were attended by 1,390 participants, of whom 38 percent were women. The events, informed by expert analyses and international comparative experience, covered important topics in the areas of anti-corruption, budget oversight, public audits and transparency. In recognition that the battle against corruption requires coherent, strategic engagement, UNDP leverages the efforts of relevant stakeholders to take practical and effective steps in this sector.

Project Components:

• Anticorruption framework:  Support the efforts of state agencies and civil society organizations to establish an operational anticorruption coalition able to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the national anticorruption strategy.

• Budget expertise and transparency: Assistance to civil society organizations to conduct expert budgetary analysis. As well as providing assistance to Parliamentary committees to conduct hearings on the Parliament to provide expert budgetary analysis before budget hearings. Respectively, recommendations derived from the budget analysis and expertise are presented to the Parliament and public at budget hearings.

• Accountability and efficiency of budget execution: Empowering the Chamber of Accounts to shift from compliance audits to assessing the efficiency of budget spending, via research and institutional capacity building.