Participants of Mercy Corps vocational training in Kyrgystan prepare for jobs that are needed locally. Photo Credit: Colin Spurway/Mercy Corps

Colin Spurway is the Chief of Party for the Mercy Corps' Collaborative Development Initiative (CDI) based in Kyrgyzstan. Mercy Corps is an international humanitarian aid and development charitable organization that focuses on emergency relief services, economic development and civil society. Colin began working in Kyrgyzstan as a university lecturer between 1999 and 2000 and has a background in international relations and an interest in issues related to nationalism and identity

About Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan or the Kyrgyz Republic is a land-locked country in Central Asia. Its neighbors include Kazakhstan in the north, China located to the southeast, Uzbekistan to the west and Tajikistan to the southwest.

Kyrgyz Republic is poor and imports most processed goods and fuel. Unemployment is high and rural areas are particularly poor, often relying on remittances sent back by young men who leave to take on seasonal or manual work in Russia and Kazakhstan.

Q: Can you give a bit of background about Collaborative Development Initiative (CDI)?

Colin Spurway: The Collaborative Development Initiative (CDI) is an interesting project because it is based so firmly in the recently renovated Mercy Corps "Vision for Change" - Mercy Corps' graphic representation of how we work with key actors, principles, and conditions. The project encompasses every major fundamental element including community mobilisation, good governance and business development, all of which push toward sustainable peaceful development. Not only that, but it is also an excellent example of organisational learning and constructive institutional memory, since the project is a very conscious progression from three previous conflict programmes run by Mercy Corps in this area.

The Project pushes toward sustainable economic development that also functions as peaceful development.

September the 11th and the War on Terror contributed to CDI's establishment since world attention was shifted to Central Asia. As a result the work was very politicized, but also led to more interest in development, conflict sensitive work and concerns over ethnic conflict especially in Ferghana Valley. There was also concern that the war in Afghanistan might spill over into neighboring countries.

The projects formally became CDI about two years ago in 2005. Now we are in our 20th month of implementation.

Can you describe the work of CDI?

CDI is designed in coordination with USAID and funded by USAID's democratization and conflict mitigation office.

We have about 20 full-time project staff and are supported by another 20 Mercy Corps staff members, so about 40 in total. We also receive considerable support from the staff of Mercy Corps' micro-finance institution, Kompanion.

CDI works in four major areas all of which mutually support one another. These are Economic Development, Local Government, Information Dissemination, and Youth.

Can you give some examples of CDI's projects?

Currently there are about 20 economic development projects going on, funded by a combination of technical support and a form of revolving group credit for high-risk business ideas, known as a Community Endowment Fund (CEF). Some examples include a project where tomatoes are sun -dried and sold for export to the UA. Community members used CEF loans to purchase a number of wooden pallets used for drying the tomatoes and at the same time commit to making as many wooden pallets on their own as their contribution to the sustainability of the project. Self-help groups are established for training and skills development, and a private firm - the Adonai trading company - has committed to purchasing the dried tomatoes.

What are some other examples?

Another example is in the village of Kyzylkol, where there is an association of local beekeepers. The association has over forty members who have applied as a group to its Local Economic Development Council for credit from the Community Endowment Fund to introduce new bee breeds to their farms. After studies were performed to identify which breeds of bees would be best to improve honey production these were introduced and the beekeepers noticed immediate benefits. One member of the association said "Our bees are lazy in comparison with new ones. For instance when it was raining, the bees of the new breed were working while our native bees stayed in their bee boxes."

How does CDI work with the local government?

Our team will mobilize the community to attend local governance meetings where they can hold government officials accountable and explain how money is being used and why.

On the part of CDI's projects which deal with local government an essential element is working on building trust between people and government. Our team will mobilize the community to attend local governance meetings where they can hold government officials accountable and explain how money is being used and why. It's incredible to witness our staff facilitating this process and empowering local communities to make government officers more responsible.

About 80-100 people from community may attend one of these meetings. The rationale for this work is that it is part of a process of decentralization and to increase transparency on issues like finance. It's also important in order to make better use of public resources and improve the level of trust between a community and its government. This is crucial in a country like this one, where corruption has been rife and that has suffered decades of government malfeasance.

What are some examples of CDI's work on information dissemination?

Information dissemination projects include the installation of information boards in different areas throughout where CDI works. Most of these areas are places where many people pass through such as administration centers or market places. The boards list public information as well as commercial advertisements and CDI announcements. Another project is through a media center located in a city called Jalalabat. The center is located in the city's main market areas and delivers important news programs over a loudspeaker system to sustain its activities the Center sells advertising time.

How does CDI work with youth?

The fourth area where CDI is putting a lot of investment is in youth programs. These include building youth groups and vocational training especially for the unemployed and vulnerable groups. Basically we train them in skills that are needed locally (we don't want them to leave the community). This is especially important in the southern regions of Kyrgyzstan where many of the men have gone to Russia to work. Out of a population of 5 million it is estimated that up to 500,000 are currently working abroad. This means that all of the agriculture labour and child rearing are done by women and of course that children are growing up without their fathers. On the other hand the men are sending back a lot of money and in the south income is mostly from remittances.

How is youth training conducted?

Youth Programs include building youth groups and vocational training, especially for skills that are needed locally.

The training is through a master and apprentice relationship. Masters are skilled in professions such as hairdressing, carpentry, tailoring and welding. CDI offers these people about 100 USD worth in equipment per apprentice in exchange for their time to train an apprentice. Both young men and young women are trained. So far this program has been successful with 45% entering full time employment within three months of graduation. Although in some areas, for example in computer skills, 100 per cent were offered a job before they even finished their training.

You mentioned these projects support each other and are part of a peace building process. Can you describe this in more detail?

All of this is designed as a contribution to peacebuilding in the region. For example, getting youth to stay in the community is not only about economic development, but also about building a stronger community. We don't want unemployment to be a trigger for violence, so, if it is handled sensitively, broad-based participatory economic development is a contribution to peace, and of course the most sustainable option is to create jobs in the young peoples' own communities.

This is all great in theory, but given the very diverse elements, it is very challenging to manage in practice. Assessments of what might cause conflict are not exactly hard science, so hanging over it all is the question of whether or not we are doing the right thing to contribute to conflict prevention in the first place.

How can economic development relate to peace building?

Basically we want to reduce pressure on these people assuming that unemployment in general or low economic growth is a potential conflict trigger. We will address that rather than going in directly and talking about, or trying to ‘resolve' conflicts. However, we also realize the issue is not simply GDP, or poverty, but the way that wealth is distributed, or is perceived to be distributed. CDI is not trying to make people richer per se, but to support them in working productively with their neighbours. Having such a structural approach to peace building, and such a diverse portfolio of sub-projects, means that it is extremely hard to know where our contribution to sustainable peace really lies. The economic indicators are much more tangible, and therefore tend to dominate. But we do need to remember what the project is ultimately trying to do, and to stop that important goal being lost under a pile of sun-dried tomatoes!




Contributed by Cory McCruden, a writer for Global Envision.

To read another Global Envision article about development in Central Asia, see The Promise of Central Asia.



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