Association “Partnership of Professionals for Development of Kyrgyzstan”

Brief description of purposes of the Association.
Association “Partnership of Professionals for Development in Kyrgyzstan” was founded by the initiative of alumni of US Government-funded Programs and other young professionals in June 2002.
The Mission of the Association is to promote the improvement of people’s living standards in Kyrgyz Republic by moving professionals’s initiatives forward and strengthening global partnership.
The key purposes of the Association are to implement the professional goals of its members and establish international cooperation for sustainable development.
The members of the Association are high qualified experts/trainers, working as an independent consultants with both international and local projects. Among members are economists, lawyers, political experts, ecologists, educators and etc. Most members were trained in western universities or got higher education in best institutions of Kyrgyzstan and near abroad.
The current leadership of the Association:
Ainura Cholponkulova – President, Ph.D in Law, Fulbright/CI Alumna;
Iskender Shergaliev – Vice-President, Ph.D in Engineering; CI Alumnus;
Damir Bisembin – Vice-President, MA in Economics, CI Alumnus.

The major directions of the Association:
• Creating of the resource and policy research centers/projects;
• Publishing of the printed and electronic editions;
• Conducting of the educational activities such as seminars, trainings, conferences and workshops;
• Pursuing of scholarly research.
Main results of the Association.
Association also gives their members unique opportunity to design, coordinate and implement projects initiated by the members aimed at both the strengthening civil society and implementation of the professional goal of every member of the Association. Since its establishing the active members of the Association experienced variety of projects ranging from raise awareness among public and educational activities to scholarly research. Among them are:
1. Project “Information dissemination for regional development”, the aim of which is to promote dissemination of information in the regions in Kyrgyzstan ; 2003.
2. Project “Documentary Film “Boarders of Life”” (Mine Challenges in Fergana Valley). The aim of the project is to raise awareness among local people on the problems of mine fields in Fergana Valley”; 2004.
3. Project “Creating of website and publication of two volumes of the journal “Polysphera. The aim of the project is to support research interests of members of the Association as well as strengthening scholarly links in academic community in Kyrgyzstan; 2004-2005.
4. Project “Legislation and Culture”. The aim of the project is to promote the development of legal policy in field of the culture; 2004.
Over the past two years the Association tends to conduct forums, talks and round tables with participation of government officials, analysts and civil society groups under support of IREX. One of the best achievement of the Association is the forum with the Prime-Minister Kulov in April 2005 which gathered nearly 200 people from governmental institutions, NGOs, and mass media. After the forum Kulov called for young professionals to apply for jobs to the Government. Consequently, active member of our Association Janybek Omorov got position of the Advisor on economic issues to the incumbent Prime-Minister. Such forums allow our Association to impact policy dialog and create network across political spectrum and analytical institutions in Kyrgyzstan.
Importantly, the experts of the Association regularly and actively participate in the debates, talks and workshops on hot public policy issues organized by governmental agencies, NGOs, donors and policy research institutions. For instance, analysts of the Association regularly participate in ongoing discussions and round tables on designing of NSPR-2 organized by Department of the Strategic Development of the Presidential Administration under support of Soros Foundation. The Members of the Association make invaluable contribution to the discussion through the comments and recommendations to the NSPR-2.
Additionally, experts of the Association cooperate with Center of Social Research of AUCA, IREX, Institute of Public Policy, Soros Foundation Project “Open Kyrgyzstan”, NGO “Development and Cooperation in Central Asia” and other civil society institutions in Kyrgyzstan and abroad.
The plans of the Association in near future:
1. The Association is currently doing preparatory work in organizing round table with MP Kubatbek Baibolov and Danyar Narymbaev on the topic “Presidential and Parliamentary systems of government: making choice” which will be held on April 8.
2. In the framework of the ongoing grants Association in partnership with Center of Social Research of AUCA will conduct series of forums and round tables on hot public policy issues.
3. The Association plans to conduct “Job Fair” for graduate students of the Universities of Kyrgyzstan to increase needs in graduates among employers from state structure as well as public and private sectors.
4. The Association will plan to publish informational and analytical review “Forum” which will analyze issues of anticorruption, transparency, good governance on both national and local levels. The main purpose of the review are to promote and maintain constructive dialog between decision-makers, analysts and civil society groups as well as to raise public awareness and encourage positive policy formation on the most significant issues of anticorruption, good governance and transparency.
5. The Association will plan to establish Policy Research Center aimed at democracy strengthening through policy analysis on public administration, environment and public policy issues at large.
6. The Association in partnership with NGO “Development and Cooperation in Central Asia” plans to start joint project “Involvement of local communities in decision-making through initiating public budgetary hearings”.