Legal guarantees of access to information in rural Kyrgyzstan

Training in Osh: participants are implements court decision exersise © UNESCO Almaty

12 November 2013

Kyrgyz NGO "Precedent" Partners Group with the support of the UNESCO Almaty Cluster Office is organizing workshops in Osh and Bishkek in November 2013 on the legal aspects of access to information. The training is supported by the EU and UN project Operationalizing good governance for social justice in Kygyzstan.

Our training will give impetus to community media development and foster better communication with state and municipal authorities.

Ms. Fatima Yakupbaeva, Senior Attorney, NGO Precedent Partner Group

These training sessions will have long-term impact on the development of local communities in rural Kyrgyzstan, assisting them to improve the range and quality of public services in their daily lives.

According to Ms. Fatima Yakupbaeva, Senior Associate public fund Precedent Partner Group "Our training will give impetus to community media development and foster better communication with state and municipal authorities."

The first workshop will take place 13-14 November in the city of Osh on "Legal guarantees access to information" for six community media representatives and representatives from six rural municipalities covering three regions of Kyrgyzstan: Osh, Jalal-Abad and Batken oblasts.

The second workshop will be held in Bishkek, 28-29 November, for a similar group representing the Chui, Talas, Issyk-Kul and Naryn oblasts.

The objectives of the training sessions are:
- Improving the legal capacity of community media and local authorities to guarantee access to information;
- Establish and improve the practice of information delivery to be held by local authorities;
- Establish effective cooperation between representatives of community media and those of local self-government groups.

The UN system in Kyrgyzstan with support of the European Union developed a joint project “Operationalizing Good Governance for Social Justice”, to operationalize good governance in the context of improving access to public service delivery and addressing the rights of the most vulnerable groups (children, women and youth). The project started in October 2011 and was implemented during 36 months until October 2014 in 30 rural municipalities in seven regions of Kyrgyzstan. This project was implemented by four UN Agencies - UNDP, UNICEF, UN Women and UNESCO. The European Union co-financed this project together with the above-mentioned UN agencies.