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Feature Story : Enhancing living standards in Uzbekistan through Information and Resource CentresAs part of the decentralization process in Uzbekistan local government and traditional community organizations are being asked increasingly by central government to mobilize local resources to maintain basic infrastructures - a task for which they have as yet limited capacity and experience. This can compromise access to and delivery of basic services in rural areas and have a negative effect on local people’s livelihoods. As a result in some regions there is a risk that social, economic and gender inequalities may increase. The European Unions’s Enhancement of Living Standards (ELS) programme and the Area Based Development (ABD) programme supported by UNDP are twin programmes which together aim to address these problems in 5 regions as part of broader initiatives designed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Pioneering
social mobilization approaches which prioritise the rehabilitation of social
infrastructures, and which are co-financed by communities, are used to help local
communities identify and agree on how to overcome their main problems. Community
mobilisation helps develop self reliance and a problem-solving attitude which
all communities consider important for their development but which they often
lack. The programme utilizes the time honoured practice of “hashar” which
fosters a sense of local ownership and helps save money. Hashar calls for
villagers to work voluntarily for the benefit of the whole community. The
programme taps into this tradition and mobilizes local people to contribute
their labour, assets and equipment to rehabilitate schools or medical centres,
lay gas pipes or install water pumps.Information and Resource Centres have been set up and have become the hub of the programme’s participatory approach to local development. The centres avoid “a one size fits all” approach and use tailored methodologies to help each community identify problems and develop its own solutions. The centres support communities to rehabilitate their infrastructures and help farmers expand their farm enterprises by providing credit for collective purchasing, production and marketing arrangements. They do so by bringing together mid-level local government offcials, community based practitioners, farmers, women and young people so they can exchange information, discuss and organize training on a range of issues (e.g.HIV/AIDS); replicate successful ideas (e.g. community co-financing of water) and benefit from the programme’s experience in rural development. As a result of these activities 260,000 people are now able to access clean piped water, over 2,000 people have benefited from microcredit worth USD $500,000 and over 200 farmers in 11 cooperatives have been trained in agricultural and food production, micro irrigation, as well as administration and business management. Now the communities are better informed and have gained confidence to speak out, express their hopes and concerns and participate in important decisions that affect their wellbeing. They strongly believe that they are making a better life for themselves and that they own the various development efforts. For their part, local authorities, as well as having stronger planning capacity, now have an improved understanding of, and are more responsive to, local concerns. A better relationship between local government bodies and communities has meant a greater willingness to work together to address and solve a range of development problems and to share the costs of renewing infrastructure. The effectiveness of the Centres has recently led to the local authorities channeling funding on a more permanent basis to communities. Now the communities are better informed and have gained confidence to speak out, express their hopes and concerns and participate in important decisions that affect their wellbeing. They strongly believe that they are making a better life for themselves and that they own the various development e?orts. For their part, local authorities, as well as having stronger planning capacity, now have an improved understanding of, and are more responsive to, local concerns. A better relationship between local government bodies and communities has meant a greater willingness to work together to address and solve a range of development problems and to share the costs of renewing infrastructure. The effectiveness of the Centres has recently led to the local authorities channeling funding on a more permanent basis to communities. |
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