Statement of the UN Resident Coordinator Antje Grawe at the Joint Strategic Coordination Committee Meeting

Bishkek, 24 March 2023

Excellency, Akylbek Usenbekovich Zhaparov, Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers, Head of the Administration of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic,

[Honorable Deputy Chairpersons of the Cabinet of Ministers],

Honorable Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic and other Government officials,

Colleagues -  Representatives and Heads of entities of the United Nations System in the Kyrgyz Republic,

Ladies and Gentlemen, good morning.

It gives me great honor to address you all in this Joint Strategic Coordination Committee Meeting.

Today marks one year since the last Joint Strategic Coordination Committee convened in 2022 where the four key priority areas for our next five years Cooperation Framework were agreed, paving the way towards our mutual goal of achieving sustainable development for Kyrgyzstan.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework and its implementation instruments remain a centerpiece of the UN Reform, a new generation of strategic documents enhancing the UN Country Team's efforts on collective delivery in an effective and transparent way aligned with the country’s needs and priorities.

Our work is consolidated in so called Joint Work Plans (JWPs) – one for each of the four overarching objectives of the new Cooperation Framework, which reflect all planned UN activities, available and required resources, and define concrete targets to be reached collectively within the next two years. The Joint Work Plans are aligned with Kyrgyzstan’s development priorities, cognizant of the development challenges and potentials in Kyrgyzstan. They aim to enhance coherence and resource efficiency by using the collective UN’s expertise to achieve agreed outcomes and by identifying synergies and further opportunities for UN joint programmes.

And that is why we have also gathered today – to endorse at the highest political level these Joint Work Plans - one of the most important mechanisms of our Cooperation Framework.  

The Cooperation Framework and its underpinning plans also build on past achievements of the UN Development System and our collective comparative advantages. Allow me therefore to take a moment and highlight a few of the results which the UN in Kyrgyzstan collectively achieved during the past five years (2017-2022) under the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) in cooperation with the Government, civil society including women organizations and youth, media, private sector, academia, non-governmental organization and other segments of the Kyrgyz society:

Having mobilized over 316 million USD, exceeding the projections by 30% from the planned 221 million USD to adjust to the changing environment mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UN system relentlessly worked on economic empowerment, food security, nutrition and job security, with a focus on youth and women. Throughout this period, we reached more than half a million beneficiaries increasing their food security through targeted projects, enhancing the productivity skills of rural women in the agricultural sector through direct support and facilitating the creation of sustainable jobs with companies who managed to score a remarkable 15 million USD export of their products only within one year.

Testimony to our ability to adjust to a changing context and needs is that we mobilized more than 74 million USD for the COVID-19 response, aimed not only at the immediate response but also at strengthening the overall social protection and health system through innovative practices, digital health system and telemedicine.

Climate change and environment is becoming an ever-increasing challenge not only for Kyrgyzstan – but the whole world. The UN supported the Government in revising the National Determined Contributions with measurable adaptation targets and a financial plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 36.61% by 2025. We have contributed to better management of natural resources, tree plantations and forestation and strengthened national capacities for disaster risk management, increasing the resilience to shocks and climate change.

On the normative side, we supported Kyrgyzstan to become the first country in the world to temporarily eliminate statelessness winning the prestigious Nansen Refugee Award for the efforts; supported efforts to foster women’s participation in political, social and economic processes; assisted with stronger cooperation with Human Rights mechanisms and supported the legal inventory through expertise provided by numerous UN entities.

Investing in youth and education remains a leitmotif for the UN’s work in Kyrgyzstan. Our work to support Kyrgyzstan on the Transforming Education Summit and its follow up and the implementation of the Joint Action Plan on youth policy show our strong commitment to this important development priority in Kyrgyzstan.

Our flagship initiatives the Spotlight and the Peacebuilding Fund amounting altogether to more than 60 million USD have been paramount in strengthening social cohesion, participation at local level and empowerment of right holders.

Finally, outside of the UNDAF, and another testament to both our flexibility and the UN system’s focus on the people and the most vulnerable - we were at the forefront of supporting the Government’s efforts in meeting life-saving needs of close to 90.000 vulnerable people affected by the escalation of violence at the Kyrgyz-Tajik border last September 2022.

Our work will not stop here, to the contrary: With the new Cooperation Framework, which serves as the key strategic document of the UN system’s work in the country for the next five years, we are building on these achievements, whilst also entering a new era of cooperation and partnership, with a reformed United Nations Development system. 

As you will recall, the Cooperation Framework identified through an inclusive, participatory and iterative consultation process four priority areas which are guiding our collective work:

1. Quality social services (education, health, social protection & decent work)
2. Inclusive green socio-economic development
3. Climate action, disaster risk management and environmental protection
4. Accountable and inclusive institutions and civil society fostering peace & social cohesion

Over the last three months, the United Nations System in the Kyrgyz Republic worked closely with Government counterparts to develop and agree on our two-year Joint Work Plans for 2023-2024 underpinning these four key priority areas. The development of the Joint Work Plans also underwent a consultative and inclusive process involving civil society, private sector, academia and other partners.

Being fully aligned with Kyrgyzstan’s development priorities, Joint Work Plans also include support to the implementation of national and international commitments of the country such as the National Determined Contributions, Kyrgyzstan’s Human Rights commitments, Women and Youth treaties and strategies, or the commitments made at the Transforming Education Summit as well as the Food Systems Summit.

Through the Joint Work Plans, the UN system in the Kyrgyz Republic, represented by 24 UN Agencies of which 15 are resident in country, offers its integrated and cross-sectoral support for Kyrgyzstan to address its development challenges, exacerbated by the current global crisis, and strengthen the country’s development trajectory towards a sustainable path.

While the Joint Work Plans which we are here to adopt today are our collective guiding tool for the next two years, they are also not set in stone. This Joint Strategic Coordination Committee will undertake an annual review and corrective actions should the situation require. And this makes this body so important: It plays a critical role in safeguarding our five-year Cooperation Framework. The Joint Strategic Coordination Committee ensures that the UN's strategic offer aligns with the key national priorities and stays pertinent and adaptable to unforeseen and emerging needs.

The Joint Work Plans also provide a unique overview of the resources that we have available and of the gaps, where we will need to invest more time and efforts to identify financing sources and mobilize resources for sustainable development in the Kyrgyz Republic: Of currently planned $223,5 million for the entire UNSDCF over the next two years, some 62% ($140 million) are already available, which represents a good starting point upon which we can build.    

Our paradigm will be focused on reaching those most vulnerable, protection and promotion of human rights, advancing gender equality, increase of resilience, and ensuring sustainability. These remain the core principles of our Cooperation Framework.

We will work on equal and accessible social services, qualitative education, improved social protection and health system. Sustainable socio-economic development based on green practices contributing to climate action and environmental protection lie also at the core of our programmatic activities. And last but not least, work closely with all segments of both Kyrgyzstan’s democratic governance system and the society to promote and achieve just, accountable, transparent, and inclusive institutions, a vibrant civil society, peace, and social cohesion with a strong commitment to upholding the highest human rights standards, always bearing in mind the principle of Leave No One Behind.

We will do this in close partnership with our Government counterparts and other partners such as civil society including women and human rights organizations, private sector, academia as well as specific groups such as youth or persons with disabilities.

Coupled with the strong financial commitment, representing at least two times more than the previous UNDAF, the partnership in the implementation of the Cooperation Framework becomes even more important as we pursue our common goal of ending poverty and inequality, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy health, justice and prosperity to respond concretely to the call to rescue the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Kyrgyzstan.  

In this context, allow me to quote the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres who recently said when addressing world leaders that “we have opportunities before us to rescue the Sustainable Development Goals with the SDG Summit as the centerpiece moment of 2023. Countries need to present clear benchmarks to tackle poverty and exclusion, and advance gender equality… I will continue to push for immediate action but also for fundamental reforms, using the convening power of the United Nations for real change.” [The call for fundamental reforms has since been translated into the so called SDG Stimulus that was mentioned by the Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers].

Rest assured that the UN Country Team in Kyrgyzstan will remain your close partner and strong supporter in maintaining the direction towards the implementation of the Agenda 2030 and achieving sustainable development for the Kyrgyz people.

In this context, I would also like to commend the Government for an important milestone – the adoption of the decree on the establishment of a Coordination Committee for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in the Kyrgyz Republic. We look forward to working with the Committee, this even more so as we are together preparing for the SDG Summit later in September.

I would not want to conclude without recognizing the work of all 24 UN entities and for their contributions to the Joint Work Plans and thank specifically the seven Heads of Agencies who have taken on the role as co-chairs of the four Result Groups (FAO, IOM, OHCHR, UNDP, UNICEF, UNWOMEN, WFP). My gratitude also goes to the dedication of the Presidential Administration and the Government’s co-chairs from the Ministries of Economy, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Social Development, Labor and Migration, and the Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment and Technical Supervision.

I look forward to working together with my UN colleagues with the Government and all partners to achieve the expected results of the Cooperation Framework and the Joint Work Plans, in the wider interest of Kyrgyzstan’s sustainable development.

Chon Rahmat.