THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC: UNITED NATIONS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION FRAMEWORK 2023-2027

The report has been written to ensure alignment between the Government’s national development strategies and priorities and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to which the Government is a party. This Cooperation Framework is meant to serve as the structure for implementation of the services and support that the United Nations family of entities will jointly undertake in collaboration with the Government, Kyrgyz society, the private sector, and other development partners in helping to address the development challenges confronting the country.

The preparation of this Cooperation Framework comes at a time when the Kyrgyz Republic is facing significant hurdles and unanticipated obstacles that are impacting the country’s development trajectory. As was the case in virtually every country, first the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in serious economic and social hardships for many citizens, particularly the poor and marginalized, which caused the Government and its development partners, to assess how best to respond to the crisis and adjust their priorities and programmes accordingly. More recently as this report was being written, the ramifications of the conflict between the Russian Federation and Ukraine were beginning to be seen in the Kyrgyz Republic as well as other Central Asian countries. For the foreseeable future, the economic, social and political impacts of the conflict will play a critical role in influencing the direction and pace of development efforts by the Government and Kyrgyz society as a whole.

Given these extraordinary challenges, both the Government and the UN Country Team are fully aware that much greater attention is required in terms of closer collaboration and joint alignment of data collection and analysis, policy and programme design and implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. Accordingly, this Cooperation Framework places considerable emphasis on joint ownership and management across all policy and programmatic efforts in order to ensure the most effective use of available resource commitments. The Cooperation Framework also gives high priority to tackling the development challenges facing the Kyrgyz Republic through cross-sectoral and cross-institutional efforts that have the best chance of success and that can be leveraged to achieve wider downstream benefits, especially for the poor and marginalized.

It is our hope that this document provides the reader with a clear understanding of how the UN Country Team will work closely with the Government, civil society, the private sector, and other stakeholders who share the common aspiration of seeing the Kyrgyz Republic achieve its great potential based on the country’s abundant human and natural capital.