29 jul 2010
Philosophy of the Program
At the present time in Tajikistan are realizing the National Strategy of Development (NSD) for the period up to 2015 and the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) for 2007-2009, which designed to systematization the process of country development on long-term view in concordance with Millennium Development Goals.
Implementation of the NSD and PRSP is an important component to sustainable development. But now, in given condition, when civil society representatives, representatives of government agencies, especially local authorities and residents are not aware of the existence and content of these documents. Lack of awareness has greatly slowed the process of implementation and impact on the quality goals and objectives of the program.
Implemented by ASTI within 2 years activity on consolidation of public organizations for promotion of Civil Society participation in monitoring of realization PRS has showed that a significant part of civil society is ready to work together, especially to co-operate with the government. This issue is urgent because the NDS and PRS, as a strategically important guiding documents to address issues of poverty reduction, provide for broad participation of civil society in addressing the challenges of improving the lives of the people of Tajikistan. Though the participation of representatives of Civil Society to monitor the implementation of the PRS prescribed in the document itself, there is no clear mechanism to ensure the participation of Civil Society as an equal partner in monitoring the PRS. Based on the findings made during the execution of the program activity the partners of Cooperation Group found that the existing regulatory legal framework in the legislation of the Republic of Tajikistan involving Civil Society participation in monitoring of the PRS, it is understood the key «players» monitoring and evaluation system for the PRS differently and there is a need for careful professional analysis of normative legal acts of the Republic of Tajikistan, on the basis of which is to be prepared a document creating legal preconditions for the participation of Civil Society in the monitoring of national programs. In this regard, Cooperation Group has initiated to conduct an analysis of existing laws - the legal framework for the participation of Organizations of Civil Society in the monitoring of medium-term development programs, implemented by the Bureau on human rights and rule of law. Based on this analysis has revealed the absence of a mechanism regulating the participation of Civil Society in monitoring of the development programs, as the result Cooperation Group has developed a draft regulation «About participation of Civil Society Organizations in monitoring of the medium-term programs of development». The draft version of the given document was widely discussed with international organizations and is currently referred to the MEDT for further submission to the Government of Tajikistan.
Along with the creation of a legal framework for monitoring of PRS Cooperation Group is working on finding their own place and role in the system of monitoring and evaluation of national development programs. For this aim, during 2008 were identified priority sectors for monitoring such as «The development of education and science», «The development of health systems», «Gender Equality», «Environmental sustainability». For public monitoring of these sectors is defined approach and developed tools that were used for data collection to determine the quality of the implementation of the PRS. Analytical report on the results of a pilot public monitoring on implementation steps of the PRS conducted by Cooperation Group on Realization and Monitoring of the PRS can be found here.
Today we see many problems in implementing the decisions of these documents, which can be overcome through joint efforts. That is why we’ve identified as the main vector of activities in advance standard of Civil Society participation in public monitoring and improving accountability government agencies for the quality of national programs and the results achieved through increased public awareness of the existence and content of these documents.
On the way of becoming a developed democratic state the special role played by the general public awareness of the ongoing programs and the expression of interest by citizens to the process of program realization , successes and difficulties in implementation. This will make the process of implementation of such strategic important for the development of the country documents the most transparent and create the conditions for a more serious and responsible attitude by government agencies in particular, line ministries and departments to achieve their objectives within the framework of the NDS and PRS. To this end, in 2008 the Cooperation Group held a wide-ranging information campaign to raise awareness about the PRS, in the framework of which, in regions informational meetings have been conducted, social videos developed and broadcast on central television, information calendars on the PRS have been distributed.
