Mr. Japarov announced today during the Meeting of the Joint Steering Committee that One UN Programme offers new ways of enhancing UN coherence at the country level in Kyrgyzstan. All projects will work to reduce the impact of energy and food insecurity and the global economic crisis on the most vulnerable in the country.

The meeting today had the objective of assigning specific funding allocations to the proposed projects in six thematic areas: social services, food security, agriculture, energy, environment, and risk management.

Over the past two years, Kyrgyzstan has been experiencing a convergence of food and energy insecurity that has had effects on the livelihoods of vulnerable groups in the country. A harsh winter, followed by low precipitation during spring and summer of 2008, led to depletion of the country’s hydroelectric resources and compromised the energy resilience of Kyrgyzstan; soaring food and fuel prices, adverse weather conditions and declining remittances further limited the purchasing power of the most vulnerable and contributed to a precarious food security situation for some. Although some of the sharp declines in global food prices are now being passed on to Kyrgyz households, official statistics show that food prices are still more than 40 percent above the levels seen before the start of the food crisis in 2007.

Both development and humanitarian focused UN agencies concur that high level of UN coherence, as exemplified by the One Programme, will ensure more efficient assistance for a greater impact. Mr. Walker noted that the United Nations in Kyrgyzstan is committed to pooling its strengths as a system and delivering its support in this context as ‘one’ and is actively working towards increased harmonisation among partner agencies and alignment with national priorities. The signing of the One UN Programme marks an important milestone in that process.

Asel Abdurahmanova
UN Coordination Associate
Phone:   +996 312 611 213 ext.121
Mob. :    +996 777 03 00 58
E-mail:    abdurahmanova@un.org.kg