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Overview
In 2023, WFP in the Kyrgyz Republic started implementing its new Country Strategic Plan (CSP) for 2023-2027, structured to align with the key national priorities of the country. The CSP focuses on expanding social protection measures, enhancing access to nutritious diets, promoting rural development, and strengthening disaster risk management and climate change adaptation. The overarching framework of the CSP is to adopt a "leave no one behind" approach, underscored by a central emphasis on nutrition. The new strategic plan also builds on the achievements under the CSP for 2018-2022 and contributes to the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework.
During the first year of the new CSP, the Kyrgyz Republic, a lower-middle-income country in Central Asia, faced formidable challenges. The country grappled with an array of shocks and stressors, compounded by the adverse repercussions of the global food, fuel, and fertilizer crises. These challenges exacerbated the stresses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, reversing two decades of national development gains in just three years. The confluence of rising food prices, rampant inflation, remittance drops, the response to a border conflict and the compounding effects of climate change further strained national food systems. The repercussions were acutely felt, particularly among low-income households, with 33 percent of the population in poverty [1] and 56 percent of the population only marginally food secure [2].
In response to these challenges, WFP undertook a comprehensive response, extending support to vulnerable families and reaching 216,152 food and nutrition-insecure people. The response encompassed ongoing programme initiatives, including assisting the Government in refining and enhancing the national school meals programme; integrating the community asset creation and human capital development projects into the broader national social protection system; and enhancing disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation systems of the country.
Within Strategic Outcome 1, WFP continued to provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Labour, Social Security and Migration to scale up the provision of social assistance to 10,000 families enrolled in the "Social Contract" project; improved the regulatory framework, such as selection mechanism and procurement acts; and drafted a strategy for the development of the national social protection system and active labour market policies to promote employment. Under Strategic Outcome 2, which serves as contingency response should the Government request support in emergency response, WFP continued to extend support to the population affected by the escalation of violence along the Kyrgyz-Tajik border in 2022, delivering a total of 1,061 metric tons of essential food commodities and disbursing USD 286,000 in cash assistance to 90,000 people from the end of September 2022 to the end of March 2023. Notably, WFP also proactively enhanced the country's emergency response capabilities by introducing individualised food rations tailored for remote mountainous areas during emergencies, ensuring that the nutritional needs of affected populations were met effectively. In 2024, as a continuation of this initiative, WFP aims to purchase up to 7,000 standardized individual food rations and establish comprehensive plans for food handover and reporting mechanisms.
In partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and other line ministries, WFP implemented an innovative pilot project under Strategic Outcome 3, to strengthen the resilience of rural communities to extreme weather-related risks and shocks. The first Weather Index-Based Insurance Pilot Project marks a significant step forward in strengthening climate resilience in the Kyrgyz Republic. During the pilot period, a pay-out was triggered by a summer drought and 792 families received 26.3 metric tons of fodder barley in late autumn, enhancing their ability to sustain livestock during the winter. The purpose of this insurance product was to assist local governments in supporting livestock farmers to cope with extreme weather events. This encompassed measures such as feed stocking against low fodder availability in pastures and high fodder prices during harsh winters due to summer drought. Following the successful pilot, WFP, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, is exploring expansion of the initiative to another area. Additionally, WFP continues to strengthen the regulatory and legislative frameworks for agricultural insurance development. The draft is currently under review by relevant line ministries and will subsequently be submitted to Parliament for review and approval. Due to initial funding shortages and late donor contributions, cash distributions and beneficiary figures fell short of their targets under Strategic Outcome 3. With carry-over funding from 2023 and future installments in 2024, the number of targeted beneficiaries and cash distributions will be increased in the second year of CSP.
As part of Strategic Outcome 4, WFP assisted the Presidential Administration and the Ministry of Education and Science in hosting the first Commonwealth of Independent States School Meals Forum, with high-level regional participation. This forum served as a platform for sharing best practices and engaging in constructive dialogues to enhance the efficiency and quality of nutrition and healthy lifestyles for schoolchildren and their parents across member states. Among the notable practices showcased by WFP was the establishment of the logistics centre in Batken Province through a private-public partnership. This innovative centre facilitated linking local farmers with the national school meals programme, facilitating their market access through participation in government tenders. This resulted in having locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables supplied to 55 schools and 8 kindergartens within the district, with products offered at a 10 percent lower cost than its competitors.
WFP also continued to support policy development and evidence-based decision-making to the local and central governments, as well as United Nations agencies and other stakeholders. WFP took the lead role in drafting the Leave No One Behind chapter of the UN Common Country Assessment, provided monthly Price Monitoring Bulletins, generated quarterly food security updates, and developed a feasibility study on smart farming technologies based on the Chinese experience. This included capacity strengthening activities for government officials, academics and agricultural cooperatives working with smallholder farmers to enhance farming methods. Furthermore, WFP introduced the Shock and Assistance Platform for Economic Simulations (SHAPES) to improve Governments’ anticipatory capacity. These activities have also deepened our understanding of how global crises affected the wellbeing of households in the country.
