Mercy Corps (Uzbekistan) Mark Goldenbaum, the Country Representative for Mercy Corps’ programmes in Uzbekistan, greets me with a broad smile. Words can’t describe his excitement and relief at having just been informed that their USAID funded programmes have just been granted a two year extension. Having just spent a busy three days monitoring various projects and meeting the local communities that have benefited from the programmes, it’s a deserved and important extension in what is proving o be a challenging environment to operate in. Mercy Corps’ projects are almost exclusively based in the Ferghana Valley region, a fertile but highly populated part of eastern Uzbekistan that has artificially defined borders with both Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and a very ethnically mixed population. With approximately 25% of Uzbekistan’s population living there, unemployment is high. Centuries ago the great Silk Road passed through here from China and brought great prosperity to the district. However, since the dissolution of the USSR it has struggled to stabilize and develop its economy adequately. The cotton industry is still the backbone of the economy, accounting for nearly 60% of the hard currency export earnings[1], and represents a lasting affect of the Soviet’s influence on the region. Uzbekistan’s struggles since independence to diversify the economy have clearly slowed growth and limited its ability to maintain—yet alone extend—state infrastructure. 

Uzbekistan grabbed international headlines in May 2005 when a violent uprising in Andijan was forcefully put down by the Government of Uzbekistan, drawing international criticism and straining ties with the West. What started out as a peaceful protest against the Uzbek government turned violent when protesters attacked a military depot, seized weapons and took control of the prison and the regional administration building. Uzbek security forces moved quickly to put down the uprising and hundreds died in the ensuing violence. Since then, the regime has tightened controls and limited access for international organizations and NGOs, even those whose goals are very similar to the expressed priorities of the Government of Uzbekistan’s.  This strain was further compounded by a series of ‘colored  revolutions’ that have brought regime change to Georgia, Ukraine and neighboring Kyrgyzstan with many domestic critics blaming western-funded non-governmental organizations for supporting these efforts both overtly and covertly. In such a difficult atmosphere, it can be hard to imagine just how much project work will help local communities. But Mark confirms what I have seen from the work of Mercy Corps in the region. He believes that the various projects being implemented “provide the communities with an economic tool and platform for sustainable development.” Mercy Corps is helping to re-unite isolated communities with local organizations and local government to ensure that critical issues are resolved in the right manner. The focus really is on what form this “manner” should take. Mercy Corps insists on ensuring communities learn how to organize, develop, implement and improve projects on their own. In this way the public and private sectors can build up trust, open a dialogue, make the right decisions and deliver sustainable results.

 This is seen in Mercy Corps’ Community Action Investment Projects (CAIP) and Community Health and Sanitation (CHS) programmes. Mercy Corps is working in co-operation with 8 communities that are particularly isolated, lack basic infrastructure, sanitation and have a high proportion of young. Through this co-operation the communities have formed community action groups (CAGs) responsible for motivating the community into planning and implementing projects as well as involving neighboring communities. The Katta Tagob community, near Kokand, was chosen by Mercy Corps due to a lack of infrastructure, poor drinking water supply and problems in sanitation and healthcare. Most families neglected sanitation systems being mainly preoccupied with simply surviving. Rubbish was commonly left in the street providing a perfect place for disease to fester. Additionally the main income in the community derives from cherry farming and in a bad year the families do not have enough disposable income to clothe their children and send them to school. 

One of the community’s CAG leaders reels off the facts and figures: Over one third of the 3,797 residents are under 18. There are no factories here, with most of the residents involved in agriculture. The prospects and opportunities for the young are not exactly abundant. But together with Mercy Corps’ involvement since 2002, they have come together. They’ve planned and implemented beneficial infrastructure projects to repair the school, asphalt their roads, build a water supply and gas pipeline. They collected what funds they could locally, involved local labour and then sought financial help from Mercy Corps and the local government. They organized health festivals and sports tournaments to raise awareness within the community and bring people together. With the financial and advisory help from Mercy Corps they’ve changed from simply grumbling about their problems to discovering a newfound ability and resilience to tackle them on their own. Of course even with the help from Mercy Corps these projects have been phenomenally difficult. The religious conservatism that exists makes many women unable to participate in community gatherings. Generally the residents are skeptical of change and it can be difficult to motivate them to take part in social events. But the CAGs have persisted and succeeded. When trying to introduce basic sanitation measures into a skeptical adult community, the CAG members started by educating children at school about hygiene and getting them enthused. Then the information was naturally transferred back home and the communities are now seeing a real shift in attitudes.[MG2]   The lack of industry in these communities means that a real lack of employment opportunities in anything other than agriculture exists. It’s not easy for many inhabitants who live in border communities with high proportions of Kyrgyz living in Uzbekistan territories and tensions run high as they feel they are losing their heritage. Furthermore the young are increasingly becoming dissatisfied and problematic.

 The Peaceful Communities Initiative (PCI) is a 5 year programme that Mercy Corps has been implementing in the Ferghana Valley since October 2001. The PCI programme aims to improve collaboration between populations in border communities and their government representatives. Mercy Corps’ approach to the programme is to involve large amount of resident, informal community leaders and government representatives from the bordering districts into the decision-making process and ultimately realize social and infrastructure projects so as to strengthen co-operation. In particular, projects have focused on being able to provide locals with training to start up new businesses and professions in an attempt to diversify the local economy. 

I visit two extraordinary border communities at Birlashgan and Buriboshi who have embraced the PCI projects. Their position, close to Kyrgyzstan, compounded by the events of last year has made them feel the weight of the border restrictions. The focus of the PCI programme here is to re-engage members of the community not only to solve infrastructure problems, but to provide trust and teamwork. Many social projects have been implemented in order to help improve relationships. For example sports teams have been funded and inter-community competitions set up. As seems to be the case during my travels in Uzbekistan, the communities end up talking football. The fact that Buriboshi are the current regional champions is a great source of pride. But the understanding behind the scheme goes deeper than that.  One old member of the CAG quotes national hero, Amir Timur to me:  “A country with healthy youth will be strong”. These initiatives aren’t just providing healthy bodies, but also healthy minds.  

What has been so remarkable for me visiting the communities is not how much money has been spent nor the projects realized, but the sense of positiveness and the number of new skills learned from Mercy Corps teams’ involvement. Through this co-operation the communities have been given the confidence and ambition to tackle their own problems and communicate with the local government in a way they never felt they could before. Mercy Corps does not simply give money to projects, but invests in teaching communities the skills they need to identify and solve problems together. Once the community has come together to solve their problems they can then continue to use these skills in the future even if Mercy Corps is no longer  there. 

As if the work that Mercy Corps is carrying out isn’t enough already, there is one more projects that has acted as the model for sustainability of development in the region. It is the Barakot programme, initiated in 2001 to increase livelihood opportunities. In a region where the average family income is less than $20 per month and the disappointing ”white gold” trade, that is the cotton industry, is in decline, the Barakot microfinance scheme has given a springboard to hundreds of entrepreneurial women by allowing them to improve their family’s livelihood. The Barakot programme provides non-collateral micro loans to female entrepreneurs using group lending principles and supports legal, profitable businesses. Applicants from a group of 6-8 people who then invest a loan of $80 in their own business. This is then paid back monthly as a share of their profits allowing for re-investment in the business and ensuring sustainability of the programme. 

One of the businesses I visit is a small bakery run by a dynamic middle-aged lady. She started originally just by herself, but now has grown and churns out 700 loaves of local bread every day, employs 3 people and is looking for a fourth. Her micro loan has been re-paid and now her business has created jobs for the local community. What of the future? To continue to grow and expand her business for her children. Admirable ambitions. Another business I visit is particularly relevant to my travels along the old Silk Road. It is a silk weaver in the town of Margilan, renowned for its silk production since the first century B.C. The owner sends designs to the dyer who dyes the silk yarn before she weaves it using ancient techniques that have been in her family for four generations. She too has ambitions for growth and is already preparing her room to accommodate another machine and employee. 

My 3 days of project visits have been long ones indeed. I have gained an incredible sense of achievement, improvement, learning and positive attitudes about the future here in the Ferghana valley. Yes, there’s still a long way to go and much needs to be solved, but the difference is that the communities have been given the skills and confidence to proceed with their own plans. Mark Goldenbaum sums up the whole trip for me as we part.  With the new USAID funding having just been secured he argues that “it’s another exciting opportunity to design and improve the project.” It’s another opportunity to revive optimism in the region and put the events of Andijan in the past. It’s another opportunity to try and regain the trust between the government and the much needed local NGOs again. It’s another opportunity to make a real difference to the lives of the people in this scenic but often forgotten part of Uzbekistan. Mercy Corps won’t rest on their laurels and there’s still much work to be done. 

--

Mercy Corps is based in several towns in the Ferghana Valley including Kokand, Ferghana, Margilan, Andijan and Namangan. It works at grass roots level with communities through a dedicated and excellent team of local advisors and specialists. My thanks go to all who helped organize the visits, took the time to talk to me, translated for me and made it run so smoothly and especially to Zoya Korzhakova for her invaluable help.

For more information on the work that Mercy Corps is carrying out in Uzbekistan or to make a donation please contact Nick ( This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it ) or visit the Mercy Corps website www.mercycorps.com. For more than 25 years Mercy Corps has specialized in helping people in impoverished, war-torn and emerging countries to climb their own learning curves successfully. The organization provides a combination of emergency relief services, sustainable economic development programs and civil society initiatives. 

SRS 06/06 N.R