A Significant Contribution of Community Members to the Project Funded by Counterpart 

For the last five years in Chirtak community of Kofarnihon District a lack of access to potable water 

resulted in community members accessing unclean water from the Kofarnihon River. When 

Counterpart's target NGO Open Asia conducted a Problem ID workshop with the members of the 

community they developed a plan to repair an existing borehole and lay a new pipeline to the 

community. In order to have funds to purchase the necessary materials, the community, with the help 

of  Open Asia, developed a proposal. Counterpart supported the project with funds to purchase a 

transformer, pump, and electric board. The community covered the labor cost and provided 1,200 

meters of pipeline. In all, the community's contribution to the project was about $3,574 versus the 

$1,886 grant from Counterpart. The project was accomplished within two months. Now the 1,800 

members of the Chirtak community have access to clean drinking water.  

One Community Mobilization Effort Leads to Another  

The village of Metantughay  is located 13 kilometers far from the center of Moskovsky District, 

situated on the border with Afghanistan. Since the community members did not have a medical center 

community members had to travel to the district center for medical treatment. The lack of public 

transport and the extra expense of having to travel so far forced the community to face additional 

health and economic hardships. Counterpart's partner NGO, Shahrvand (Kulob Civil Society Support 

Center), learned about the situation and conducted a community mobilization activity in the 

community.  They encouraged the community members to identify and prioritize their problems 

through a Problem Identification Workshop.  As a result of the workshop, community members 

formed an Initiative Group to address the problem.  Shahrvand then taught the Initiative Group how 

to put together a Community Action Plan (CAP), a plan that involved repairing an existing hospital. 

After the community had made their action plan, the staff of Shahrvand continued their work with the 

community and assisted them in writing a project proposal for a Community Action Grant (CAG). The 

grant was funded by Counterpart Tajikistan and the hospital was repaired.  Now 8,000 people, 

including the population of three neighboring communities, have access to local medical services, 

increasing the health and financial welfare of the community members. More importantly, the 

community has now learned how to mobilize themselves to solve their own problems.  Recently, for 

example, they used their own resources to build a water tower and lay a pipeline to provide the 

hospital with water. 

Turkmenistan 

Sustainable Civil Society Organizations  

A New Level of Relations Between NGOs and International Organizations 

It is not the practice for international organizations to coordinate with Turkmen organizations for 

program implementation. The theme and content of activities conducted by international 

organizations are typically identified and implemented without consideration of local conditions. In 

framework of a Counterpart grant, the NGO Bosfor conducted six seminars on different legislative 

issues for 130 participants seeking to educate people about the latest legislative acts. Due to well 

performed public relations activities, such as distribution of information materials, international 

organizations such as ABA CEELI and ISAR expressed an interest in using Bosfor to organize and 

conduct a conference. As a result, Bosfor  participated in the development of the program and 

facilitated a conference on gender issues and a seminar on ecological law for 90 people.  

Local NGOs and Donors   A New Stage of Relations.  

Counterpart grantee Women's Resource Center  (WRC) of Turkmen State University developed 

strategic plans and long term action plans for organizational development. Based on these plans, WRC 

improved its public relations activities as well as relations with donors. WRC conducted a series of 

meetings with UNFPA in which they proved to the donor that resources intended for NGOs have to be 

used more effectively. As a result WRC has signed a contract with UNFPA for $2,180 to conduct a 

series of seminars entitled:  Methods of Improving the Activity of Women's Informational Centers and 

Resource Centers Working in the Area of Reproductive Health . Using interactive methods learned in 

Counterpart training seminars, WRC has already conducted 3 seminars in Turkmen language in Mary, 

Ashgabat and Busmein for 80 participant members of resource centers and initiative groups.  

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