and information campaigns. As a result of this joint effort, 15 partners were attracted to implement the 

project, representing the three sectors of society, such as: Archibil Hakimlik, the Institute of Desert 

and Plants, the Ministry of Autotransport, several public organizations, and the business firm Allegro. 

220 volunteers from 15 organizations took part in cleaning up more than 2,000 meters of foothills. 

More than 3 million manat ($600) was collected for conducting the ecological actions, and more than 

1,023 people of Akhal velayat   schoolchildren, workers, government structures employees, students   

were provided with practical information and participated in discussions and interviews on nature 

protection in Turkmenistan's public park spaces.  

Partnership, Coalition  Building and Association Development 

NGOs of Two Countries Unite Efforts 

The neighboring territories of Dashoguz and Khorezm of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan respectively 

are still getting used to the relatively new international border between them, which is causing a 

variety of social problems. Some NGOs have had earlier cross border contact and carried out joint 

work in these frontier territories, but these contacts are individual and short term in nature. There was 

no steady or long term partnership of organizations to strengthen NGO influence on issues such as 

ecology, women s empowerment, craftsmanship, and public health. Khorezm and Dashoguz CSSCs 

organized a number of meetings between 10 Uzbek and 14 Turkmen NGOs in September 2001 and 

March 2002. At these meetings the NGO representatives exchanged information on past 

accomplishments and current projects, exchanged promotional materials, shared ideas on future 

projects, visited offices of some NGOs, and participated in some NGO activities. As a result, several 

Uzbek and Turkmen NGOs developed a basic outline of future work and agreed upon further joint 

actions in the fields of ecology, female and child/youth empowerment. The Dashoguz Ecological 

Club, having been invited by the NGOs Center of Ecology and Health and Ihlos, held a seminar on 

Game Ecology for 30 high school teachers in Shavata city, and hosted a roundtable with local 

authorities. During the roundtable, plans were made to provide this interactive training in Game 

Ecology to all area biology teachers. The positive experience of teamwork of the organizations of two 

countries has enabled the development of a project to run a Summer Ecological Camp for children in 

August 2002 in Khorezm with joint participation from the NGOs and support from the local state 

structures. 

Community Mobilization 

With Care of Raising Generation 

The  Informational Legal Center at Women Union of Turkmenabat city, is working on a project 

supported by Counterpart to address youth idleness. Using knowledge in community mobilization, 

they conducted a number of explanatory meetings on lawful questions, during of which they identified 

the problem of teenage idleness during the summer break. To resolve this problem, they hosted a 

roundtable with representatives of Hakimlik, JETA #5 (Public Utilities Department) and people living 

in adjacent territory. As consequence of the meeting, participants decided to create study groups on 

interests of children, for which JETA provided space and the people from the adjacent territory 

cleaned and repaired the space for use by the youth. At the youth center, a volunteer trainer conducts 

trainings on volleyball, badminton and football for 30 children. 

Uzbekistan 

Sustainable Civil Society Organizations 

On the Way to Sustainability 

Faced with no local organization committed to developing civil society in the Samarkand region, 

Counterpart established a branch Support Center in Samarkand last year. During OD assessments it 

was suggested that the Support Center register as a separate organization rather than a branch, to 

facilitate working with a variety of donor organizations as well as to be independent and sustainable. 

After a series of consultations, the Support Center selected 11 people as founders and jointly 

developed the Charter. The Hub Center OD consultant assisted the Support Center in revising and 

improving the Charter. As the result of these activities, the Support Center was able to quickly 

register. Now the Support Center is working with international organizations providing services, such 

as training and roundtables, for a fee.  

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