UNDP Uzbekistan

In 2000, the public sector reform was declared as a priority by the Government of Uzbekistan. The administrative reform, as a whole, appears to be focused on transferring functions to local levels of government, as well as decentralizing certain social welfare functions to the community level. As part of the reform process the government has planned to decrease the number of civil servants approximately by 30% as government structures were downsized to 27 administrations and public economic entities to 40 thousands civil servants. In 2005, a two-chamber parliament was formed, certain functions of the government were transferred to other branches and a system of checks and balances and oversight functions were improved. With similar efforts underway at the local level, there still remains a number of development issues including double subordination of territorial departments and subdivisions of ministries both by local authorities and line ministries; and duplication of functions of departments within local governments.

In 2010 UNDP Uzbekistan within the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) for Uzbekistan (2005-2009) started to implement project “Support in enhancing of Local Governance System and Participatory Governance in Uzbekistan”. Project will be implemented in Namangan and Jizzakh regions during the period of February 2010 - December 2013. National Partner is the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan and responsible bodies are: Jizzakh and Namangan region khokimiats, Civil Society Organizations, Ministries, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Republic of Uzbekistan and other state bodies. Project budget is US$1,830,000.

First, it aims to promote Public Administration reform aimed at decentralized governance system through creating of enabling environment, policy advisory services and capacity building of civil servants.

Second, to enhance the partnership capacities of local governments with civil society and private sector through: 1. Public relations and e-Government tools; 2. Showcasing pilot initiatives in 2 regions of the Republic of Uzbekistan on public-private partnerships in the area of communal services, management of recreation.

Activity 1:
Promoting high level policy dialogue and reform of public administration for insuring an effective, strategic and practical approach to pro-poor service delivery.

Activity 2:
Institutional and legal framework for streamlining the work and relationships between and within executive and legislative authorities at national level reviewed (horizontal analysis)

Activity 3:
Facilitation of free access of population to the information related to the work of government bodies at all levels.

Activity 4:
Strengthening capacity of civil servants to provide public services to the population through professional trainings and introducing of modern and initiative approaches to rural/urban development.

Activity 5:
Civil Society Partnership: Institutionalization of the mechanism of participation of citizens and civil society institutions in the process of local development and strategic planning.

Activity 6:
Public Private Partnership: Introducing modern and innovative approaches to provide public services in the Namangan region and in the management of recreation resources in Djizzak region.

Djizak
Local Governance Support Project (LGSP) has contributed in the area of e-government mechanism, including e-document management, so that for Namangan region, city and district there was procured E-hujjat software recommended by Cabinet of Ministers as well as IT equipment for the local administrations’ units and conducted trainings of using E-hujjat software.
Introducing of E-hujjat into daily work of the local government specialists would improve performance efficiency, save time and give easy access for data exchange using electronic digital signatures. In addition, all specialists would have access to the database of administration’s decisions and national legislation.

One of the successful fundraising campaigns ended with receipt of additional USD 200,000 from DGTTF to establish and support 6 pres-services in pilot regions (3 in each Djizak and Namangan). Local administrations provided office rooms, access to landline phone and created staff positions while LGSP project contributed by equipments, visibility materials, access to internet and professional trainings.
The main goals of those press-services are to create two-communication channel between citizens and local governments, free access to public information on government activities based on national legislation and provide a bridge to connect khokimiyats and other state agencies with population.

Moreover, LGSP, jointly with regional and city administrations and UNICEF Uzbekistan, has assisted in establishment of OSS in Djizak city. The establishment of the center became one of those examples of combined attempts of UNDP with other international organizations and regional authorities with a view to assistance in improving democratic and effective governance at the local level. This OSS has recently started providing of 15 public and interactive information services of 4 local government organizations. These are services related to job vacancies, references to jobs and kindergarten, pension information, information on debts of population on water, power supply, gas and heat water usages and others. This center gives opportunity to the population to receive a wide range of public services in one place with significant reduction of transportation expenses and time.

For the purpose of elimination of duplications, delegation of some planning and administrative functions from the central government to local authorities, promotion of better interaction between local governments and civil society, private sector and other local actors the research on functional review and capacity assessment of the most popular local public services was undertaken in Djizak region by a team of international and national experts under guidance of UNDP BRC Capacity Development Policy Specialist. It covered functions and capacities of government agencies and civil servants in Djizak region to deliver local public services related to electricity debt certificates and land cadastre. The findings of research and recommendations on capacity development were presented on July 06, 2011 to all stakeholders and functional review and capacity assessment report was submitted to relevant ministries during the second meeting Inter-Agency Coordinating Working Group in December 2011.

In addition, LGSP project in collaboration with Djizak regional khokimiyat and Zaamin district administration, Uzbektourism and Federation of Trade Unions of Uzbekistan (Uzsovprof) introduced branding concept with new logo (www.zaamin.uz), marketing strategy and investment proposals on Zaamin district to develop community-based tourism. It envisages that every party to public-private partnership (PPP) has own contribution in development of public-private partnerships on community-based Tourism pilot initiatives in Zaamin district.
Namangan
Local Governance Support Project (LGSP) has contributed in the area of e-government mechanism, including e-document management, so that for Namangan region, city and district there was procured E-hujjat software recommended by Cabinet of Ministers as well as IT equipment for the local administrations’ units and conducted trainings of using E-hujjat software.
Introducing of E-hujjat into daily work of the local government specialists would improve performance efficiency, save time and give easy access for data exchange using electronic digital signatures. In addition, all specialists would have access to the database of administration’s decisions and national legislation.

One of the successful fundraising campaigns ended with receipt of additional USD 200,000 from DGTTF to establish and support 6 pres-services in pilot regions (3 in each Namangan and Djizak). Local administrations provided office rooms, access to landline phone and created staff positions while LGSP project contributed by equipments, visibility materials, access to internet and professional trainings.
The main goals of those press-services are to create two-communication channel between citizens and local governments, free access to public information on government activities based on national legislation and provide a bridge to connect khokimiyats and other state agencies with population.

Moreover, LGSP, jointly with regional and city administrations and UNICEF Uzbekistan, has assisted in establishment of OSS in Namangan city. The establishment of the center became one of those examples of combined attempts of UNDP with other international organizations and regional authorities with a view to assistance in improving democratic and effective governance at the local level. This OSS has recently started providing of 21 public and interactive information services of 6 local government organizations. These are services related to job vacancies, references to jobs and kindergarten, pension information, information on debts of population on water, power supply, gas and heat water usages and others. This OSS gives opportunity to the population to receive a wide range of public services in one place with significant reduction of transportation expenses and time.

For the purpose of elimination of duplications, delegation of some planning and administrative functions from the central government to local authorities, promotion of better interaction between local governments and civil society, private sector and other local actors the research on functional review and capacity assessment of the most popular local public services was undertaken in Namangan region by a team of international and national experts under guidance of UNDP BRC Capacity Development Policy Specialist. It covered functions and capacities of government agencies and civil servants in Namangan region to deliver local public services related to retirement pension and unemployment registration and allowances. The findings of research and recommendations on capacity development were presented on July 06, 2011 to all stakeholders and functional review and capacity assessment report was submitted to relevant ministries during the second meeting Inter-Agency Coordinating Working Group in December 2011.