High School Students Learn Entrepreneurship

Last month, over 500 students and eighteen “student companies” took part in the student company fairs organized in Bishkek and Ashgabat by the USAID-funded Junior Achievement program. Over the coming months, similar student fairs will be organized in other locations across the region for thousands of young Junior Achievement program participants…

Accounting Education Improves in Central Asia

To help Central Asia’s countries develop a cadre of accounting highly demanded specialists by their growing economies, USAID trained over 260 professors in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan to teach accounting classes based on international accounting standards. In Kazakhstan, the project also helped update the country’s university accounting curriculum and accounting education standard…

USAID Will Help Install Modern Court Recording Systems Across The Country

In late December 2007, USAID signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Supreme Court Administration Committee for a new program to expand the use of audio and video court recording equipment into at least one court in each region of the country. This program was based on the successful results of a pilot project carried out in an Almaty court last year…

USAID transfers the Accounting Certification Program to Local Entity

On December 21, 2007, USAID started the transfer of the Russian-language accounting certification program to a local entity, the Eurasian Council of Certified Accountants and Auditors (ECCAA), which comprises accounting and auditing associations from 11 member countries across CIS. The Russian-language accounting certification program was created by USAID in 1997…

Blood Pressure Schools Mark Two-Year Anniversary in Kazakhstan

300 individuals have learned to control their blood pressure at two USAID-supported Arterial Hypertension Patient Schools in Karaganda, northern Kazakhstan over the past two years. Opened in February 2006, these schools operate at two local health clinics and teach Karaganda residents to manage their hypertension, which is a leading cause of illness and mortality in the country…

USAID Helps Increase Productivity of Kyrgyz Farms By 50%

According to an independent survey, Kyrgyz farmers, participating in the USAID and IFDC Kyrgyz Agro-Input Market Development (KAED) project increased their productivity for major crops by 50% from 2001-2007. The monetary value of increased agricultural output is estimated at $80 million. Over the past six years the project helped create functioning and competitive markets for increased sales of agri-inputs…

Kyrgyz Government Adopts a Resolution to Support Businesses

For the first time in Kyrgyzstan’s history the business community will be able to participate in the development of legislative documents at the earliest stages of the drafting process. The change was introduced with support from the USAID Business Environment Improvement project…

More Job Opportunities for Youth

Over 400 unemployed youth in the most remote and economically disadvantaged areas of southern Kyrgyzstan have gained professional skills through to a USAID-funded program last year. The Collaborative Development Initiative program, implemented by Mercy Corps, organized master-apprentice classes for these youth in carpentry, sewing, welding and other skills essential in rural areas. Approximately 40% the trainees have already found jobs…

Kyrgyzstan Featured in the Program for International Student Assessment

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development announced the results of the 2006 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), including, for the first time, the results for a Central Asian country - Kyrgyzstan. PISA focuses on measuring young people’s ability to use their knowledge and skills to meet real life challenges, rather than on mastery of specific school curricula…

Per Capita Health Financing Reforms to Be Adopted Nationwide in Uzbekistan

This year Uzbekistan is planning to complete the rollout of the country’s per capita financing system for rural primary health care facilities. The system was first introduced by the USAID ZdravReform project, which in 1999 launched a pilot initiative on per capita financial and management reform in 43 rural primary health care facilities in Ferghana Oblast…

National Conference on Quality Improvement Reveals Readiness for Change

Over the years, ZdravPlus helped train over 500 general practitioners and 200 health managers from different oblasts of Uzbekistan in following clinical standards, self-monitoring, team work, and implementation of changes. The specialists now form a critical mass of healthcare providers ready to improve services across the country…