TURKMENISTAN REGISTERS FIRST NGO SINCE 2005

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000754

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR SCA/CEN, SCA/PPD, EUR/ACE, DRL
AID/W FOR EE/EA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM EAID KDEM TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN REGISTERS FIRST NGO SINCE 2005


1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet.


2. (U) SUMMARY: On June 3, 2008, Turkmenistan's Ministry of
Justice registered the Ak-Bugday Gardeners' Association as a public
association. Post believes this is the first non-governmental
organization (NGO) registered by the Ministry since 2005, and is the
first community-based NGO registered in the country. The
organization's mission is to defend the rights of gardeners residing
in Saglyk Village, located on the outskirts of Ashgabat. The
community members have actively participated in USAID's Civic
Society Support Initiative and Turkmen Community Empowerment
Programs since 2005.

UNCLEAR LEGAL STATUS PROMPTED RESIDENTS TO UNITE


3. (U) Saglyk Village was initially started as a community of
dachas (summer homes) in 1986. As a result, the administrative
status of the village remained unclear, which created problems for
community citizens to resolve social and economic issues with the
local authorities. To address the situation, community members
decided to elect a community board to advocate for the interests of
community members. In 2005, the village board, together with
community activists, first applied for registration as an NGO so it
would have improved legal status to undertake advocacy campaigns.
Its efforts to register were not successful. Although approximately
90 NGOs were re-registered under the 2003 NGO law that required
existing NGOs to be reregistered, the Ministry of Justice had
stopped registering new organizations by 2005.

USAID'S COMMUNITY-BASED PROGRAM TRAINED ACTIVISTS


4. (U) The Saglyk community's inhabitants, the majority of whom
make a living by raising fruit and vegetables, actively participated
in USAID/ Counterpart International's Civic Society Support
Initiative, which provided training and a community action grant to
help residents solve the village's most important problem --
building a new irrigation system. The improved irrigation helped
village inhabitants increase fruit and vegetable yields, which
considerably increased their incomes.


5. (U) After carrying out the irrigation system improvement project
with USAID's grant funding, the community's strong fundraising and
advocacy skills allowed the members to carry out additional
infrastructure projects on their own. For example, one community
activist initiated a self-financed project to repair and pave one of
the village's roads, fix streetlamps, and organize waste removal.
Working in conjunction with local authorities, another activist
secured the installation of new telephone communication lines.
Local authorities supported their initiative by providing machinery
and specialists, and by arranging the delivery of equipment.


VILLAGE NOW SERVES AS POSITIVE EXAMPLE FOR NEIGHBORS


6. (U) Recognizing the benefits from collective actions,
neighboring villages viewed Saglyk's residents as a positive example
of self-governance, participatory decision-making, and social
partnership. Activists from neighboring villages have traveled to
Saglyk to hear their experiences and continue learn from their
experiences. (NOTE: On June 26, 2007, Deputy Assistant Secretary of
State for South and Central Asian Affairs Evan Feigenbaum visited
Saglyk community and met with the community activists and local
government representatives. END NOTE.)


7. (U) COMMENT: Post believes this is the first non-governmental
organization (NGO) registered by the Ministry since 2005. If so,
this represents a very positive change in official attitudes toward
the role of NGOs in a civil society, since the group's mission is to
advocate for its members' interests.


8. (U) COMMENT CONTINUED: The Ak-Bugday Gardeners' Association is
also, to Post's knowledge, the first community-based NGO registered
in the country. In response to the 2003 law on NGO registration and

ASHGABAT 00000754 002 OF 002


the limited pool of registered NGOs, USAID and Counterpart changed
the focus of their civil society development program to work more
closely with communities. As a result, the faces of USAID's civil
society development program partners shifted along with its
objectives. Instead of supporting the "usual suspects" of
old-school, largely ethnic Russian civic activists, Counterpart
provided 140 grants of less than $5,000 each between 2004-2006 that
helped predominantly rural, ethnic Turkmen communities to improve
their lives through greater access to potable water, gas,
electricity, and other social infrastructure. While some of these
groups came together to carry out discrete projects, others have
remained cohesive and continue to work together to address issues of
collective importance. That the residents of Saglyk community
persisted in their efforts to register while continuing to engage
constructively with local officials demonstrates the positive
effects of the grass-roots approach to civil society development in
Turkmenistan. END COMMENT.

HOAGLAND