Ashgabat, 13-14 December 2018: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has held a forum on the role of public organization in social service delivery in Turkmenistan. This event was organized within the framework of UNDP “Empowering Civil Society Organizations to participate in policy making and social service delivery”.

The forum brought together over 40 participants to present best practices in the social contracting and discuss practical mechanisms for development of social services in Turkmenistan, particularly, in the framework of state procurement of social services. Participants paid special attention to the partnerships between civil society and the State, including their role for the protection of human rights.

As Elena Panova, UN Resident Coordinator in Turkmenistan noted “Today, public organizations are partners who make a huge contribution to the development of society. It is important to note that the development of cooperation between public organizations and the state contributes to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular goal 16. Public organizations are key partners in implementing the basic principle of the SDGs “leave no one behind”.

Experts from Bulgaria, Republic of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan presented the best practices and experience in social service delivery and social service contracting.

The Forum was attended by representatives of registered public associations as well as ministries and various agencies of Turkmenistan including Mejlis, the ministry of labor and social protection of the population of Turkmenistan, Ministry of Justice of Turkmenistan, Ministry of health and medical industry of Turkmenistan, Bar of Turkmenistan..

The second day of the Forum continued technical workshop on development of Action Plan with recommendations for piloting social service contracting.

This project is co-funded by the Government of Finland and Embassy of Germany in Ashgabat.