Water Institutional Reforms in Kyrgyzstan - The Politics of Water Institutional Reform in Neopatrimonial States - page 90

President and Presidential Administration
Kyrgyzstan has a strong presidential system; the President is the main actor in policy formula
tion including in the water sector. For advice and consultancy, he has a strong administrative
apparatus at his disposal. Directly subordinated to him is the International Institute of Strategic
Studies ( Mezhdunarodnyi Institut Strategicheskikh Issledovanij , MISI). This think tank is also involved
in water policy discussions at the national as well as the Central Asian level.
Parliament
The Parliament ( Zhogorku Kenesh ) as the legislative body discusses and approves the legal
framework for water management. Besides its function to approve laws, it is involved in water
governance mainly by its right to define the height of water tariffs (see chapter 6.3.4). There is
no special commission for water at the Parliament, but several commissions deal with water
issues: the Commission for Energetics and Construction ( Komitet po Energetike i Stroitelstvu ), the
Commission for Agriculture ( Komitet po Selskomu Khozyajstvu) , and the Commission for the
Agro industrial Complex ( Komitet po Agropromyshlennyomu Kompleksu ). 107
Academic Institutes
Beside the above mentioned Institute of Irrigation, which is directly subordinated to the Dep
VodKhoz, the Institute of Water Problems and Hydropower (IWP&HP) at the National Acad
emy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic is the main research institute in water issues and pro
vides policy consultancy, such as in the preparation of laws. It was established in 1992. Other
academic institutes of various universities are not directly involved in the policy process, but
rather serve as cooperation partners for donors and take part in international research projects.
International Donor Organizations
Besides national actors, several international actors are also involved in water policy and poli
tics in various ways and on different levels. The World Bank (WB) and the ADB have large
scale projects in rural development and irrigation rehabilitation directly affecting water man
agement. Other donors are involved in the establishment of WUAs (e.g., USAID), irrigation
system rehabilitation (e.g., GTZ), or IWRM (e.g., SDC). These are often small scale projects,
sometimes implemented by INGOs. Beyond these technically oriented projects, numerous
donors are involved on a discursive level by supporting initiatives on interstate water manage
ment to prevent conflicts. Among these are UN SPECA, the German Friedrich Ebert
Stiftung, EU TACIS, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and many
others.
NGOs
It was already mentioned that Kyrgyzstan has the most active NGO scene in Central Asia (see
chapter 5.5.2). Most relevant for water governance are environmental NGOs, which are con
cerned with ecological lobbying or expertise. Some NGOs are involved at implementation
levels for consultancies; however, these take on more the role of public service contractors
than of genuine civil society representation.
107 These commissions were reorganized after the research period. Since December 2006, relevant commisions are the
Commission on the Fuel and Energy Complex and Water Resources ( Komitet po Toplivno-Energeticheskomu Kompleksu i
Vodnym Resursam ) and the Commission on Agricultural Policy ( Komitet po Agrarnoy Politike) (KyrgyzNews 2006).