We celebrated the 10th anniversary of the foundation and all the successful activities of Rural Development Fund on 15 May, 2014 at RDF’s office in Bishkek. Founded in 2003, RDF has been actively working to support various initiatives focused on local demands, poverty alleviation and sustainable rural development.
The representatives of state bodies, local communities, international and non-governmental organizations were invited to participate at this special ceremony. They were treated with a documentary film on RDF activities, photo exhibitions and exposition of hand-made traditional crafts, medicinal herbs, nomadic cuisine, and beekeeping products.
We showed our deep appreciationg to our most active and devoted international and local partners by the letters of acknowledgment for their invaluable, intimate, and result-oriented cooperations with RDF. Representatives of the Mountain Partnership in Central Asia, the Christensen Fund in Central Asia, Kyrgyz el Akyl Kazyna pastoral network, Kok-Oirok Jamaat and Karool-Dobo Jamaaty Groups were among them. We also received congratulations for RDF’s 10th anniversary from a parliamentarian from the Kyrgyz Parliament, Kanybek Imanaliev, the head of Pastures’ Department, Abdimalik Egemberiev, as well as the representatives of the Kyrgyz Government Administration, the Kyrgyz Patent Service, Aigine Cultural Research Center, and NGO Taalim Forum.
All the guests received a hearty welcome, tasted our ethnic cuisine with an accompaniment of traditional music, and enjoyed their chance to purchase some handcrafted items produced by children for the charity campaign called “Step to Creativity Action”. All the fund collected during this ceremony will be used to purchase tools and materials for children’s creativity in Kok-Oirok village.
RDF prioritises elaborating, coordinating and implementing programs for rural development. We also conduct researches and surveys, perform monitoring and evaluation, provides trainings and facilitation, and build capacity of young professionals. We pay particular attention to pasture and natural resource management, to strengthen the farmers’ capacity for better opportunities, and to support cattle breeding and institutional capacity for rural development.
Starting from 2006, RDF will be working on collection, archiving and dissemination of traditional knowledge to improve the quality of life for poor people living in rural and mountainous regions. RDF is also working on conflict prevention and mitigation activities through supporting improvement of the state service quality by involving the more vulnerable groups into the conflict management processes, and by assisting in capacity building of local self-governance bodies on conflict prevention issues.
RDF has a programme called “Kadam”, and is comitted to render support to more vulnerable groups, especially to improve livelihood of the poor and women, since the statistics shows that female groups are more prone to suffer from poverty and unemployment, and that they are frequently excluded from the decision-making and resource management prcesses. We are deteremined to continue on initiation and implementation of projects and programs on social entrepreneurship for the poor and women to improve their access to different natural resources and to promote their well-beings.
RDF works hard to strengthen the institutional knowledge, and to deliver interactive adult trainings in rural communities which are designed to meet the skills levels and needs of the rural communities.
Close partnership and support from the international and local donor organizations are the key aspects of successful RDF activities. For 10 years RDF has been working with more than 50 organizations, implementing joint projects, applying innovative approaches, and elaborating recommendations to solve the most acute rural problems. And we will strive further.