A dedicated group of 30 anti-corruption advocates engaged in very frank, sometime difficult discussions on their current efforts in fighting corruption during a workshop in Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan, 19-21 August 2013. The workshop welcomed legislators and representatives from civil society organizations (CSOs) and encouraged them to assess their own compliance with the UNCAC. It was organized by GOPAC and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and funded with the support of USAID. The Vice-Speaker opened the workshop and worked alongside other participants throughout the three days.

Participants completed the GOPAC-UNDP Anti-Corruption Assessment Tool and agreed to:

Promote and disseminate information on the UNCAC to CSOs, media and citizens;

Develop and enhance mechanisms in the areas of reporting standards, parliamentary budget oversight, parliamentary use of audits, and ethics and conduct;

Continue to build the capacity of legislators and CSOs to draft, improve, implement and enforce legislation related to the UNCAC;

Improve communication with CSOs, sharing information about what is being accomplished in parliament; and

Translate materials developed by GOPAC Kyrgyzstan and the Global Secretariat into Russian.

 The workshop was also an opportunity to begin reanimating GOPAC Kyrgyzstan and its members. Since the revolution in April 2010, the country has been in a challenging transition period and GOPAC Kyrgyzstan has not been as active. Following this workshop, members of parliament committed to asking the National Anti-Corruption Committee to help with the chapter’s renewal by leading a meeting which would include a call for new elections.