One of these discussions ended with a community member from Yazyavan District in Fergana articulating a very important sentiment: “The last words I would like to say is “the knife should be regularly sharpened”. Even today’s discussion was something which sharpened our mind and reminded everything we learned.”

A contribution to this process of ‘sharpening minds’ has been the compilation of a Good Practices and Lessons Learned, some of which was shared at a Briefing Session at the UNDP Country office on 6th December, 2010. The presentation was led by Simon Forrester, an International Consultant in Community Development who has been involved in researching. This is the third visit of Simon to Uzbekistan that aims to review the community capacity development work of ELS/ABD.

His impression was expressed in following: “The approach that ELS/ABD is using is not only delivering a dramatic improvement in the services provided to its 300+ partner communities, but is also bringing about sustained changes in the capacity of these communties and their corresponding local administrations. The communities are now able to participate in a more meaningful way in the planning and management of local services, and the Khokimyats now know how to be more responsive to the communities.”

The presentation of the good practices focused on the capacity building measures taken by ELS/ABD. Six of these were highlighted for their innovation and effectiveness: the integrated approach of ELS/ABD, combining social with economic development; the introduction of Community Development Plans; measures to build confidence within the communities to promote participation; placing emphasis on ‘monitoring’ and the need for continuous learning and sharing of information; enabling local authorities and State programmes to better target their investments; and the importance of investing in the external environment through the use of new technologies and methods.

Over the Briefing Session the International Consultant and ELS/ABD Projects specialists demonstrated participants the major approaches of community development at the local level, introducing Community Development Plans (CDP) and their importance in regional development planning. It is expected that findings and lessons learned will be reflected in the project reports and impact on enhancement of the project results in building and improving capacities for more successful communities’ self-help initiatives.