ALC Grants in Central Asia

American Legal Consortium Awards Grants To Over 50 Grassroots Central Asian NGOs

American Legal Consortium (ALC), a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Rule of Law project for Central Asia administered by Chemonics International Consulting, has awarded over 50 grants totaling $1,094,189 to grassroots Central Asian non-governmental organizations (NGOs). ALC is headquartered in Almaty (Kazakstan) and has field offices in Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) and Tashkent (Uzbekistan). In addition to NGO development, ALC's major projects have involved establishing, staffing, and equipping independent democracy libraries and working with the judicial and legislative branches of the various Central Asian governments.

Excepting other foreign financial assistance for religious organizations or to Soviet-era quasi- governmental NGOs, ALC's program currently represents the single largest source of support for grassroots NGOs in Central Asia.... Thanks to active travel around Central Asia by ALC staff, several grants have been made to NGOs in each republic of Central Asia, including many grants to areas generally unaddressed by other NGO donors.

ALC's grants, all facilitating the establishment of rule of law in Central Asia, cover almost the entire range of NGOs in Central Asia. Grants for education, publishing, research, equipment, legal consulting, conferences, and travel have been awarded to NGOs in such fields as human rights, women's issues, children's rights, environment, business development, rights of the disabled, the elderly, consumer rights, culture, NGO development, legal education, conflict resolution, veterans' rights, media, and farmers' cooperatives. The majority of grants have been awarded to projects primarily addressing human rights, children's issues, democratization of society, and economic development. Over one-third of ALC's grantees are located outside the capital cities. Further, in contrast to other USAID democratic development projects in Central Asia, Tajikistan has received roughly 20% of ALC's grants and grant funds. With other program funds, ALC established a democracy library and organized several conferences on NGOs and rule of law in Dushanbe.

Unfortunately, ALC is not expected to receive any further funds for NGO support in Central Asia.

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CCSI received the April 1996 issue of Ecostan News which included a brief overview of the work of the American Legal Consortium in Central Asia (excerpted below).

Ecostan News is a monthly bulletin which reports on environmental movements in Central Asia. It is compiled and edited by Green Salvation in Almaty and by Eric Sievers of Law and Environment Eurasia Partnership in New Haven, Connecticut. Back issues are available on-line at Friends & Partners at:

www.friends-partners.org/friends/science/ecostan/ecostan.index.html

Last updated:    April 1996

A print version of much of the information contained in this NIS Third Sector Organizations section can be found in the The Post-Soviet Handbook (Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1999).

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