Kyrgyzstan: Social infrastructure construction to foster peace

OSH [ACTED News] – ACTED continues to work on substantial construction of infrastructure across 40 target communities in the Osh, Jalal-Abad and Batken regions of southern Kyrgyzstan. A total of 18 large scale and 22 small scale infrastructure projects have been selected to mitigate potential conflicts through socio-economic development. In particular, infrastructure is being rehabilitated and constructed to address existing tensions and to mitigate the potential for further disputes among and within communities. Construction is already in progress and some of the small projects have already been completed. These community-based initiatives consist primarily of the rehabilitation and construction of irrigation canals and drinking water systems, but also social infrastructure, such as schools, latrines and bridges. It is through joint community infrastructure projects that ACTED promotes peace and improves community cohesion. The infrastructure works are part of a peacebuilding initiative implemented by TASK, a consortium of international and local NGOs focusing on peace building, and supported by the European Commission.