Project Description
In 2012 Democracy International conducted a USAID-funded evaluation of Freedom House’s Strengthening Human Rights Program in Kyrgyzstan. The evaluation utilized a flexible, mixed-methods approach to provide USAID/Kyrgyzstan with a clear and comprehensive understanding of the program’s effectiveness and achievements and to help guide the mission’s future human rights, civic advocacy, and judicial reform programming. Noting the deterioration of the the human rights situation in the south of Kyrgyzstan, the DI team advised Freedom House to monitor human rights abuses, support protection measures with a particular focus on female victims, and address ethnic discrimination in that region. Because of the potential implications that further decline could have for regional peace and stability, DI recommended that USAID retain the improvement of human rights in southern Kyrgyzstan as a core element of its development strategy.