![[Kyrgyzstan] Anziratkhon Eshanova's mini flower mill in the southern village of Mady helped her family to get out of poverty. [Date picture taken: 08/24/2006]](https://assets.thenewhumanitarian.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_large_2x/public/images/200683117.jpg.webp?itok=62KP9sxj "The Eshanovs' family flour mill has brought a sense of hope for Anziratkhon and her family")
Anziratkhon Eshanova and her family are busy building their new house in the poor southern Kyrgyz town of Mady, 15 km from the provincial capital of Osh. “It is difficult to think about those days five years ago when my husband and I did not know how to provide for our children, earn our daily bread and help our parents,” Anziratkhon said.
But now Anziratkhon owns a small private mill, a teahouse and an ice cream shop in the village of 12,000 where power cuts are frequent and there are no connected telephones.
Anziratkhon and her husband, Tolkunbek, were teachers and used to work at the local school. However, following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and subsequent economic crisis in the new state of Kyrgyzstan their salaries were not paid for months.
“My husband quit his job first and was working as a taxi driver for a long time. But it was not bringing in a lot of money. We were desperate and did not know how to feed our children,” the mother-of-three recalled.
Such stories are not unusual in Kyrgyzstan, where 40 percent of the country’s 5 million people live below the poverty line, according to the World Bank. The poverty level is higher in rural areas, particularly in the south, where it can exceed 50 percent.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) started helping establish self-help groups in Mady in 1998 in an effort to tackle the poverty.
Anziratkhon’s neighbour told her about the new initiative, where villagers were trained how to run a business and prepare business projects.
“I spoke to my husband about it and he told me to definitely join the group. He wanted to join the group as well, but there were mainly women, so he refrained from that,” she said.
The women organised a self-help group called Tolkun (The Wave), and began learning the basics of business with the help of UNDP volunteers.
Following the training the group established a savings fund. Initially, each member contributed less than a US dollar and then $2. After a considerable amount, by local standards, had accrued in the pool, the group started providing micro credits to its members.
Anziratkhon’s family bought two calves with their first loan of $200. They later sold them, paid the loan back and bought equipment for their mill with the balance.
“After our first micro credit, we borrowed loans several times and returned them all in time and fully,” she said.
Her family now employs five people.
“There are many families like ours in Mady that managed to get out of poverty,” Anziratkhon said.
Biubiusara Abdrakhmanova, from the El Mady micro credit union, said UNDP's help had been crucial.
“Currently we have enough resources and we can provide loans both to our members and anyone who comes to us,” she said.
UNDP also acted as a liaison between self-help bodies and the Kyrgyz agricultural corporation, the largest entity providing loans for farmers and groups in rural areas, providing vital sustainability.
“Even if the UNDP’s poverty reduction programme moves to work in other villages, self-help groups will remain financially stable and viable,” Abdrakhmanova said.
Aikan Mukambetova, head of a UNDP socio-economic cluster, said its poverty reduction programme was one of the most successful in the country.
“The main focus of the programme was on education and changing the mentality of people, so that they become more active and mobilise their own resources both intellectually and financially to get out of poverty,” Mukambetova said.
The fact that many donor organisations in the country had started similar programmes showed it had been a success, she said.
UNDP said its poverty reduction programme had assisted 100 Kyrgyz villages, with more than 5,000 self-help groups and some 1,000 self-help associations established.
The UN agency has spent more than $7 million on the programme since 1998.
GM/GS/AT/DS
But now Anziratkhon owns a small private mill, a teahouse and an ice cream shop in the village of 12,000 where power cuts are frequent and there are no connected telephones.
Anziratkhon and her husband, Tolkunbek, were teachers and used to work at the local school. However, following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and subsequent economic crisis in the new state of Kyrgyzstan their salaries were not paid for months.
“My husband quit his job first and was working as a taxi driver for a long time. But it was not bringing in a lot of money. We were desperate and did not know how to feed our children,” the mother-of-three recalled.
Such stories are not unusual in Kyrgyzstan, where 40 percent of the country’s 5 million people live below the poverty line, according to the World Bank. The poverty level is higher in rural areas, particularly in the south, where it can exceed 50 percent.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) started helping establish self-help groups in Mady in 1998 in an effort to tackle the poverty.
Anziratkhon’s neighbour told her about the new initiative, where villagers were trained how to run a business and prepare business projects.
“I spoke to my husband about it and he told me to definitely join the group. He wanted to join the group as well, but there were mainly women, so he refrained from that,” she said.
The women organised a self-help group called Tolkun (The Wave), and began learning the basics of business with the help of UNDP volunteers.
Following the training the group established a savings fund. Initially, each member contributed less than a US dollar and then $2. After a considerable amount, by local standards, had accrued in the pool, the group started providing micro credits to its members.
Anziratkhon’s family bought two calves with their first loan of $200. They later sold them, paid the loan back and bought equipment for their mill with the balance.
“After our first micro credit, we borrowed loans several times and returned them all in time and fully,” she said.
Her family now employs five people.
“There are many families like ours in Mady that managed to get out of poverty,” Anziratkhon said.
Biubiusara Abdrakhmanova, from the El Mady micro credit union, said UNDP's help had been crucial.
“Currently we have enough resources and we can provide loans both to our members and anyone who comes to us,” she said.
UNDP also acted as a liaison between self-help bodies and the Kyrgyz agricultural corporation, the largest entity providing loans for farmers and groups in rural areas, providing vital sustainability.
“Even if the UNDP’s poverty reduction programme moves to work in other villages, self-help groups will remain financially stable and viable,” Abdrakhmanova said.
Aikan Mukambetova, head of a UNDP socio-economic cluster, said its poverty reduction programme was one of the most successful in the country.
“The main focus of the programme was on education and changing the mentality of people, so that they become more active and mobilise their own resources both intellectually and financially to get out of poverty,” Mukambetova said.
The fact that many donor organisations in the country had started similar programmes showed it had been a success, she said.
UNDP said its poverty reduction programme had assisted 100 Kyrgyz villages, with more than 5,000 self-help groups and some 1,000 self-help associations established.
The UN agency has spent more than $7 million on the programme since 1998.
GM/GS/AT/DS
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