Kyrgyzstan: Children Teach Adults about Poverty

This article describes a 2-day national conference entitled "Child Poverty: Effective Strategies towards its Elimination in Kyrgyzstan" which took place in December 2004. It was held by the Government of Krygystan with support of the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Kingdom Department for International Development and the Meerim Foundation.

One unique feature about this conference was the inclusion of a three hour speech by a 16-year old boy named Maksat who represented a number of children participating in the conference discussion. Other participants included the First Lady, the Vice Prime Minister, the Mayor of Bishkek, key ministers, and representatives of international agencies. Together the group discussed ways to better respond to children's needs. According to the article, children were blunt in describing their needs. They articulated that their rights were being violated and that adults had an obligation to assist.

The outcome of the conference was the government's agreement, in principle, to adopt a resolution that will be a first step in realising the rights of children in Kyrgyzstan.

According to the article, Kyrgyzstan became the first former Soviet Republic in Central Asia to focus on poverty in its national poverty debate. Kyrgyzstan plans to make the plight of child poverty part of its next National Poverty Reduction Strategy.