UNDP handed over laptops to seven regional Media Centers of the Department of Information and Mass Communications under the Ministry of Culture, Information and Tourism of the Kyrgyz Republic. Technical assistance for $8,330 was provided to strengthen the capacity of regional Media Centers on rendering information services to the public.

The official handover ceremony of office equipment took place on November 13 at the Annual Partner Media Conference, dedicated to the Day of Information and Press of the Kyrgyz Republic, as part of the presentation of the single information website of the regional Media Centers. As noted by Salkyn Sarnogoyeva, Director of the Department of Information and Mass Communications at MCIT KR: «Within a year we have reorganized the state regional media and created omodern regional media centers with several platforms: TV, a press center,  united website (mobile version is also provided), newspapers and online broadcasting, as well as providing a package of new quality services to the public. Of course, we faced difficulties, including lack of financial and technical resources for modernization of media centers, especially during the crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In order to ensure uninterrupted and high-quality work of the website (one main website and seven additional sub-pages), prompt information delivery and access to information, UNDP provided invaluable support in the form of technical equipment for the regional media centers. Moreover, video courses to improve the knowledge of Media Centers’ journalists on convergent journalism are being developed with the financial and expert support of UNDP. We express our great gratitude to our partners and hope to continue fruitful and efficient cooperation. »

It should be reminded that in 2018, based on a government decree "On optimizing the number of staff of the state executive authorities of the KR", the Ministry of Culture, Information and Tourism has begun work on transformation of state, regional and district newspapers and television companies into Media Centers. The Ministry reorganized regional and state TV and radio broadcasting companies and editorial offices of district and regional newspapers into seven Media Centers by way of merger.  The primary goal of the ongoing reform is to provide new quality information services to the population in the regions and transfer local media suppliers to self-financing.

The regional Media Centers play an important role in wide disseminating the ideas of unity, friendship and tolerance and preventing the spread of ideas of violent nature. The technical assistance helps to enhance the potential of Media Centers as a platform for open discussions and building dialogues at the regional level.

These reforms are supported within the framework of the UNDP Project "Promoting Kyrgyzstan's Youth Cohesion and Interaction Towards Uzbekistan" funded by the UN Peacebuilding Fund, as well as a part of the UNDP project "Strengthening Resilience Against Violent Extremism in Asia" (STRIVE Asia) funded by the European Union under the EU-UN Joint Partnership.