ABSTRACT
Since 2005, together with a team of German, Tajik and Kyrgyz development experts, the author has taken part in a research project funded by the German Volkswagen Foundation on Participation in Development Cooperation and Development Policy in Central Asia: The Examples of Tajikistan and the Kyrgyz Republic. The main objective of the research project is to assess the status of participation in the development context as practised by a large variety of players (central government, local government and civil society organizations including non-governmental organizations (NGOs)). An assessment will be made on how to consistently increase responsiveness to the target groups' needs and how to steer development processes more efficiently, which will hopefully result in better projects and programmes. Other elements to be addressed by the research project are, for instance, a more consistent and intensive mediation of interests between different development actors, or more culturally adapted interventions, etc. Gender, poverty alleviation and governance issues are most important crosssectoral matters of concern for all parts of the study.
