About The Trust

The Kyrgyzstan New Zealand Rural Trust is Helping to Fight Poverty

The Kyrgyzstan New Zealand Rural Trust is working to improve the livelihoods of the poverty stricken people of rural Kyrgyzstan. We began with the province of Naryn oblast, improving livestock production, adding value to primary products and teaching income generating skills to women and youth. We know a quick fix is not enough and that is why we focus on teaching skills and sharing knowledge to make communities self sufficient and to teach them about economic growth.

KNZRT’s approach to working in villages is very much based around groups of people working together. By harnessing the “power of the group” we enhance the potential for strong outcomes. As a result, many groups, like those in the remote villages of Tashbashat, Ak Muz, Taldy Suu and Jylanaryk have shown great success and cohesion, allowing them to overcome many of the livelihood limitations put on them by their high altitude (and 1,800-2,500 metres above sea level) and cold climates. Many villages are already thinking of opportunities for expansion and diversification.

View our January 2011 newsletter to learn more about the Trust’s recent movements.

The present programme has two main threads:

• Poverty to help fight poverty including potato production and storage, goat production, bakery, sewing shops, milk processing and pasteurizing. Most of these projects have a “social obligation” element where the first group of families assisted under the project help other families in the community.
• Livestock performance projects include improving wintering barns and establishment of sainfoin (a high altitude legume) to improve feed quality.

Future programmes include support for a microcredit agency which will offer Grameen Bank style loans to poor families. This is a small loan to groups requiring no collateral but where the group is jointly responsible for repayment. The loans are for setting up income generating activities as well as continuing the successful pro-poor and livestock improvement subprojects.