On 21-22 October 2009, the EU funded Enhancement of Living Standards (ELS) and UNDP Area Based Development (ABD) projects implemented by UNDP, took part in the Consult-Expo 2009 Exhibition. The event was organized by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s Business Advisory Services Programme (BAS) and by the Uzbek Association of Professional Business Consultants in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Uzbekistan. International partners in the field of consulting were also at the exhibition widening the event coverage and significance.

Consult-Expo 2009 already its third year is one of the key events of the Consulting Week in Uzbekistan. This initiative aims at supporting the development of consulting services and linking the private sector and consultants.

The ELS-ABD projects presented the Information Resource and Rural Development Centers active in 5 regions of Uzbekistan. The Centers set up with the help of ELS-ABD have become a long-term presence in the communities. For the past 3 years they have served as the hub and repository of the ELS-ABD programme’s participatory approach to local development. The centres avoid “a one size fit all” approach and use tailored methodologies to help each community identify problems and develop its own solutions.

The centres support communities to rehabilitate their infrastructures and help farmers expand their farm enterprises by providing information on how to access credit for collective purchasing, production and marketing arrangements.  They do so by bringing together mid-level local government officials, community based practitioners, farmers, women and young people. In this way a multitude of crucial actors in local development can exchange information, discuss and organize training on a range of issues, replicate successful ideas and benefit from EU and UNDP experience in rural development. 

The ELS-ABD presence at the Consult-Expo served also to highlight the synergies created with the BAS programme. In the month of October the BAS programme in cooperation with ELS in Namangan region facilitated a course on core consultancy skills which is accredited by the Institute of Business Consulting in United Kingdom. “Now as a result of the time spent with the BAS trainers, we are more confident and aware of our skills to provide consulting and business advisory services to local partners and communities” – said Hovahon Ikramova, local facilitator at the Information and Resource centre in Namangan region.

To read more on the course facilitated by BAS in Namangan region, please see the BAS programme Newsletter Edition 9, November 2009

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