VZCZCXRO7767
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLH RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHNEH RUEHPW RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSL RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHAH #0933/01 2090451
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 280451Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3196
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 5473
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 3197
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 3062
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 3717
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1070
RHMCSUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 3751
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ASHGABAT 000933 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM SOCI TX
SUBJECT:  CITIZEN PARTICIPATION IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IN 
TURKMENISTAN 
 
¶1. (U) Sensitive but Unclassified.  Not for Internet distribution 
 
¶2. (SBU) SUMMARY:  Despite Turkmenistan's huge hydrocarbon wealth 
and the government's multimillion dollar, lavish construction 
projects, there are many residential areas in Ashgabat and elsewhere 
that lack normal roads, street lights, water and sewer systems. 
Finding little or no assistance from the authorities in resolving 
their public service problems, residents have no choice but to take 
the initiative and resolve their problems themselves.  Overcoming 
the Soviet legacy of relying on the state, people find various 
methods of working together to address social needs.  By forcing 
people to take the initiative and solve their own problems, the 
government may unwittingly be laying the groundwork for civil 
society and independent political activity in the future.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION 
 
¶3. (SBU) Concerning private residential areas, local government 
generally does not provide residents with public services such as 
streets, lighting, water and sewer systems.  It believes that the 
residents themselves should be responsible for sorting out these 
issues.  The authorities supply public services only to state-owned 
residential areas, i.e. non-privatized housing areas.  For example, 
if a certain road in a community is not repaired, the most active 
person among the residents initiates writing a letter to the 
hakimlik (district administration), requesting that the road be 
repaired.  When the letter is written and the street's residents 
sign it, they take it to the hakimlik in person in order to have 
more impact and faster results.  However, if there is no one to 
listen to them, or if the letter is not answered, then the most 
active resident in that community makes an estimate of how much the 
repair would cost if the residents fund it themselves.  Then, the 
residents discuss whether they are ready to share the cost of repair 
among themselves.  If they reach agreement, they start ordering the 
necessary construction materials and the services of laborers to 
carry out the repairs.  In most cases, residents have to fund these 
public services out of their own pockets.  However, sometimes the 
district administration provides laborers to carry out the work 
using materials procured by the residents. 
 
NEGATIVE EFFECT OF SOVIET MENTALITY 
 
¶4. (SBU) Over seventy years of communist rule is still deeply 
embedded in people's minds.  They still expect the government to do 
everything for them free of charge.  For instance, if the water 
supply system breaks down in a community, its residents would bring 
the problem to the attention of the authorities and wait forever for 
them to fix it.  They turn to the authorities because they do not 
want to pay out of their own pockets.  Only after waiting a month or 
two with no reply would they then do something themselves. 
Fortunately, there is always someone who takes the lead, convenes a 
community meeting to discuss the issue, and deals with the issue as 
a leader. 
 
DEVELOPING THE SENSE OF CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY 
 
¶5. (SBU) According to Irina Dedova, Chief of Party of Counterpart 
International in Turkmenistan, citizen's groups in rural areas also 
need to increase their skills for greater participation in local 
governance.  When asked what qualities a successful community leader 
must have, Dedova said that "It is important to be energetic, have 
initiative and a desire to work.  A leader must be a person 
respected within a community and recognized by local authorities. 
He must possess an ability to start to resolve an issue and to lead 
it through."  She said that once a community group successfully 
implements a project, "it gets the sense of ownership of the result. 
 [Its members] start feeling civic responsibility for the work 
done."  The main contribution of Counterpart is equipping local 
community groups with the skills for greater participation in local 
community affairs and establishing a forum for discussion of their 
pressing issues in order to start solving them together with local 
 
ASHGABAT 00000933  002 OF 003 
 
 
authorities and other stakeholders. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Owing to the knowledge gained though Counterpart 
activities, local communities began contributing up to 45 percent of 
the resources necessary for the implementation of their projects. 
Moreover, they started initiating and implementing projects on their 
own.  Thanks to Counterpart's methodology, four communities managed 
to have funds for their planned projects included in the local 
budgets for next year.  Talking about some unsuccessful cases, 
Dedova said that they were caused by local authorities' suspicion 
and distrust of foreign assistance, and by local officials' lack of 
confidence to make independent decisions. 
 
YOWAR - VOLUNTARY COLLECTIVE ASSISTANCE 
 
¶7. (SBU) Traditionally, in rural areas, Turkmen conduct a Yowar - 
voluntary collective assistance to a family in the neighborhood. 
For example, if a family built a house and needed a roof but could 
not afford it, the family would summon its community for a Yowar. 
Volunteers from the entire community gather at that family's place 
in the early morning and provide a workforce to roof the house with 
the family's own materials.  In gratitude for the community's help, 
the family serves a meal to the volunteers.  Thus, when any other 
family needs assistance on a household-related problem, the whole 
community would render its assistance setting up a Yowar. 
 
YASHULYS' (ELDERS) ROLE 
 
¶8. (SBU) A special role in decision making in Turkmen society 
belongs to yashulys (elders).  Often times, many social issues are 
resolved with the active participation of community elders whose 
opinion is valued by most of the local population.  Yashulys take an 
active part in the realization of local projects supported by local 
state bodies and international donors.  One of the examples of 
yashuly involvement in community projects is Counterpart's project 
involving the Council of Elders of Dostluk village near Turkmenabat. 
 The local authorities helped the Council to open a police post to 
ensure order and prevent hooliganism, and to fix a road sign at the 
village school and nursery.  With Counterpart's support, the 
community opened "Akyl Cheshmesi" Community Resource Point (CRP) 
that provided computers and other equipment, consultations with 
yashulys on everyday housing and family issues, and neighbor 
relations, and educational lectures for youth in cooperation with a 
district police officer.  For "support and significant progress in 
preventing violations of law and order, and protection of the legal 
rights and interests of the population," the local law enforcement 
bodies awarded the Council of Elders with a Letter of Honors in 
recognition of the CRP's outstanding activities. 
 
INDIVIDUAL LEADERSHIP 
 
¶9. (SBU) There are also examples of individual leadership in 
neighborhood activism.  For example, an Embassy local staff member 
paid for the renovation of the common area inside his apartment 
building and installed a metal entry door for the security of both 
his family and his neighbors living in that part of the building. 
When asked why he decided to do it, he explained that "my neighbors 
working in low-paid jobs cannot afford to do the renovation, 
therefore, I decided to do it myself and then, collect a symbolic 
payment from them so that they feel they are part of the good deed." 
 Another local staff member, while living in Mary, started removing 
the trash from the common area adjacent to his house.  Following his 
lead, other volunteers from the community helped to clean the area 
from debris, thus, creating a more favorable environment for the 
community. 
 
¶9. (SBU) COMMENT:  The main obstacle to community participation in 
local governance is the embedded Soviet mentality that "the state 
decides all and will do it all itself" and that citizens' opinions 
will not matter.  A contributing factor is the lack of necessary 
skills and low government funding for public services, as well as 
the absence of a place for discussion of local problems.  However, 
 
ASHGABAT 00000933  003 OF 003 
 
 
ironically, there is a positive side to the government's failure to 
provide public services in private residential areas because, thus, 
unwillingly, the government pushes people to take the initiative 
themselves.  Perhaps more active participation of citizens in 
community development eventually will lead to their more active 
involvement in local self governance in the future.  END COMMENT. 
 
CURRAN