In the development discourse, it is often stipulated that humanitarian aid and philanthropy activities are beneficial because they improve the living conditions of those in need. The justification usually relies on a moral base. Often, the issue of sustainability or efficiency of such aid is ignored? This article analyzes what happens when community philanthropy, in the Kyrgyz context, is done as community investment. The result is grass-roots development work that is financially sustainable in the long-run and helps both the community and the donor agency. This is what happened with Mercy Corps' Apple Project in Tamga, Kyrgyzstan. At present,the project is undergoing an extensive, quasi-experimental impact evaluation to study the relative importance that various aspects of the Mercy Corps project bring to the community. Rigorous impact evaluation is often a missing piece in the process of learning what kinds of NGO activities are effective, and to what extent, in community intervention.

It's 4:30 p.m. on a Thursday afternoon when we arrive to Tamga situated near lake Issyk-Kul. Bakyt Subanov quickly packs up his work papers and rushes out into the hot June air, running down the street toward the parking lot situated on Kurortnaia Street. Our van awaits him there as Tamga is the last stop on our week-long trip to various Mercy Corps sites in the northern part of Kyrgyzstan. Bakyt Subanov is not an ordinary person in the Tamga village. He is the manager of The Apple Project run by Mercy Corps in the village: everyone knows him well there.

People often call Issyk-Kul the soul of Kyrgyzstan because of its gold beaches and beautiful gorges. From the gorges, you can see blue waterfalls, tienshan fir tree forests and snow-peaked mountains above. Few places in the world can rival such natural beauty. But Tamga's beauty is offset by the village's past. Its lake area is host to an eerie, forsaken sanatorium once used as a training ground by Soviet astronauts in the 1980s.

Tamga's beauty is offset by the village's past. Its lake area is host to an eerie, forsaken sanatorium once used as a training ground by Soviet astronauts in the 1980s.

Today, Tamga is the site of the Apple Project, the success story of Kompanion Financial Group, a subsidiary of Mercy Corps International.

Kyrgyzstan is a country of almost 5 million people, located in a land of high mountains and deep valleys in the middle of Central Asia. Over 95% of the country is mountainous. Kyrgyzstan has experienced history first-hand as the conquerors of the silk-road passed through their lands and later Soviet armies took control. After the Second World War, the Kyrgyz people saw their nation transform when the Soviet Union built factories in remote regions and sent Russians and the Ukrainians to control the remote region and protect the lands along their Chinese border.

The 1990s were a period of transition for Kyrgyzstan. The country went from a command economy to a market democracy. The government introduced social protections, but the provision of government assistance to those in need was, arguably, inadequate. Kyrgyzstan is now one of the poorest countries in the region. Education is on the decline, infrastructure is falling apart, the national psyche is damaged, and alcoholism is rampant. Hopes that the country would be the oft quoted 'Island of Democracy' are disappearing and cynicism prevails.

It is the complete lack of optimism that has been most damaging to the society. This despair was evident in Tamga prior to the start of The Apple Project.

Kyrgyzstan is now one of the poorest countries in the region. Education is on the decline, infrastructure is falling apart, the national psyche is damaged and alcoholism is rampant.

Agriculture accounted for more than 80% of the local economy in Tamga prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Most agricultural production in the village during Soviet timesoccurred in the state farm and collective farm systems, which were slowly privatized or closed due to financial losses in the 1990s. The chief crops in Tamga were apples, apricots, fodder crops, wheat and barley.

In the early post-Soviet years, government policy encouraged self-sufficiency to provide food security. Maintaining such self-sufficiency, however, entailed continued government regulation such as compulsory marketing, which in turn discouraged the development of diversified farm enterprises. The lack of credit for apple seedlings was another hindrance to farmers' self-sufficiency. In Soviet times, some of the agricultural production of Tamga was also exported to Kazakhstan. With the independence of two former Soviet republics, exporting agricultural produce to neighboring Kazakh markets became more difficult financially, logistically and legally.

A successful community development strategy comprises the unromantic, nitty-gritty working out of the means to achieve concrete objectives. It is never an end in itself, but only a tool to aid in achieving goals and ensuring sustainable development.

Mercy Corps' objective was to increase the income generation of apple growing households in the village of Tamga. To accomplish this, the project decided to tackle the following issues: poor apple orchard horticultural practices; resource management; and marketing. In an effort to improve income generation in Tamga's apple sector, Mercy Corps did the following:

Agronomists - Mercy Corps hired two agronomists that train 129 households twice a month in. horticultural skills associated with apple growing and selection as this was underdeveloped among rural populations.

Loans for Households - The Apple Project provides micro-loans to households on an ongoing basis during the harvest season to purchase apple seedlings and boxes for apple transportation. The average loan is 100 dollars. The interest rates for the loans are lower than usual to ease the debtors' burden.

Apple Storage - Mercy Corps renovated an old storage facility serving the households. The storage house currently serves both as a storage place and a collection point between producers and wholesale food processors. The households bring their boxes of apples and store them in the storage facility until buyers and processors purchase them.

Road Repair - Mercy Corps paid for repairing the old road leading to the apple storage facility. This road was almost inaccessible before the repairs

Information/Marketing Center - The Apple Project established a marketing center. The center plays an important role in advertising apples and attracting wholesale buyers and food processors.

Preliminary analysis of household data suggests that community mobilization, choice of economic sector and obtaining outside help are factors that lead to success.

To study what interventions and project features were most beneficial to the community, Mercy Corps has embarked on rigorous project evaluation of the program. The evaluation and data gathering is still in progress and it will end in early 2007. Preliminary analysis of the household data suggests that the following factors lead to success (i.e. those that have had a statistically significant impact on the key variable of interest: change in household wealth).

Community Mobilization - The initial coordinated meetings, organized coalitions and educational activities for households, local institutions, media, and the general public energized the entire village and laid out the foundation for all the other components. Without village mobilization, attempting anything else would have been impossible.

The Sector - We considered several possible sectors within Kyrgyzstan. The republic possesses a mountainous terrain, which accommodates livestock rearing, the largest sector within agriculture. The principal sector of the economy in Kyrgyzstan is agriculture, which contributes about one-third of the GDP and more than one-third of employment. This led us to believe that the right project would have to be agricultural in nature.

Outside Help - We hired two agronomists who assisted Mercy Corps in offering seminars and educating households on various types of apples.

As our minivan is about to leave the Tamga village, Bakyt Subanov sighs as he informs us of the challenges surrounding building a new storage place for the Apple project..."We should be able to renovate it this summer, if we find a contractor on time...", he says.

I do not know if they'll get a new storage place this summer or not. But Bakyt Subanov is certainly hopeful. His upbeat attitude about the project, project members and fellow villagers reminded me why I was there and what I was supposed to be doing, and how it gives these people something more to aspire to.

One project participant poignantly summed up the impact of Mercy Corps' Apple Project when he said, "This was exactly what we needed and exactly when we needed it!"

Having talked to the Tamga project participants, I noticed all were very thankful to Mercy Corps for providing them with credit and educational opportunities. One participant poignantly summed it up when he said, "This was exactly what we needed and exactly when we needed it!"

My interactions in Tamga prompted me to reflect on Mercy Corps' mission and how itsApple project has truly empowered each of the project participants and energized the whole community to take control over their lives.This outcome reflects Mercy Corps' mission to create entrepreneurial, savvy, optimistic and dedicated citizens.






Contributed by Plamen Nikolov. He is currently working on a Mercy Corps fellowship in Central Asia (Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan)..

To read another Global Envision article about development in Central Asia, see The Promise of Central Asia.



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