A $2,000 loan helped this shopkeeper expand her business in Bulgaria. © The Microfinance Centre

‘Commercial’ Microfinance: Too Much, or Not Enough?

Microfinance institutions have served millions of clients in the region, mainly low income families and microenterprises that would not otherwise have had access to financial services.

Topics: Development, Poverty, Private sector, Private Sector and Development, Poverty Reduction , Banking system, Microfinance, Microenterprise, Small and medium sized enterprises, Credit unions, Financial services

A private farmer sells his produce at the Namangan market in northeast Uzbekistan. © Zvi Lerman

Land Reform, Transition, and Rural Development

Land and farm reforms have helped to raise rural household incomes. Limitations on these reforms have tended to limit these positive developments.

Topics: Poverty, Rural development, Food security, Kyrgyzstan , Russian Federation , Tajikistan , Turkmenistan , Uzbekistan , Rural Development and Food Security, Poverty Reduction , Kazakhstan, Privatization, Agriculture, Property rights, Land reform, Rural poverty

People in the Tugai community help to plant new trees in the Nature Reserve in Karakalpak Autonomous Region, Uzbekistan. © UNDP Uzbekistan

Reforestation in Uzbekistan: Lessons from Nuratau

An innovative project in Uzbekistan is helping rural households reverse forest loss by granting them formal rights to forestry resources.

Topics: Energy, Environment, Rural development, Uzbekistan , Energy and the Environment, Environment & Energy, Property rights, Sustainable land management, Forests, Microcredit

Border guards stamping documents in Osh, Kyrgyzstan. © BOMCA
13 December 2010

EU-UNDP Border Management Programming in Europe and Central Asia

In the past decade, together with partners, UNDP has implemented more than € 140 million in border management projects in Europe and Central Asia. What are some of the projects?

Topics: European Union, Armenia , Azerbaijan , Belarus , Georgia , Moldova , Tajikistan , Ukraine , Security, Public administration reform, Caucasus, European Commission, Central Asia, Security sector reform, Transnistria, Borders, Border management

© Jan Pakulski/The World Bank

Human Trafficking in the CIS

The collapse of the USSR and creation of the CIS have led to massive population movements. Currently about 5 million citizens from CIS countries work illegally in the Russian Federation.

Topics: Migration, Minorities, Poverty, Minorities and Migration, Poverty Reduction , Vulnerable groups, Human Rights, Caucasus, Central Asia, Informal economy, Human trafficking, Commonwealth of Independent States, Slavery, Exploitation, Organized crime, Immigration policy