The parliamentary commission under the Oliy Majlis (parliament) of the Republic of Uzbekistan for the management of the funds of the public foundation for supporting nongovernmental non-commercial organizations and other civil society institutions has held a gathering. It was attended by members of the commission and representatives of state and public organizations.

The parliamentary commission under the Oliy Majlis (parliament) of the Republic of Uzbekistan for the management of the funds of the public foundation for supporting nongovernmental non-commercial organizations and other civil society institutions has held a gathering. It was attended by members of the commission and representatives of state and public organizations.

The chairman of the parliamentary commission, A.Saidov, and others have said that the country’s strong civil society that protects human rights, liberties and interests is developing. Their role in such areas as providing legal help to people, raising their political awareness and knowledge, working with young people, women and girls, providing jobs for them and giving support to old people and other needy sections of the population is increasing.

In order to put into practice the principle “From a strong state to a strong civil society”, a firm basis consisting of more than 250 laws directed towards the free development of civil society institutions has been created, and it meets democratic requirements on the basis of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Norm-setting regulatory documents adopted in recent years completely simplified the procedures for the registration of nongovernmental non-commercial organizations and for their work organization. As a result, today there are more than 8 thousand nongovernmental non-commercial organizations functioning in various spheres of the country’s life.

State support for socially important projects of civil society institutions is an important factor in expanding their work and in ensuring their financial stability.

During the gathering, there was discussion about reports on the work of the parliamentary commission and the public foundation in the year 2016, their projects and their priority tasks for the year 2017.

The public foundation under the parliament for supporting nongovernmental non-commercial organizations and other civil society institutions allocated 11 billion soms from the state budget in 2016 for the purpose of supporting nongovernmental non-commercial organizations, mass media and other civil society institutions and for the implementation of their various social projects.

It should be said that in 2016 state grants were allocated for 7 contests including different areas where 1 thousand 264 nongovernmental non-commercial organizations, mass media and other civil society institutions participated with 1 thousand 428 projects. Of these, for 254 projects and programme of social importance were identified, and more than 6 billion soms was allocated for them.

In carrying out tasks specified in the Year of Maternal and Child Health state programme, special attention was paid to ensuring social partnership between state bodies and civil society institutions. Here 2.3 billion soms was allocated for 13 projects on the basis of the state’s social order. Nearly 3.5 billion soms was allocated for providing nongovernmental non-commercial organizations with support in the form of state subsidies.

Generally, support provided in the form of state grants, social order and subsidies for 275 projects and programmes of nongovernmental non-commercial organizations, mass media and other civil society institutions amounted to 12.2 billion soms.

At the gathering, attention was directed to the need to explain to the people the essence of the work being done. Shortcomings were identified, and measures were mapped out to tackle these.