With or without you
Why participatory approaches are lacking from an EU-funded border management programme in Kyrgyzstan
This report was produced under the Initiative for Peacebuilding, an EC funded project to develop and promote knowledge and expertise on conflict prevention and peace-building and recommend practical ways to implement people-centred approaches to security building activities. The project draws together the complementary geographic and thematic expertise of 10 civil society organisations (and their networks) with offices across the EU and in conflict-affected countries.
This report examines the extent to which the EU-funded Border Management Programme in Central Asia (BOMCA) has employed participatory approaches in its design and delivery, with particular reference to Kyrgyzstan. It forms part of a wider body of work for the Initiative for Peacebuilding (IfP) Security Cluster looking at the opportunities and challenges to employing more participatory approaches in EU-supported security and justice programmes.
BOMCA is a regional programme for Central Asia that is funded by the EU (with co-funding from UNDP) and implemented by UNDP. Its aims are to enhance border security and to facilitate legal trade and transit through the introduction of European-style integrated border management (IBM) methodologies. It has been running since 2002 and is now implementing ‘Phase 7’ of its activities.
Border issues are very important in Central Asia, because the introduction of state borders following independence in 1991 cut across traditional lines of movement, trade and contact. Borders are closely related to a range of ‘hard’ security issues, from weapons and drugs smuggling through to tension between different groups and nationalities. However, they also relate to a range of ‘human security’ issues, since many people cross borders on a daily, weekly or monthly basis to visit family members, to seek employment, to find grazing land for livestock or to trade. It is therefore appropriate to consider whether and how BOMCA is engaging communities through participatory approaches.
