| :Z : lL. DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGE Kyrgyz Republic is a small land-locked and highly mounta inous country in northeast Central Asia, with as estimated population of slightly over 6 million people, and almost 60% of them living in rural areas. Population distribution by sex is heterogeneou s across the country. In urban areas, the proportion of women is higher than men amounting to 52.5%, on the contrary, in rural areas, where the birth rate is higher, the number of men is slightly higher - 50.6%. Composition of the country population is notable for its young people: 33.3% of the total population are children and adolescents under 16 years old, about 60% are workin g age population, and 7.1% are persons above working age. Since independence in 1991, Kyrgyzstan has undergone complex social, economic, and political changes. Despite the contin uous reforms being implemented by the Government of Kyrgyzstan, public sector effectiveness and efficiency as well as accountability of institutions and processes, inclusive policy implementati on and service delivery, remain key areas for improvement?, and that even more within challenging public space shaped by rise of social networking and modern information and communicatio n technologies use. Citizens’ expectations for more transparent, effective basic services have yet to be met, and polls show that citizens perceive corruption, accountability, and sustainable econom ic development as key priorities for the country.? National context Since 2013, the Kyrgyz Republic has been implementing the National Sustainable Development Strategy (2013-2017). The Strategy was developed based on learning from prior years that included poor performance on many socio, economic and political indicators, and, it sought to firmly place Kyrgyzstan on an improved trajectory against its socio-econom ic development goals. Further, the strategy sought to situate Kyrgyzstan firmly in influencing and participating in the regional development agenda. The NSDS theref ore undertook to: improve Government performance in institutionalizing the rule of law, further entrenching environmental sustainability, stabilization of macro-economic parameters, includi ng fiscal transformation, building an enabling environment for business and investment, and growth and modernization of key sectors such as agriculture, mining, telecommunications, transportati on and tourism. Progress in respect of these aspirations over the period of the NSDS has however been mixed. For instance a) While mobile telephone penetration stand at 116% in 2016 nationally, there are not yet any formal e-service in the country, and in accord ance to the draft Taza Koom Action plan for 2018-2022, all 378 Government services that are provided in accordance with the standards approved by the Government will need to be transformed into digital format by the end of 2023; b) The ease of doing business report by the World Bank places Kyrgyzstan performance for the last two years at the ranking of 75, with still high level of informality in the private sector, and regulatory challenges for instance on the integral issue of tax paymen t: c) While there has been significant progress in development of policy and legal framework on issues of rule of law and access to justice, there is need for further harmonization and recognition of the role of ICTs in facilitating implementation of a coherent set of provisions to deepen and widen public service access complemented by an equally ambitious approa ch of building public capacity to interact with the new systems; unemployment d) With rates the median predicted to age drop of Kyrgyz only population marginally by being 2020 26.2 (Green years old, economy and the stocktaking report, 2017), the full potential of capitalizing on youth innovation and active engagement in national and local development is yet to be fully capital ised upon, e) Kyrgyzstan, while making progress still requires further action with respect to addressing the issue of integrity, accountability and transparency. For instance, the 2017 transp arency index report placed Kyrgyzstan at positio n 135, globally with opportunities for improvement; f) While there has been remarkable progress in availing key public services covered by the state registry service, public satisfaction with the quality of services, including in non-urban localit ies of Kyrgyzstan remains limited with respect to penetration, and access by some members of the society, affecting the issue of universal access ?. [United Nations Development Assistance Framework, 2012-2017, final evaluation “*Post-2015 Development Agenda. National consultat ions in the Kyrgyz Republic, 2013 “National institute of Strategic Studies study on citizen's satisfaction with public services during 2017 3