ARGO Civil Society Development Association is a nationwide association, uniting civil society organizations (CSOs) that provide services to public organizations and communities in Kazakhstan. ARGO registered in 2004, uniting CSO resource centers from throughout Kazakhstan. Each member also has its own NGO network, thus, official ARGO members have access to more than 80% of NGOs in Kazakhstan. For the past 10 years, ARGO has been developing civil society in Kazakhstan, and expanded into Central Asia, post-Soviet states and recently into South Asia.
Mission
ARGO is a nonprofit organization, planning and administering national, regional and international socio-economic development programs. Priority regions for ARGO are Central Asia, CIS countries and South Asia.
ARGO employs innovative methods of civil society development. The Association has rendered more than 30,000 institutional development services, including trainings, consultations, round tables, monitoring, evaluation, and resource centers services in the regions of Kazakhstan, Central Asia and the CIS countries.
For the first time in the Republic of Kazakhstan, ARGO prepared a National Report titled “NGO and the State: Following the Effective Partnership Course”.
ARGO and Association members strive to build relationships with state structures for open communication, interaction and transparency. ARGO conducts training for local government officials, educating them in advantages of working with civil society.
ARGO interacts successfully with businesses, helping major companies plan and implement socially focused projects and programs.
A testament to ARGO’s successful activity has been its recognition by state structures of Kazakhstan on all levels, as well as by international and foreign organizations working in Kazakhstan.
ARGO is a member of the Advisory Board under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and is also a member of working groups and public councils under the Government and Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan and other government agencies.
ARGO leaders have won national and industry awards, which also contributes to recognition of the Association’s activity.
For the first time in Kazakhstan, ARGO implemented 25 pilot projects under the rubric of “Social Enterprises Development.” ARGO carries out research, expert and analytical activity in the area of civil society development.
In recent years ARGO has participated in and organized the following activities
- ARGO is one of the leaders of the global “Innovation for Change” initiative. In 2015-16 activities involving creation of a regional hub for civil society and innovation laboratories were organized, as well as other events with the involvement of Central Asian countries, Afghanistan and Mongolia.
- The International Network “Program Evaluation” Conference (uniting more than 500 member experts in evaluation from CIS countries) was arranged by ARGO in 2005 and in 2012 jointly with the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
- Participation in an International conference “Role of NGOs in Civil Society Development in Kazakhstan.” ARGO’s presentation was titled “Perspectives of the State and NGO Cooperation Development in Kazakhstan”;
- Conference “Role of NGOs in Strengthening the Rule-of-Law State” at Almaty State University;
- Presentation “Trends of Civil Society Development in Kazakhstan” at the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
- Facilitation at the Corporate Social Responsibility Conference in 2009;
- On a regular basis, ARGO organizes bilateral exchange of information and best practices for partner organizations from Central Asian countries, the Caucasus, Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan on social partnership topics, sustainability of nonprofit organizations and other issues;
- Since 2009, ARGO has organized the annual International “Insights into Regional Development” Conference together with KIMEP University. A book based on the conference materials is published annually.
ARGO offers a complete portfolio of training, technical assistance, research and program management services aimed at developing the capacity of communities and community based service providers, including business associations, CSOs, etc.
Our figures
Trained over 2,120 government officials in strategic social partnership;
Led and supported 60 advocacy campaigns on behalf of the civil society sector;
Conducted 53 advocacy trainings for CSO leaders;
Established 50 policy based partnerships with local government bodies;
Initiated 42 issue-based coalitions to address specific policy issues;
Disbursed and monitored over 500 small grants and contracts, totaling $4,000,000 to local CSOs and community organizations in Central Asia;
Designed and conducted research concerning the perceptions of leading CSOs throughout Kazakhstan regarding cooperation between nonprofits and public institutions;
Prepared Kazakhstan’s first national report on NGO development, under a state social contract with the Ministry of Culture and Information
Created and operates the “Interactive Community” platform (www.cso-central.asia), with visitors from more than 120 countries.