Modernizing State Support of Nonprofit Service Provision: The Case of Kyrgyzstan

This paper examines a recent effort to reform the laws on outsourcing to nonprofit organizations in the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan. To do so, it first examines Kyrgyzstan’s pattern of outsourcing during the era of Soviet control of the country. It then examines early post-Soviet efforts to establish an effective system of outsourcing to nonprofits and the difficulties that these early efforts encountered. Finally, it looks in more detail at a major effort to reform this system undertaken during 2014 and 2015 and draws some significant lessons for the redesign of contracting and outsourcing provisions that are relevant not only for former Soviet countries but more generally as well.