From October 2025 to March 2026, FSVC implemented Phase I of the CLEAR Central Asia program in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and the Kyrgyz Republic, with funding from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), to strengthen extractive sector governance and promote compliance with the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).
The program provided technical assistance, training, and peer learning to EITI National Councils, multi-stakeholder groups (MSGs), civil society organizations, journalists, and private sector actors. The program focused on three key objectives:
Objective 1: Strengthen EITI compliance and integrate extractive governance into broader legal and policy frameworks.
Objective 2: Improve stakeholder engagement in extractive regions.
Objective 3: Foster peer learning and regional collaboration among EITI actors.
Program Impact
FSVC’s program built important foundations for more transparent, accountable, and inclusive extractive sector governance across all three countries, while establishing the first structured regional learning platform connecting EITI stakeholders across Central Asia. Key program results include:
- Political economy, gap analysis, and EITI Validation assessments completed for all three countries, containing 56 actionable recommendations to guide reform ahead of the 2027 EITI Validations;
- 8 public-private roundtables convened, including in the mining regions of Ust-Kamenogorsk (Kazakhstan) and Panjakent (Tajikistan), reaching stakeholders rarely targeted by capacity-building initiatives;
- 250+ individuals trained across government, civil society, media, and the private sector, with 92% of participants on average reporting improved understanding of EITI standards;
- 48 concrete follow-up actions documented from trained CSOs, journalists, and private sector actors, including environmental complaints filed against extractive companies in Kazakhstan and CSO commitments to resume community-level transparency monitoring in Tajikistan;
- Six practical roadmaps delivered to Kazakhstan and Tajikistan on multi-stakeholder group revitalization, beneficial ownership transparency, contract transparency, and state-owned enterprise transparency;
- An 18-template EITI Communications and Stakeholder Engagement Toolkit developed in English and Russian, with country-specific stakeholder mapping documents and ready-to-use sample communications products; and,
- The launch of the Central Asia EITI Learning Network and the CLEAR Regional Roundtable in Yerevan, Armenia (April 2026), bringing together 34 participants from six countries and the EITI International Secretariat for peer exchange on extractive sector governance.