The International Financial Institutions (IFIs) have made major investments in the countries of the Caucasus, Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Since 1995, BIC’s Europe and Central Asia (ECA) Program worked to improve the lending policies of IFIs in the region and to ensure that the projects they financed served the interests of local populations.
BIC's ECA Program empasized measures to improve the transparency of revenues and investment contracts in extractive industries financed by the IFIs and to minimize the adverse environmental and social consequences of such projects. A major focus of the ECA Program’s work in the region was building capacity among local civil society organizations to participate more fully in decision making on IFI activities.
The project aimed to strengthen the capacity of civil society groups in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in understanding and influencing the World Bank and other IFIs involvement in their countries, including technical assistance, policy advice and project lending with focus on the hydroelectric sector. At this time, BIC is seeking funds in order to continue our work in this region.