| Askar Mambetaliev was the leading national consultant for the project. He was responsible for the overall development of the report and authored the initial draft. Frank van Cappelle (UNICEF) was the principal author and editor of the report.
The production of this report could not have been accomplished without the generous support of many experts from national and international organizations, who collaborated in editing the sections and provided ongoing consultation and advice. The research team extends special thanks to Erin Tanner (UNICEF CEE/CIS Regional Office) and Alvard Poghosyan (UNICEF Kyrgyzstan) for their reviews and contributions throughout the writing of the report. A working group comprising of leading specialists from national institutions and non-governmenta organizations provided administrative data for analysis. Valuable consultations and insights also were provided by Almaz Tajybai (member of the Monitoring Council of the MoES), Damira Kudaibergenova (Head of the Department for pre-school, basic and extracurricular education of MoES), Nadejda Borovikova (Director of the Children’s Media Center in Bishkek), Gulshan Abdyldaeva (MoES), Kulipa Koichumanova (National Statistical Committee), Venera Ykysheva (Ministry of Social Affairs) and Rashid Shakirov (USAID). We are also grateful for the comments and support from Chynara Kumenova, Gulsana Turusbekova and Elena Zaichenko (UNICEF Kyrgyzstan); Kirsi Madi, Philippe Testot-Ferry, Deepa Grover, AnnaClaire Luzot, Elena Gaia and Paula Hunt (UNICEF CEE/CIS Regional Office); and Dina Craissati (UNICEF Headquarters).We express our gratitude for the technical assistance from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), particularly on the statistical analysis, including Albert Motivans, Friedrich Huebler and Sheena Bell (UIS Montreal), and Simon Ellis, Nyi Nyi Thaung and Aurélie Acoca (UIS Bangkok). Special thanks to Friedrich Huebler and Sheena Bell (UIS Montreal), and Aurélie Acoca (UIS Bangkok) for reviewing the draft of the report. Statistical data tables on out-of-school children were prepared by consultant Mansur Mirzoev with support from UIS and Frank van Cappelle (UNICEF). We also appreciate the support of Understanding Children’s Work (UCW) in carrying out the data analysis on working children, and the support of the Innocenti Research Center (IRC) for their mapping of the national social protection system.
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