The project supports Kyrgyzstan's digital transformation program 2019-2023 and contributes to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) No. 9 "Building a resilient infrastructure and promoting innovation and equitable, responsible and sustainable industrialization". The goal is to develop the ability of national authorities to govern and participate in e-government by promoting transparency and accountability.

The project is implemented as a European twinning between the Kyrgyz Republic and a consortium of EU member states: Estonia, Finland, and Italy. It involves data privacy, cybersecurity, e-governance, digitalisation, communication, web design and online learning experts from Italy, Finland and Estonia, who support the Data Protection Agency in organizing information and educational campaigns and raising awareness about digital security. Target groups of the project are government organizations and officials, the urban and rural population and young people.

The twinning project, which CSI carries out together with eGA and HAUS Institute of Public Management, pursues the following priorities:

• decrease in the digital skills gap
• development and implementation of public e-government services
• improvement of government capabilities in personal data protection and increase of citizens' awareness of privacy and data protection
• strengthening of knowledge and skills in the field of cybersecurity

It has four components:

1. development of digital skills
2. improvement of access to public services
3. improvement of citizens' privacy and data protection
4. improvement of cybersecurity and resilience

CSI Piemonte coordinates the Component 3 - “Improvement of citizens' privacy and data protection”. By presenting and introducing the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and its fundamental principles, the project team shares the EU experience in creating a Personal Data Protection Agency and in defining the online public awareness platform and data protection, privacy and citizens' rights. Online and on-site courses are organized on these topics.

This is the first Twinning project (European government/ministerial level project) between Italy and the Kyrgyz Republic and is also the first bilateral cooperation project in the form of peer-to-peer cooperation between EU Member States and the countries of the Central Asian region.

Partner: lead partner e-Governance Academy (Estonia), HAUS Institute of Public Management (Finland), CSI Piemonte (Italy)