Short to medium term donor support for free social services. If countries cannot finance free essential health and education services in the short to medium term, donor assistance should focus on budgetary support. This may well mean greater coherence and rationalisation of technical assistance, rather than each donor providing their own consultants on similar issues. Reform policies need to be widely discussed rather than pushed through without adequate public debate. Debt relief should be explored.
Many transition countries e.g. Kyrgyzstan are highly indebted and poor.
However, they have mostly been ignored by debt relief campaigns. Debt relief should urgently be explored as a mechanism for social services financing in poor transition economies.