Report on housing finance training for Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan

The International City/County Management Association (ICMA), in conjunction with the Kazakhstan International Institute of Banking (KIIB), a USAID-sponsored banker training institute located in Almaty, Kazakhstan, has developed a specialized housing finance training program -- the Advanced Professional Training Program in Real Estate Finance and Investment -- which offers a series of five seminars on the various aspects of real estate finance. The courses are designed to provide finance professionals, educators, and government officials with the analytical and problem-solving skills needed to manage and direct real estate finance activities. This report evaluates the status of the various ICMA housing finance training initiatives. The Advanced Professional Training Program has been well-received in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Eighteen people were registered for the principles course and fifteen for the construction lending course. Most of the participants have enrolled in the entire five seminar program. The participants consisted of senior officials from banks, and government and educators from a professional institute in Almaty. The majority of the participants were from Kazakhstan, but there was a good representation from Kyrgyzstan. The participants were quite knowledgeable and sophisticated, and demonstrated a serious commitment to improving their expertise in the principles and practices of real estate finance. They expressed a need for practical applications of western real estate finance principles to the economic, legal, and institutional circumstances in their countries. The report makes several recommendations for addressing housing finance training needs in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and for improving the administrative aspects of the training program. The potential for housing finance training for Kyrgyzstan and the prospects for developing housing training capabilities at KIIB, the Kazakh State Architecture-Construction Academy, and within individual banks also is discussed. (Author abstract)