The UN and UNDP in Brussels

Feature Story :EU, UNDP promote social inclusion and income generation in Tajikistan

(Photo UNDP Tajikistan / A sewing workshop in Chorku Jamoat )

An innovative 18-month project in the Soughd region of Tajikistan saw the EU and UNDP working together to tackle social exclusion and enable marginalised groups to set up income-generating activities. Almost 84,000 people, over 50% of whom were women, benefited from the project, which was supported by a 400,000 euro grant from the European Commission and ran from July 2006 to the end of 2007.

Local authorities in the two target districts, Isfara and Bobojon Gafurov, were involved in the project, whose overall objective was to contribute to the Tajik government’s efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 through innovative economic development and poverty reduction schemes. On the one hand, activities focused on helping specific target groups and small or medium-scale employers to enter the labour market or expand their businesses, while a parallel set of initiatives focused on improving agricultural productivity and mobilising remittances to improve local infrastructure. Under the first set of activities, marginalised groups such as single mothers, former drug addicts and unemployed youth attended vocational training workshops on welding, hairdressing, carpentry, blacksmithing and cooking, while small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were provided with business advisory services. Local ‘jamoats’, or self-governing community bodies, provided office space for business and legal consultation services to be set up. Would-be entrepreneurs in the area are receiving increasing amounts of remittances from Tajik migrants, most of whom live and work in the Russian Federation, but lack the legal know-how to set up and run a business. Over 1,500 people benefited from the consultation services, with almost 30% - including over 100 women - subsequently enlarging their businesses or starting up new ones, mainly in sewing and the export of dry and fresh fruits.

(Photo UNDP Tajikistan /Rehabilitating the drinking water supply system in Surkh Jamoat )

Productivity on family farms was boosted through training on animal husbandry and feeding practices and the rehabilitation of existing irrigation systems and the construction of novel low-cost irrigation techniques. Over 80% of existing irrigation systems in the Soughd region were fully or partially non-functional prior to the implementation of the project. Local users were involved in identifying priorities and devising strategies to rehabilitate the irrigation systems through four new Water Users Associations. By the end of the project, 800 hectares of land had improved access to irrigation and more than 4,000 people were trained on water-saving technologies, and, as a result of the new water usage calculations, debts for water services in the Surkh Jamoat were the lowest recorded over the last few years. Demonstration plots were also set up to grow a variety of products ranging from wheat and barley to eggplants, carrots and tomatoes and to help local farmers learn how to use modern farming techniques.

According to World Bank estimates, remittances make up almost 30% of Tajikistan’s GDP, with most of the funds being used for domestic consumption. While this may spur short-term economic growth and alleviate poverty, there is a need to ensure the possibility for those who receive remittances to invest the funds in productive activities. Local Migrant Household Initiative Groups were thus established to identify small-scale infrastructure projects which could be funded by remittances and surveys were carried out to assess migrants’ willingness to contribute to local development. Projects included the construction of gas pipelines, medical points and high voltage power lines, the rehabilitation of drinking water supply systems and of wards in the Kistakuz Jamoat District Hospital and the provision of computers to four schools in Chorku Jamoat. Local jamoats have carried on following up and implementing project activities once the project was over. Skills workshops are still underway and the new and/or rehabilitated irrigation systems are maintained by individual Water Users Associations.