Locations31st January, 13.00-14.00, Conference Hall of the State Committee for Investment and State Property Management of the Republic of Tajikistan
Talking Points by Ms. Pratibha Mehta,
UNDP Resident Representative
Dear Ms. Nigina Anvari, Deputy Chairman of the State Committee on Investment and State Property Management of the Republic of Tajikistan
Your Excellency Mr. Igor Lyakin-Frolov, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Tajikistan
Distinguished Guests, colleagues and friends,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my pleasure the welcome you at the meeting of the Steering Committee for UNDP Project “Youth for Business and Innovations”, funded by the UNDP and Russia Trust Fund for Development. Today our Committee has gathered to review and discuss the progress of this Project in 2019, and to discuss the way forward for 2020.
I would like to welcome here the delegation from Ministry of Economic Development and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and all the project partners and stakeholders.
70% of Tajikistan population is young and under age of 30. Youth development can help Tajikistan to turn the demographic opportunity into a competitive advantage. UNDP is now focusing its support to young men and women as critical stakeholders in almost all its programs as youth centric development will help Tajikistan accelerate progress in SDGs by 2030
Employability of young men and women can immensely contribute in meeting national priorities as well as SDGs. However, the approach to creating jobs and entrepreneurship will need to take into account modern ways to build skills, mentorship, knowledge and innovative financing for business, ability to innovate and learn from best practices.
Taking into account these considerations, our project builds on new technologies as well as voices of youth to explore new economic niches for youth engagement and employment in Tajikistan. The project is implemented in close partnership with the State Investment Committee, national and local government stakeholders and also envisages close collaboration with private sector and civil society organizations.
The project has become a platform for introducing new ways of working such as establishment of Accelerator “Entrepreneur 2030” – a unique collaboration of Tajik and Russian experts and combination of online and offline training and mentoring tools, - attended by more than 300 people and generated about 147 business ideas; StartUp Choikhona, which became a well-known nationwide platform for young entrepreneurs to pitch their ideas to investors which reached 65 young people, resulted in initiation of 5 startups and 11 jobs in 2019; Business Eurasia – a joint partnership with Russian think tank, which reached 75 youth in GBAO – remote region of Tajikistan and helped to elaborate 13 startup ideas. All named platforms and initiatives are the result of collaborative engagement with private sector, startup and venture experts, and local governments.
I should emphasize that we are building synergy between this project and other projects of UNDP addressing youth vulnerabilities – e.g. projects funded by Japan on PVE, Russia-funded project in Zerafshan Valley, LITACA project promoting cross-border cooperation. The synergy of actions allows us to leverage the impact of our efforts aimed also to prevention of violent extremism, promotion of social cohesion among youth from different regions, connecting urban and rural young people, scaling up innovative training and networking schemes.
We base our strategic vision and plans for 2020 on the lessons we gain, but also taking into consideration the emerging issues and risks for the project. Integrated and inclusive approach, close cooperation with partners at national and local level and consecutive monitoring of results are the critical success factor for our initiatives to stay relevant to the needs of young people in Tajikistan.
I would like to express UNDP’s deep appreciation to the Government of Russian Federation, to the Trust Fund for Development for their commitment and support of this project and their valuable contribution to Tajikistan’s development.
I wish us all a productive meeting today.
