Eng - UNDP in Tajikistan

DEVELOPMENT PARTNER PROFILE
the agricultural projects has been new private smallholders emerging from the conversion of the state enterprises. Supporting land reform,
which only started after the peace treaty, with training measures and legal advice for farmers has developed into a further focal area. In 2005
with the creation of MLF “Haqiq” cash micro-credits began to support beneficiaries in RRS in the field of cattle and poultry breeding,
beekeeping, agriculture, and food processing.
From 1998, free-of-charge distribution of food was steadily reduced until it was terminated in 2004. At the same time, community-supported
resource management projects were launched. Based on target-group initiatives, the running of rehabilitation projects was supported via
Food-for-Work (FfW) measures. Food for Work schemes were also terminated in 2004, paying a growing attention to project contributions
provided by the target group. In the last recent years, the rehabilitation projects have been combined with projects for the development and
support of income-generating measures, especially designed for women, as well as disaster prevention approaches.
Although consequently following the concept of Linking Relief, Rehabilitation and Development (LRRD), the areas of emergency and
disaster prevention continue to remain important for the work of Welthungerhilfe in Tajikistan. Owing to the particular vulnerability of
Tajikistan’s mountain regions to natural disasters, it is necessary to swiftly and flexibly respond to emergency situations. For example, in the
2000/2001 project period, prompted by the devastating impact of the drought, free distribution of food was once again stepped up. Following
the heavy rains in July 2004, which resulted in the collapse of Dushanbe’s drinking-water supply, 10,000 people were provided with clean
drinking water in Tajikistan’s capital via the employment of the Welthungerhilfe's drinking-water purification plant. In July 2007
Welthungerhilfe react with the rehabilitation of drinking water systems and bridges to the earthquake in Rasht Valley.
Future Programming Direction
In co-ordination with the development targets of the international community and the Republic of Tajikistan, Deutsche Welthungerhilfe e.V.
is going to make a contribution with its projects to poverty reduction and the improvement of the Tajik population’s living conditions in the
future.
The aim of Welthungerhilfe's activities over the next few years is to support rural communities in effectively using their resources to obtain
increases in income and sustainably secure their livelihoods. Here, Welthungerhilfe builds on experience gathered with activities in Tajikistan
over the last ten years and is developing the project priorities further towards an interlinking concept. At the centre of this concept stands the
work at local level with a focus on resource management, with the latter comprising both natural resources, infrastructure, and human capital.
The content prioritised for work over the next few years is based on the wide range of experiences and acquired core competencies:
• agriculture and food security;
• resource management and disaster prevention;
• promoting income-generating measures, processing and marketing.
One of Welthungerhilfe’s core competencies in Tajikistan is in the sector of agriculture. Welthungerhilfe is supporting the setting up of
private farm enterprises that have emerged from the land reform over the last few years. Key activities here are providing seed and animals as
well as machines, fertiliser and irrigation infrastructure. Promoting knowledge and abilities via extension services, training measures and the
establishment of organisational structures as well as supporting land reform are further important areas of activity that are also going to play a
crucial role over the next few years.
The conservation and sustainable management of natural resources is a further area of crucial importance to Tajikistan’s rural population.
Owing to the difficult environmental conditions and the increasing usage of natural resources caused by poverty following the collapse of the
Soviet Union, the situation in this area is going to become further aggravated. In the rural areas of Tajikistan, importance is above all attached
to erosion protection and control, sustainable management of pasture land, effective management of existing water resources and measures to
improve the use of existing energy reserves including measures to economise energy consumption.
Disaster prevention is also going to be addressed in future programme planning. The situation regarding the sustainable use of natural
resources, which is conditioned by the landscape and is becoming increasingly aggravated, makes it necessary for the local population to learn
strategies to cope with natural disasters. Preparing the local population for disaster events and safeguarding them from these events, also by
working out crisis response plans and setting up early warning systems, as well as reducing the hazard potential are at the forefront of efforts
in this respect.
Reviving the economy and creating better access for the rural population to monetary income is an area that can contribute to improving
living conditions in rural areas. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the ensuing civil war, the money economy above all came to
an almost complete standstill in the mountainous regions of Tajikistan. The award of micro-credits, informal vocational education, enhancing
the quality and quantity of agricultural products, and the establishment of marketing chains provide significant impulses for the rehabilitation
of functioning economic cycles in these regions.
Owing to exposure to natural disasters and the continuing tense security situation in the entire region, swift and flexible response to
emergency situations is going to stay a necessity. However, giving that no major disasters occur, a medium-term goal is to withdraw from
emergency relief altogether and increasingly offer local authorities and other international organisations effective support in the event of
disasters.
From a methodical angle, it is above all community development and here, in particular, promoting local organisational structures and
capacity building, that plays a key role. The sustainability of projects is to be attained by supporting workable structures both at the level of
the direct target group and at institutional and NGO level. Close co-operation with and the promotion of already existing structures is a
desirable goal in this context.
Welthungerhilfe is relying on the sustainable development of existing human resources as the key instrument of implementation. In future,
project planning and implementation is going to be carried out in even closer co-operation with local organisational structures. In addition to
mobilising the human resources of the direct target groups of the projects, promotion of project implementing agencies is being stepped up in
the area of national NGOs and institutions (community, district departments, representations of ministries).
Welthungerhilfe’s regional priorities have been in the northern province of Sughd, which also comprises the Zeravshan Valley, as well as the
central province with a focal point in the Karategin area (Rasht Valley). On the basis of confidence developed on the part of the population
and local expertise acquired in this context, Welthungerhilfe will continue its work in these regions in the future. In addition, with the
commencement of projects in Baljuvan, engagement is going to be extended to the province of Khatlon. Topics such as energy efficiency and
the associated environmental, agricultural and health problems as well as compensating for the continuing labour migration to the country’s
North and to Russia are going to form priority areas of activity in Khatlon.
Source: Aid Coordination and Project Monitoring System Database
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