DUSHANBE, April 22, 2009, Asia-Plus — Representatives of the European Commission, local authorities and NGOs have gathered for the opening ceremony of CESVI Women’s Development Center in Metar Village, Spitamen District – Sughd Province, in the frame of the EU-funded project “Poverty Alleviation Through the Improvement of Socio-Economic Conditions in the Sughd Region,” press release issued by the European Commission Delegation in Tajikistan today said.
Since July 2008, EU had financed two projects in Tajikistan implemented by Cesvi in Khatlon and Sughd Region, aiming at supporting the rural population with a particular attention to local women’s needs. The Women’s Development Center in Metar is one of Cesvi WDCs in Tajikistan (one is Kalaidust village in Ghonchi district and another will be opened soon in Khovaling district).
Through the EU funded projects CESVI is trying to enhance women socio-economic conditions by establishing sustainable Centers in which local women are permitted to have access to special trainings mostly concerning income-generation activities and to the required equipment to perform those activities. In Sughd province more than one hundred women are successfully practicing activities such as: hair cutting, wool processing, carpet production, sewing, embroidery, bakery, salad preparation and so on.
Women involved in WDC’s activities are expected to get familiar with the local business sector in which they should be able to find their own way in order to strengthen their social role and increase their family’s income in the long term. By empowering local women the project is devoted to contribute to eliminate gender inequality and to promote social justice.
The new EU Strategy for Central Asia aims to strengthen ties between the European Union and its Central Asian partners. It has doubled European Commission assistance to the region to €750 million for 2007-2013. Tajikistan gets the main share of bilateral assistance (€66 million for 2007-2010) in support to sector programs, technical assistance and grants. It focuses on social protection, health and private sector development, underpinned by public finance management. Projects aimed at enhancing living standards continue. Tajikistan also receives regional and thematic assistance in areas like border management and drug control (BOMCA/CADAP), education (TEMPUS, Erasmus Mundus), water / environment, human rights and democracy (EIDHR), non-State actors (NSA) and SME development (CA-Invest). The total value of EC assistance disbursed to Tajikistan since 1992 is over €500 million.
