DUSHANBE, March 29, 2011, Asia-Plus — The Swiss Confederation signed a Grant Agreement with the Government of Tajikistan on the Tajikistan Water Supply and Sanitation Project, according to the Swiss Cooperation office in Tajikistan.
The agreement on granting financial and technical assistance for the Tajikistan Water Supply and Sanitation Project (TajWSS) was signed between the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Ministry of Finance of Tajikistan in Dushanbe on March 28.
Rural water supply is equally a topical issue for the Government of Tajikistan and international community. And despite notable efforts and financial means spent on ensuring much wider population coverage, there is still much space for policy and institutional consistency in order to ensure sustainability of these technical and financial investments in the long run.
The project seeks to ensure sustainable access to drinking water and sanitation for rural communities in Tajikistan, which would be achieved through promoting change in water management and governance in the country in terms of both policy and practice. By doing so, the project will create new possibilities for enhancing sustainability of supplies and systems, thereby attracting new donors and investors to the sector.
In terms of policy dialogue the project will collaborate with the Ministry of Land Reclamation and Water Resources of Tajikistan via facilitation of an Inter Ministerial Coordination Council to support the drafting of new legal frameworks and institutional arrangements in rural water supply and sanitation governance. Besides, the project will enable setting up a collaborative network of key actors in the Government, public organizations, private sector and donors that will address issues around sustainability of rural water supply and sanitation, and will explore potential solutions through knowledge management and sharing best practices.
The TajWSS project with the total budget of 4.1 million Swiss Francs is implemented by Oxfam GB in Tajikistan, and is scheduled to complete by December 2012.
The project “Tajikistan Water Supply and Sanitation Project” (TajWSS) is funded by the Government of Switzerland through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). SDC is responsible for the overall coordination of development activities and cooperation with Eastern Europe, as well as for the humanitarian aid delivered by the Swiss Confederation. SDC is part of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA).
