DUSHANBE, January 13, 2009, Asia-Plus — The European Union has awarded the Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (ACTED), a Paris-based NGO, a 1,346,000 EUR contract to increase agricultural productivity and improve local governance in the Panj and Konibodom districts of Tajikistan over a 24-month period starting January 2009, according to press release issued by the European Commission Delegation in Tajikistan today.
The new project is called ”Improving the Livelihoods of Vulnerable, Rural Populations in Sughd and Khatlon Oblasts, Tajikistan in a Participatory and Sustainable Way” and is part of the EC program ”Enhancing Individual Incomes and Improving Living Standards in Khatlon and Sughd Regions”.
The new project will enhance capacities of local governance structures to jointly plan and carry out community-driven development initiatives and will improve agricultural livelihoods by promoting farmers’ organizational capacity, access to financial and technical means, and knowledge of farm business management. In total, 90 villages in 11 jamoats of Panj (Khatlon) and Konibodom (Sughd) comprising 207,804 inhabitants will be covered. Rural farming populations as well as representatives of local governance structures are the core beneficiaries. New agricultural interest groups and cooperatives will be created; farmers’ knowledge of best agricultural practices and farm business management will be strengthened.
For this action ACTED will partner with the Advisory Information Network, a Tajik extension service provider, the International NGO ‘Training and Research Centre’ and the Association of Microfinance Organizations of Tajikistan. The total budget of the project is 1,682,638 EUR with 80% contribution from the European Commission.
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.
