DUSHANBE, December 5, 2008, Asia-Plus — Miss Kim Gould, Deputy Head of Mission of the British Embassy in Dushanbe, visited Khujand on December 4, press release issued by the UK Embassy in Dushanbe said.
The main purpose of the visit was for the British diplomat to meet representatives of four media organizations in the Sughd province whose projects are being funded by the British Embassy’s Bilateral Program Budget. All four projects aim to help the mass media to focus on the contribution that political parties make to society both in the Sughd region and in Tajikistan as a whole.
The UK Embassy is working with those media organizations to provide a platform from which the media and political parties can continue to engage the Tajik population in important issues and progress in civil society with the next parliamentary elections due in 2010.
The projects supported by the British Embassy are:
– A series of articles by the independent newspaper “Varoroud” on the work of political parties in Tajikistan, which will raise public awareness of political parties’ activities;
– Research into the social and political environment in Tajikistan together with some analytical articles published by the information agency of “Varoroud” that will help extend knowledge and awareness of the democratic process in Tajikistan;
– A series of television programs about the role and work of political parties in Tajikistan produced by TV “Ustrushana” of Istaravshan town which will promote awareness of the legal role and community work of political parties in the Sughd province;
– A program of training and round table meetings organized and implemented by a local NGO, “Fourth Power”, which is designed to raise the professional skills of officials and spokesmen of political parties in North Tajikistan, specifically in their work with the media and public organizations.
All the above mentioned projects have been selected as a result of open competition for mass media in the Sughd region that the British Embassy held in June 2008. The four projects above were selected as the winners of this competition from the 10 applications received by the British Embassy. The total funding for all four projects is approximately 14,000 US Dollars. The funds for these projects come from the British Embassy”s Bilateral Program Budget which provides funding to small scale projects that support the British Embassy’s objectives. In the current financial year, these objectives are: the strengthening of democracy and civil society; good governance; human rights; law enforcement; and freedom of the press. These objectives are set at the beginning of each financial year and the BPB projects reflect this.
