DUSHANBE, December 19, 2008, Asia-plus — The Swiss Cooperation Office in Tajikistan has funded installation of a water pipeline in Khatlon’s Shuroobod district.
According to the SDC Dushanbe Office, the project was implemented in the Chagam jamoat and supported by the Government of Switzerland through its Small Grants Program implemented by the Swiss Cooperation Office in Tajikistan. The project installed a gravity pipeline delivering drinking and ecologically clean water from the spring.
The project was initiated by the local public association, Ranjbar, in light of the severe consequences of the socioeconomic collapse in the country, which resulted, among many other alarming aftermaths, in unavailability and inaccessibility of clean water.
Besides, the situation in this particular jamoat was worsened by natural disasters and continuous precipitations in 1996, which completely deteriorated the water supply pipeline. As a result, women and children, and even the elderly forced to cover long distances in search of a drinking water source had become an everyday occurrence, and the health status of the local population was becoming an issue especially in female-headed families.
The project has become a good example of community mobilization, which had effectively solved the crucial water supply issue on a participatory approach. The outcome of the project is sustainable water provision to around 700 households, improved sanitary and epidemiological situation in the jamoat and schoolchildren saved from heavy work and given more time to spend on school classes instead.
The present project is one of the two hundred small scale projects supported by the Small Grants Program since 2001. Various initiatives supported within this Program include those in the field of gender, human rights, culture, health care, effective management, environment.
