DUSHANBE, January 20, 2011, Asia-Plus — The 7th Network Meeting of Stakeholder Organizations on Sustainable Water Supply and Sanitation is expected to take place in Dushanbe on January 26.
Ms. Dilafruz Usmanova, communications and reporting officer, Tajikistan Water Supply and Sanitation (TajWSS) Project, established in October 2010, the UNDP TajWSS team is based at the Ministry of Land Reclamation and Water Resources (LRWR) to implement one of components of the Tajikistan Water Supply and Sanitation Project – Policy Development. This includes improvement in the policy environment related to the Water Supply and Sanitation sector that will lead to sustainable management of the sector.
Within the framework of TajWSS Project a Study Tour was organized to the Czech Republic for the Inter-ministerial Coordination Group on water. The visit took 10 governmental officials from Tajikistan to the Czech Republic in order to share experiences and to learn about innovative methods of water supply sector management. Representative from President’s Executive Office Isroil Nasirov, who headed the delegation, will give a presentation of the result and lessons learned from that study tour.
The experience of community management of drinking water supply systems is a new practice for Tajikistan and Bahodur Habibov from the Union of Consumers of Tajikistan will share the legal conclusions on the case of CBO “Ravshan” from the village of Kaftarkhona in Khatlon’s Vose district, where the issue of CBO ownership of drinking water supply systems has been raised and is under consideration.
Khujand Vodocanal (municipal waterworks) has made successful reforms in water system management and its executive director Ibrohim Abdujalilov will present on the challenges faced and ways of bringing such reforms to a national level.
One of the pilot districts of the TajWSS project is Muminobod in Khatlon province. The Muminobod Drinking Water Federation has been working actively there for over a year and Dilrabo Mirzoyeva will make a presentation on the activities, mandate and challenges faced by the Federation.
Nargis Artushevskaya from UNICEF CO in Tajikistan will acquaint the Network Members on WASH activities in schools and will make overview on the recommended draft guidelines, Usmanova said.
The TajWSS Project is implemented by Ofxam under financial support of the Government of Switzerland through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
Oxfam GB is a member of Oxfam International and a company limited by guarantee registered in England. It works with others to overcome poverty and suffering.
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).
