DUSHANBE, November 5, 2014, Asia-Plus – On Tuesday November 4, Russian Ambassador to Tajikistan Igor Lyakin-Frolov and United Nations Resident Coordinator and Resident Representative of UNDP in Tajikistan Alexander Zuev signed here a grant agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and UNDP in Tajikistan to support a three-year initiative, Livelihood Improvement of 1,000,000 Rural Population in 9 Districts of the Republic of Tajikistan.
The Initiative with a total budget of US$ 6.7 million is funded by the Government of the Russian Federation and implemented by UNDP in Tajikistan.
The high-ranked officials from the Tajik Government and representatives of diplomatic missions and development partners also attended the signing ceremony.
According to UNDP CO in Tajikistan, the Initiative aims at addressing local development priorities in nine districts of Sughd and Khatlon provinces and districts subordinate to the center (RRP).
The project will assist the local authorities in the effective planning and monitoring of social and economic development of the target districts through elaboration of new and review of existing District Development Programs and in implementation of about 50 priority initiatives emanating from these Programs. In addition, the project will promote employment and entrepreneurship development. Improving the business environment through creating public-private dialogue platforms at the local level, as well as enhancing the capacity of local authorities and business structures on local economic development issues will be at the focus of the project.
The project will actively contribute to improving people’s access to financial resources to support development of private entrepreneurship, new productions and jobs creation. More than 2,000 microloans will be provided to private sector representatives, entrepreneurs and farmers for developing new business initiatives.
The project will facilitate development of the labor market through rendering support and advancing vocational education at the local level. More than 500 people will have an opportunity to learn new professional skills demanded at the local and external labor markets. Overall, the project will support the livelihood improvement of more than 1 million population of the Republic of Tajikistan.
