DUSHANBE, December 11, 2014, Asia-Plus — The Union of Craftsmen of Tajikistan (UCT) has launched a national insight survey aimed at identifying the priority needs in the handicraft sector.
The European Union Delegation to Tajikistan says the survey, drafted in Russian and Tajik and composed of 41 questions, was administered to a pilot group of fifty artisans at the occasion of the Winter Handicraft Fair & International Day of Persons of Disability, held at the Ismail Center Dushanbe on December 6-7. The questionnaire was reportedly developed by the UCT together with the National Association of Small and Medium Businesses of Tajikistan (NASMB) and Cesvi, under the auspices of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Republic of Tajikistan (MoEDT).
The objective of the study is twofold: on the one hand, it will provide an accurate and up-to-date census of the artisans living and working in Tajikistan. On the other hand, the survey will identify the main needs perceived by the craftsmen and will collect recommendations to improve their working and living conditions, thus facilitating the definition by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of a comprehensive strategy for the development of the sector. The success of this initiative, which is born at the civil society level, is in fact mostly relying on the capacity and willingness of the responsible Government Agencies to ensure proper policy and legislative follow-up to the findings of the analysis.
The on-field campaign will begin in January, when the UCT will start distributing the survey on the national territory, at the same time informing artisans on its rationale and objectives. The first results are due by the first quarter of 2015.
This initiative is realized within the framework of the project, Handicraft and Business through Regional Integration and Fair Trade Market, funded by the European Union under the Central Asia Invest Programme. The project is promoting the development of Tajik and Kyrgyz handicraft SMEs through the reinforcement of sectoral Business Intermediary Organization (BIOs).
The Union of Craftsmen of Tajikistan (UCT) was established in 2012 to bring together Tajik artisans for the purpose of promoting development of their professional skills and improvement of the quality of their production.
