Resilience and better living conditions

Access to food and water is a constant problem in poverty-stricken Tajikistan. The reasons for this include the challenging combination of harsh environmental conditions and insufficient public and private support for modern and sustainable agriculture. In the Rasht valley, this means among other things:

• A short agricultural season with one main crop (potatoes) with frequent losses after the harvest, which in turn lead to income losses and limited access to foodstuffs, especially during the long winter season
• Risk of disaster due to natural hazards, exacerbated by anthropogenic land degradation
• an alarming frequency of stunted growth in children
• a lack of coordination between development initiatives and national and district governments

These problems can only be successfully addressed with a balanced multi-stakeholder approach which substantially improves agricultural productivity. It requires integrated planning in water catchment areas and at district level. People’s awareness and their capacity to improve agriculture must be strengthened to ensure nutrition in the long term. The effective use of water and natural resources must be also promoted.

This project aims to achieve inclusive growth based on improved agricultural production processes and the sustainable management of natural resources. It is designed to contribute to resilience to (future) climatic challenges and to an increase in wellbeing (in economic, social, health and ecological terms) in rural communities. The project uses Weather, Water and Climate Services (WWCS) from the Caritas flagship project in Tajikistan (P210033) and promotes the widespread adoption of climate-resistant practices in order to improve access to nutritious food, clean water and resource and energy-efficient solutions in at-risk and poor water catchment areas.

• Flagship project of Caritas in Tajikistan (P210033)

In view of the scarce public resources, this project aims to enable the rural communities to mobilise their own resources and capacities. The activities are largely based on tried-and-tested approaches for improving the rural living conditions in Tajikistan: Diversified agriculture, integrated planning of watersheds and pasture management, inclusion of these themes in the school curriculum and effective water management systems. Civil-society organisations play a central role in the realisation of these goals.

The creation of economic incentives, which arise from the net profits from increased productivity and reduced losses for all required interest groups, is essential for lasting improvements. WWCS, which feed into the decision-making of farmers and district/national governments, can contribute significantly to such economic gains and at the same time drive forward a sustainable management of natural resources. The functioning working relationships with government partners which have been carefully fostered in the last ten years now enable the implementation of the required multi-stakeholder approach.

This project benefits from the wealth of experience of Caritas Switzerland in its cooperation with the rural communities in Tajikistan. Integrated watershed management (WWCS) has been an important approach for more than a decade, which is now to be combined with the «blue schools» concept to improve schoolchildren’s education and at the same time provide better access to nutrition.

WWCS is an innovative systemic approach which improves the productivity of agriculture, pasture and water and at the same time promotes healthy ecosystems. The logic of the circular value chain which is embedded in WWCS supports the long-term sustainability of the project’s advantages. A multi-stakeholder approach which includes the different levels, from the rural area via the district to the national level, is essential for achieving the desired effects.