Women's Empowerment & Socioeconomic Development

Located in an area of severe poverty and a potential flashpoint for conflict, the Women's Empowerment & Socioeconomic Development (WESED) Project improved the livelihoods of women heads-of-households (e.g. the primary earners in their households) through community mobilization, jobs skills and business training and access to credit.

Counterpart International (Counterpart) mobilized the local community to start a women's association to address the community's social and economic needs, providing extensive technical assistance and mentoring in association development, social enterprise creation and provision of credit services.

Through the initiative of the women's association, a women's center was opened to provide members with daycare, health education, discussions on conflict resolution, fundraising information and organizational development training. The women's association established with Counterpart's assistance, grew to a $15,000 loan portfolio that disbursed credit to 78 women small-scale retail and agribusiness owners at a 100% repayment rate. The association's loan fund is the only functioning credit institution in the community today.

The project also facilitated employment opportunities for more than 150 women while employing an additional 36 in four social enterprises operated by the association. Revenues generated by the social enterprise support the on-going operations of the women's center. 

Construction of New Bathhouse at Tajik Boarding School

In Fall of 2007, the bathroom renovation at the Vakhsh District Boarding School in the Khatlon region of Tajikistan was announced complete, with an official ribbon cutting ceremony to commemorate this special occasion. The US Ambassador to Tajikistan, Tracey Jacobson, and the US Department of State Director of Humanitarian Programs, Gerald Oberndorfer, were on site to cut the ribbon.

The bathhouse renovation was implemented by Counterpart's Community and Humanitarian Assistance Program (CHAP) in Tajikistan in close cooperation with the US Department of State (EUR/ACE) and Physicians with Heart, a partnership of the American Academy of Family Physicians and American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation, and Heart to Heart International, in the framework of Counterpart's Small Reconstruction Project initiative.

The project helped resolve one of the most urgent problems of the boarding school by creating a bathing facility where 280 students and 30 school staff will have access to hot water and showers. In addition to the reconstruction project, Physicians with Heart, through its Children's Project and in cooperation with in-country partners, Project Hope International and the non-governmental organization Munis, based in Gissar, donated bunk beds and a washing machine to the school and provided all boarding school students with mattresses, pillows, quilts, clothing, hygiene and sanitation items and a one-year's-worth supply of multivitamins.

The school provides education for 280 children from socially vulnerable families, while 200 are also residents as they both study and live there. The school's bathroom and most of its facilities had not been renovated since the Soviet time and did not function. Several years ago, with the help of the international community, a small, unheated warehouse was adapted as a temporary changing room. Children bathed in an iron tank adjacent to the warehouse. Finally, the warehouse was demolished to create a new, sound structure and a decent bathing facility was constructed.

Gissar District: Reconstruction of Gravity Potable Water System

The main object of this project was to give the 3,000 residents of the Gissar District in Tajikistan improved access to potable water, thus reducing instances of dehydration and water-born infections within the population. This project was made possible through the funding and partnership of the US State Department under its "Small Reconstruction Projects" initiative.

The Kushkaki Murgon and Karahoni Villages are both located in the Gissar district of Tajikistan, at an altitude of 1,250 meters above sea level. Together, the villages are home to approximately 3,000 residents. Prior to Counterpart's work in the region, acquisition of clean water was a major concern for the villages' families. Many were forced to travel 6,500 meters to the closest fresh water spring or dig extremely deep wells that were causing gradual deforestation of the area. Recently, it became clear that a better solution to the water supply problem would be necessary.

A construction team composed of Counterpart staff and local workers initiated work on the project in May of 2007. They began by installing a new 30-ton steel water reservoir with valves in close proximity to Kushkaki Murgon and Karahoni. Then, the team dug large trenches connecting the reservoir to various distribution points in the villages. Finally, workers installed a new pipe system to conveniently carry water to the distribution points.

As a result of Counterpart's work in the Gissar District, the region's residents now have easy access to fresh, clean water. This new convenience has vastly improved living conditions in the towns of Kushkaki Murgon and Karahoni, and has led to a healthier and happier population.

Title II Development Assistance Program

Counterpart's Food Security projects reduce the incidence of chronic food insecurity that exists at the household and community levels throughout the select region. By using monetization proceeds and making smart partnerships with local, community based organizations, we are able to make the greatest impact on the most vulnerable households.

Counterpart's program in Tajikistan concentrated on two of the most serious symptoms of food insecurity—maternal and child health and sustainable agricultural development.

Taking a holistic approach to health programming, Counterpart integrated a number of important concepts: linking maternal and child health care practices, forming good hygiene habits, promoting nutritious foods in a diverse diet and providing essential micronutrient supplements and de-worming pills. Agricultural programs aimed to improve farmers' access to quality seed, fertilizer and farming tools.

Additional food security projects in Tajikistan included the construction of household storage facilities to safeguard grains and excess farm produce, and the use of simple canning and jarring techniques to preserve produce long term. Among commercial farmers Counterpart's work focused on the development of a Market Information System in tandem with business oriented trainings in management, marketing and development and the creation of producer associations

The results of Counterpart's program in the Khatlon region indicate positive, far-reaching effects on levels of food security among participating households. An increase in food production with additional improvements in quality and variety of available crops along with the integration of storage facilities and safe food processing techniques have led to multiple benefits including a dramatic decline in the incidence of chronic diarrhea, lower rates of malnutrition among households and improved dietary practices.