Under “Community-based Agricultural Support Project” the annual meetings of the Village Organizations have been conducted

Community-based Agricultural Support Project is being implemented with the support of the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in order to improve living standards of population in Rasht, Tojikobod, Devashtich, Shahriston, Jaihun, Dusti districts and Norak city.

Based on CASP requirements, annual meetings will be held in the targeted districts with participants VOs Chairmen and representatives of the executive body of the state local authority and targeted rural communities.

In January and February of the current year, such meetings were held in all targeted cities and districts to summarize activities in 2021. It should be noted that with CASP support, many successes have been achieved in VO activities. Infrastructure subprojects implementation, access to agricultural machinery and support for group activities have significantly changed VO position and prestige in the community. Annual meetings are conducted at a high level, attended by VO chairpersons and representatives of the executive body of the state local authority and targeted rural communities.

Despite the cold weather, VO chairmen attended the meetings. Meetings conducted according to developed agenda, and PMU consultants, representatives of district governments and individual chairmen of bodies delivered speeches.

Regardless of meeting agenda, there were many issues that were discussed and considered at all meetings. The community contributions collection was one such issue that was relevant to many authorities. The results showed that in some districts this issue has been resolved without any problems, for example, in Rasht district targeted VOs have fully collected population contribution.

A similarly serious issue is the effective use of available techniques. Some VOs have tried to make effective use of available machinery, use received income to welfare villages and implement small projects. In his speech, Chairman Kapali VO of Tojikobod district informed that he was able construct two additional classrooms in the village school and provide them with desks and chairs from use of equipment. However, the situation is not the same in all VOs. In order to improve VO activity, targeted and efficiency use machinery were given useful advices.

It should be noted that VO also conducted annual meetings with VO members as part of its activities.  

Meetings participants expressed their sincere gratitude for the support of the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan and the IFAD, considered timely CASP implementation in the targeted villages. 

Gender and Youth Policy Consultant                      Naimov N.