20 Years of Partnership with Tajikistan – June 2013

• From emergency response: Initially, the World Bank focused on  post conflict reconstruction projects in the late nineties and provided emergency funding in response to  food insecurity and natural disasters, including protection measures against spring floods that safeguarded thousands vulnerable households.
• To economic and social development: From  2000, investments aimed at restoring productivity-led growth and job creation through  improved education, better access to healthcare and safe drinking water, enhanced land rights, diversification of agriculture in rural areas, and an improved business environment.
• With increasing access to IDA resources:  As a debt-distressed and low-income country, Tajikistan qualifies for International Development Association (IDA) grants.  Financing to Tajikistan doubled from US$ 75 million in fiscal  2009-2011 to US$ 150 million in fiscal  2012-2014.   
• And stronger focus on stimulating private investment. The Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) for 2010–13 was extended to 2014 shifting focus from financial crisis impacts and mitigation to structural reforms that aim for sustainable growth and development. The most important priority will be stimulating private investment through overall private sector development. Others include: (a) ensuring macroeconomic stability and sound public financial management; (b) further increasing productivity in agriculture and efficiency in water use; (c) strengthening the power sector for reliable domestic supply and larger hydropower exports; and (d) increasing access to higher quality social services.   
• The active portfolio of the World Bank in Tajikistan currently consists of 15 projects with net commitments of US$ 271 million. The largest share of the portfolio is in agriculture and rural development (40 percent), followed water and sanitation (15 percent), human development (14 percent), energy (13 percent), the public sector (12 percent) and the private sector (6 percent).
• IFC’s program includes annual technical assistance of approximately US$3 million in improving the investment climate, promoting corporate governance, reforming tax administration, supporting the development of credit bureaus and microfinance transformation processes and improving the business environment for agribusiness.  IFC’s investment portfolio in Tajikistan stands at US$ 24.4 million. The current portfolio is 61% in financial market and 39% in manufacturing, agribusiness, and services. 

World Bank Group Tajikistan Results - Facts in Brief

Improving the educational environment

• Around 9 million textbooks covering 100 key subjects for grades 1–11 delivered between 2002 and 2011, reducing shortages by more than 40 percent.
• Over 100,000 schoolchildren benefited from rehabilitation of 2,600 classrooms in 320 schools and provision of school equipment since 2002.
• Per capita financing rolled out countrywide since 2010, resulting in US$1.5 million in savings for improving schools and learning environments in 2010 only.
• Since 2000, qualification training for over 5,500 teachers provided.

Access to quality drinking water and better sanitation

Improvements in the municipal services have benefitted over 1 million people in Tajikistan. Particularly: 

In 8 secondary towns:

• Water supply and sanitation services were improved in eight towns to connect 100,000 households to water through new and rehabilitated pipes, benefitting about 200,000 people
• Number of people with at least 16 hours of water supply a day almost doubled
• Access to regular solid waste management services has increased from 30% to 80% of the residents

For Dushanbe’s 800,000 residents:

• Better coagulation, sedimentation and disinfection of water has led to near elimination of “brown water” to customer taps, with 76% of surveyed customers reporting satisfaction with the quality

Providing better healthcare services

• Twenty  percent of  Primary Health Care network has been completely renovated
• Over 4,000 healthcare system workers have been provided with training to improve their skills in provision of primary health care services
• Introduction and implementation of partial per capita financing for primary health care in all 42 districts of Sughd and Khatlon regions.
• Distribution of food packages and micro-nutrient supplements to 50,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women during the food and fuel price increases crisis of 2008
• From early 2011 to end-2012, 46,000 children under the age of five and 85,000 pregnant and breast-feeding women in Khatlon received micro-nutrient supplements, and 40,000 breast-feeding women received vitamin A.

Protecting the poorest households

• The World Bank and European Union supported the Government of Tajikistan piloting a consolidated social assistance benefit to the poorest 20 % of the population.
• A study found that the pilot was more than twice as effective in identifying poor households than the standard government social assistance programs. The World Bank continues to support the government in expanding the pilot from two  to an additional eight districts in 2013.
  

Empowering rural households and improving food security

• Over 132,000 people have been trained in land use rights and farmland restructuring.
• Over 44,000 land-use certificates issued to individual and family farms from 2006 to 2012, increasing incentives for investment in land.
• Improved irrigation access to 45,000 hectares of land through rehabilitation of canals, pump stations, and drainage wells, with 74% of farmers reporting an increase in crop yields in 2011.
• As part of food emergency interventions 150,000 households have been assisted in increasing their domestic food production and reduce livestock loss.
• New legislation improving conditions for agricultural leasing adopted, which along with training for microfinance organizations is improving access to agriculture equipment for rural farms

Improving the environment for private investment

• Amendments to the Tax Code to simplify filing for small and medium enterprises.
• Amendments to the Custom Code to reduce number of documents required for trade
• Amendments to insolvency law were enacted to reduce statutory requirements in insolvency proceedings.
• Simplified the process of obtaining construction permits which led to reduction in fees and number of days and procedures from 334 days to 228 days.
• 85 percent of number of business permits reduced (609 down to 85), which has the potential to help the private sector save around $18 million annually.
• The Law on Business Registration amended to simplify the process of starting a business, and as a result days that it takes to start a business were reduced from 62 days to 24 days.
• Establishment of one stop shops for business registration, enabling entrepreneurs to receive information, forms, and other services needed to start a business; work continuing to improve implementation. 
• New Public Private Partnership law adopted to promote greater investment in infrastructure and social services.
• New Banking Law, Central Bank Law and bank regulations adopted to strengthen governance in the banking sector and to enhance the central bank’s independence.

Supporting transparency and better management of public resources:

• A new salary grid for all central government employees introduced in 2012 budget, aimed at improving the transparency of pay in the civil services, while increasing salary levels for junior professional staff, where attraction and retention had been most problematic.
• Single Treasury Account has been established at the republican level and will be extended nationwide, so that state resources are managed  and monitored properly.
• An independent external audit body has been established in the Government to improve performance management of budget funds.
• Improved capacity of Parliament to participate in budget negotiations and budget execution activities through the creation of the Parliament Secretariat.

Improving the policy environment for development

• By 2012, the Programmatic Development Policy Grant series helped protect social expenditures, liberalize land use rights, allow farmers to farm crops other than cotton, triple air flights to improve connectivity, introduce competitive civil service recruitment, and standardize civil service wages.

Ensuring efficiency and self-sustainability of the energy sector

• Between 2009 and 2011, IDA emergency funds helped ensure a sustained energy supply to Dushanbe in critical winter months, increasing the availability of power by 730 million kilowatt hours and heat energy by 14,755 Gigacalories.
• 167,800 installed electricity meters enabled increase in billing by 50 percent.
• State owned enterprises in the energy sector are moving towards greater transparency and efficiency through implementation of financial management programs.
• Bank-managed study demonstrated economic viability of the CASA 1000 Project on export of summer excess power to Afghanistan and Pakistan that is currently under preparation.
• An energy efficiency audit of the TALCO aluminum plant, which accounts for 40% of the country’s electricity consumption, shows that the plant can save up to 20% of energy through efficiency measures.
• Feasibility studies for the rehabilitation, safety, and sedimentation management of the Nurek Hydro Power Plant is underway.

“Pamir Energy” Project Results (an IFC and Bank project co-financed by AKFED and supported by the Government of Switzerland):

• 74% of residents of Badakhshan enjoy 24 hours of electricity a day, year-round.
• Energy losses reduced from 39% to 15%.
• Employment opportunities for over 600 local residents and 200 seasonal jobs annually.
• Impact of tariff increases reduced by subsidies – a lifeline support for poorest consumers.
• Energy being exported across the border to Afghanistan, supporting homes, businesses, and a local hospital.

Governance and anti-corruption

• A nationwide survey on access to and quality of basic public services completed through citizen feedback.
• Over 100 local NGOs participated in training on monitoring and evaluation of World Bank-financed projects.
• Country Governance and Anticorruption Framework mainstreams governance across the World Bank’s portfolio in Tajikistan.
• IFC is advising the Government of Tajikistan on the nation’s first internationally competitive tender for a mineral deposit

Better management of natural resources

• A government coordination mechanism established in August 2011 to facilitate implementation of climate change adaptation initiatives.
• Small grants enabled farmer groups to plant more than 1.3 million trees on their land covering a total area of ​​approximately 3,000 hectares.
• In 2011–12, severe winter weather raised the risk of higher-than-average spring floods. Emergency funding was allocated for river bank reinforcement. An estimated 1,000 households were spared as a result.
• Tajikistan is a recipient of the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience of the Strategic Climate Fund (PPCR), which in Tajikistan is supported by the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the Asian Development Bank. PPCR and Global Environment Facility Trust Fund help communities adopt sustainable land management practices and increase their resilience to climate change.