Project area. The project will be implemented in five districts in the eastern part of the Khatlon Region, which has the highest incidence of rural poverty in the country.

Target group. The target group will comprise poor rural families in the selected project districts. A gender-oriented strategy will cut across all component activities, and it is anticipated that approximately 50 per cent of beneficiaries will be women.

Project objectives. The overall development goal of the project will be to contribute to rural poverty reduction. Its immediate objective is to improve the livelihoods of the poor in the project area by providing demand-based services to enhance agricultural productivity, processing, marketing and essential village infrastructure.

Project description. In addition to project management, the project will have two components:

• Institutional support. The component will finance a process of social mobilization and capacity-building. The target group will form common interest groups and will receive training. Project partners involved in delivery of project services will also be provided with capacity-building support.

• Agricultural development. This component will assist farmers in increasing agricultural productivity, with an emphasis on introducing pro-poor technologies for crop and livestock development, and land improvement. The component will also set up a village development fund to provide grants to project groups for seed capital to help boost agricultural production. Grants will also be provided to support the improvement of village infrastructure, both social infrastructure - such as water supply, access roads and bridges - and productive infrastructure - irrigation systems (repair or upgrading), livestock yards, small processing units and any other investments that boost the productivity and profitability of agriculture.

Important features. Tajikistan is the poorest country in Central Asia. Up to now, IFAD has had no IFAD operations in the country. This proposed first grant-funded project is guided by the subregional strategic opportunities paper for Central Asian Countries, prepared in 2005. The project has been included in the Government's Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper for 2007-2009. The project design seeks to learn from and build upon tried and tested approaches to community mobilization in Tajikistan.

Potential cofinanciers and domestic contribution. No cofinanciers are expected. The Government is expected to cover 10 per cent of the total project cost and the community will make a contribution to the village development fund.

---

Photo caption 1: IFAD photo by Nigel Brett - Project area landscape, Muminabad District, Khatlon Region.

Photo caption 2: IFAD photo by Nigel Brett - Local villagers in Muminabad District collect firewood.

Facts and figures Region: Asia and the Pacific Project ID number: 1408 Nature of project: Rural development Project cost (provisional): US$12.3 million Estimated IFAD grant: To be determined Cofinancing gap: None Domestic contribution: To be determined Proposed terms: Grant Stage of project cycle: Detailed design completed Next step in project development: Completion of detailed design scheduled for April 2008. Country meeting scheduled on 18 April 2008. Tentative date for consideration by the Executive Board: September/December 2008 Project duration: Sixyears Tentative project start-up date: January 2009 Implementing agency: State Agency for Land Management, Geodesy and Cartography Borrower: Republic of Tajikistan Hot links Planned project activities disclaimer Contact information Mr T. Elhaut Director, Asia and the Pacific Division Mr N. Brett Country Programme Manager e-mail: n.brett@ifad.org International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Via Paolo di Dono, 44, 00142 Rome, Italy Tel: + 39 0654591 e-mail: ifad@ifad.org