Tajikistan

Micro Economic Development & Youth Sports

A Small Enterprise Development program helps Tajiks attain regular income through sustainable small businesses.   Since the beginning of the program in 1991, 521 loans have been distributed. In 2003, 338 full-time and 129 part-time jobs were created through businesses funded by loans. The program was created to raise living standards and reduce poverty by developing capacity among families to create profitable businesses and new jobs. Training in good business practices and onsite consultation, supervision and accountability help clients achieve their business goals. In Tajikistan, the poorest of the former Soviet republics, 67 percent of the population survives below the $2-a-day poverty line, the World Bank reported in 2000.

Because of Abdullo Ravlatov's loans from MRDS, he was able to make enough profit from his bus service to provide for his family of 16. Then with a couple more loans he began two more small businesses and is making profit.

A small fabric business provides enough income not only to support her family but enlarge her business.

Sports

        More than 1,000 13- to 15-year-old girls from villages around Kurgenteppa participated in a village girls volleyball league in 2003, and 1,800 boys participated in the village boys football league.

        Children in Tajikistan have major responsibilities in helping provide for their family. Girls must tend to the home and care for their siblings while boys do odd jobs and even hard labor. So children have few outlets for meaningful social activity. Many children do not get a proper education because their parents cannot afford to send them to school.

        Athletic programs provide a safe, supervised environment for girls and boys to develop their social and physical skills and to succeed irrespective of their social economic background, ethnicity, religious affiliation or place of origin.

        Children also learn values such as teamwork, honesty, discipline, and respect for authority and improve their understanding of children from other schools and backgrounds.

        Millennium organized the leagues, provided training for local teachers, and provided balls, nets and uniforms.

A boys football league helps strengthen team skills and improve social relationships between different schools, ages and cultural backgrounds.

Volleyball develops girls' physical skills in a safe, supervised environment.

Read more about Tajikistan's development projects in our
First Quarter 2004 Newsletter.