Overview
The tasks are challenging. The needs are great. The annual gross national income per capita in Tajikistan – a small, poor country in a large UNICEF region (Central and Eastern Europe, the Confederation of Independent States and the Baltic States) – was estimated at only $280 in 2004. The per capita gross domestic product in Slovenia, the country with the highest per capita income in the UNICEF region, is almost 60 times that in Tajikistan. The average annual GDP growth rate in Tajikistan between 1990 and 2004 was minus 5.1 per cent. The average annual rate of inflation over the same period was 136 per cent. Between 1993 and 2003, 7 per cent of the population was subsisting on less than $1 a day. Some of these indicators have shown improvement more recently, but the impact of poverty is still significant in terms of the situation of children, and the condition of women and children is especially precarious within the general context of social vulnerability. This is so particularly because the population is young. The median age is slightly more than 19. Close to half the population is under 18. Young people under 18 and women of reproductive age constitute more than two thirds of the population. The access to and the quality of basic services such as health and education are not good. Tajikistan is a landlocked country with an extremely difficult mountainous terrain. Only 7 per cent of the land is arable. Aside from the ravages of the civil war, the country has experienced seven major disasters over the last 10 years, including earthquakes, floods, landslides and droughts. Seventy percent of the population lives in rural areas, many of which are very remote. This has a significant impact on the delivery and viability of basic services. Only 2 per cent of central government expenditure was allocated to health in 1993-2004. The World Health Organization reports that, in 2001, the Government was spending the equivalent of $12 per person on health, the same amount it had been spending in 1998 and among the lowest levels of absolute expenditure in the world. Because of the absence of government support for basic health services, many communities throughout Tajikistan are beginning to take action to address health care problems on their own, and the number of community-based activities has been increasing over the past decade. While these efforts remain fragile and limited in scope, they represent a valuable resource for the country. One fifth of Tajikistan’s schools were destroyed during the civil war that ravaged the country from 1992 to 1997, and many others lack sanitary facilities or heat. In winter, children in too many schools must huddle with their teachers in a central room to stay warm, and the walls are not always intact. Nonetheless, education’s share in total government expenditure was 4 per cent in 1993-2004, and education’s share in GDP is only 2.8 per cent. Low teacher pay and arrears in salaries have induced many teachers to seek jobs elsewhere; there are substantial shortages of textbooks and other materials. Universal at independence in 1991, the literacy rate is still high among both women and men; however, there is a risk that the rate may be falling as school enrolment declines, particularly among girls. Because of the poverty, a million Tajiks are working under generally difficult conditions in neighbouring countries, mainly in Russia. This migration has financial benefits for worker families, but also social costs. The burden on women to keep families together has grown. Some of the children being left behind have been abandoned. Many have been institutionalized. Many more have been obliged to work. Poverty is the main obstacle in the implementation of child rights. Is there hope? There is always hope if committed people become involved in addressing problems. There is always hope as long as dedicated local people come forward who are convinced they can make a difference and who are ready to sacrifice their time and effort to prove this is so. A United Nations mission travelled through the Confederation of Independent States in mid-1992 and drafted a basic situation analysis. One group visited Central Asia and the Caucasus. This group recommended that emergency aid be used to address social sector problems among children and women. The aid was requested from UNICEF and other United Nations agencies, but also from outside donors. UNICEF started its activities in Tajikistan in earnest beginning in 1994. In 1995, the organization established its first country programme of cooperation with the Government. The times were difficult. Civil war was raging. The current UNICEF country programme runs from 2005 to 2009. The focus is on supporting the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Through a cooperative and complementary strategy, priorities are being identified according to needs. The overall aim of the UNICEF country programme in Tajikistan is to strengthen national, community and family capacities to promote, protect and fulfil the rights of all children and to ensure opportunities to meet and sustain their full potential within the troubled economic environment. To achieve this aim, UNICEF supports initiatives in maternal and childcare that aim especially at improving child-care practices, strengthening primary health care and enhancing national policy development in maternal and child health. It also supports efforts to establish quality basic education for all particularly by supporting better school management and better classroom environments and by advocating for participatory approaches to learning that are gender sensitive and child centred. UNICEF provides assistance for initiatives focusing on young people’s health and participation more generally by strengthening its collaboration with the Government, the media and local non-governmental networks, especially young people’s non-governmental organizations, in order to promote child rights and young people’s participation. Finally, UNICEF also undertakes efforts to promote social policy reform and child protection.
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