Tajikistan
Save the Children has worked in Central Asia since 1994, when it entered Tajikistan to provide humanitarian assistance to victims of the country's civil war. In 2003, programs began in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan to assist these countries in their transitions to democracy and reform. To better serve the great needs of children and best use the vital resources of our donors, Save the Children recently merged programs and activities with other members of the International Save the Children Alliance who also have programs in Central Asia. Our programs focus on five priority initiatives: Child Protection, Education, Food Security, Health, and HIV/AIDS.
Challenges for Children
Poverty has a strong impact on children's access to adequate food and nutrition. Reports show that coping strategies for poor families often dictate that they eat less nutritious food. Household economic security is tenuous in all three countries. For example, hundreds of thousands of Tajiks are employed outside their country annually, as opportunities for employment in the region are few. Malaria, tuberculosis and typhoid are increasingly widespread, and malnutrition, child and maternal mortality are high. Central Asia has high rates of stunting, anemia and micronutrient deficiencies among children and women as well as poor water and sanitation infrastructure. Many Central Asian youth under age 18, who make up a significant percentage of the population, are involved in exploitative labor, live in the streets and often have been victims of abuse and neglect. Drug use and exposure to HIV/AIDS are also serious threats, especially among the Tajik youth.
The decreasing quality of education is a critical issue in Central Asia, as is the challenge of maintaining and renovating school infrastructure. Substantial effort needs to be made in all three countries to improve the state of education, update curricula, build and maintain schools and train teachers.
Numbers at a Glance
- Tajikistan has a population of 7.1 million; 35 percent are under the age of 15.
- Kyrgyzstan has a population of 5.2 million; 40 percent live in poverty.
- Uzbekistan has a population of 27.8 million; more than 60 percent live in densely populated rural communities.
Our Response
Tajikistan
Hunger and Malnutrition:
Save the Children's Hunger and Malnutrition programs aim to improve the health and well-being of children and communities in Tajikistan. We implement a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded Development Assistance Program in several poor districts. This program focuses on improving the health and sanitation practices of school-age children, increasing household food production in an environmentally sustainable way and enhancing communities' abilities to manage financial and environmental shocks.
Child Protection:
At least 8,000 children in Tajikistan live and work in the streets, where they are vulnerable to violence, sickness and coercion into the sex trade, drug trafficking or other crimes. Save the Children works with the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection and a local non-governmental organization to advocate for positive changes in policies and practices to protect the rights of vulnerable children.
Education:
Teachers' salaries are so low that many have had to find jobs elsewhere or supplement their salaries with private tutoring or informal "fees." With rising levels of poverty, many children do not go to school or attend only occasionally. Save the Children is working to improve the quality of preschool and primary school education by providing in-service teacher training, which has been recognized by the Government of Tajikistan and included it in its own training plans. We have also rehabilitated nearly 30 schools in five districts in an effort to improve children's learning environments and chances for success.
Health:
Save the Children's health program has three goals. They are to help children, families and communities adopt healthier behaviors and practices; to enhance the capacity of Ministry of Health staff to be more efficient and knowledgeable; and to improve the access, quality and availability of health services, especially at the rural level.
HIV/AIDS:
The Central Asia region is experiencing one of the fastest-growing HIV/AIDS epidemics in the world. Although the countries are currently listed as low-prevalence, conditions are in place for the explosive growth of the epidemic. Upcoming programs will address HIV/AIDS prevention, care and support services for vulnerable children, young people, women and labor migrants.
Disaster Risk Reduction and Emergency Response:
An emergency-prone region, Central Asia will most likely continue to suffer from seasonal flooding and mudslides, while earthquakes remain a constant threat. Disaster preparedness, and the ability to respond effectively and quickly once a disaster hits, is critical to children's survival. Save the Children works with communities to help them rebuild assets and families' livelihoods. Our emergency responses include the provision of temporary shelters and health kits, renovation of school and community facilities and community water systems.
Kyrgyzstan
Education:
Due to insufficient funding, many schools lack basic essentials such as running water or heat during the country's harsh winter. Schooling is supposed to be free, but due to lack of government funding, parents often have to pay for books, equipment and school development projects. With poverty levels rising, many children do not go to school as a result, or, if they do attend, do so irregularly. Save the Children works to improve teacher training, the inclusion of vulnerable children (such as children with disabilities, refugees, ethnic minorities) and the rehabilitation of school facilities.
Child Protection:
More than half of all children in Kyrgyzstan live in poverty. Some families are under such social and economic pressure that they place their children in state institutions to ensure they are fed and receive an education. This has left many children emotionally scarred and unable to live independent adult lives, keeping them poor and dependent upon others. Through a project to reduce poverty and its impact on children by strengthening families, Save the Children aims to ensure that fewer families feel forced to place their children in institutions and to break the poverty cycle so that vulnerable children are raised in supportive environments.
Uzbekistan
Since the successful conclusion of a three-country education program in 2006, which focused on rehabilitating schools and teacher training, Save the Children has been active in pursuing new opportunities for programming in Uzbekistan. The agency is currently evaluating opportunities to address health and education issues in the country.
Plans for the Future: Looking Forward for Children
To ensure that the rights and well-being of children in Central Asia are realized, Save the Children plans to help:
- Improve the health and nutritional practices and behaviors of children and their families.
- Establish HIV/AIDS prevention, care and support services for children, families and communities and influence national HIV/AIDS policy and planning.
- Provide children with access to quality education through effective government policies and practices which engage children and communities.
- Establish and strengthen a community-based national protection system that addresses the main issues for vulnerable children and ensures that they grow up and develop in a protective environment.
- Improve family livelihoods and further strengthen the resilience of families and communities to reduce chronic malnutrition among children.
Life in Central Asia: A "Dehkan" Farm Changes Crops and Children's Nutrition
Abdurasul is the head of a collective farm or dehkan, run by several poor families in a rural area of Tajikistan that was only allowed to produce cotton. The families made very little profit and the men departed to find jobs as migrant workers. The female-headed households were left to live on few resources and their children were forced to work on the farm and suffered from poor health.
Wanting to break this cycle of poverty, Abdurasul approached Save the Children, which advocated on his behalf to allow his dehkan to grow crops other than cotton. The successful petition represented the first time in the region's history that a dehkan was allowed to grow food on land that had been under cotton production. Through Save the Children, Abdurasul learned about effective land use, low-cost compost, crop rotation, pest management and agribusiness.
Now with a rich harvest of vegetables, the dehkan households are improving their children's diets and well-nourished farmers are able to work more, producing an additional crop of cotton. The income gained from the project has helped the community to contribute towards improvements its schools and to helping stem labor migration. Abdurasul is happy to be part of a new cycle—where his hard work provides food for his children and a brighter future for everyone on the farm.
