DUSHANBE, July 28, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- International Finance Corporation (IFC)  promotes gender equality in southern Tajikistan through providing trainings on women’s rights, thereby improving women farmer’s working conditions.

According to the IFC Dushanbe Office, due to large migration of male population to Russia and other CIS countries, somewhere between 70% and 90% of the workers remaining in Tajikistan are women.  Many of them lack knowledge or training on the most basic hygiene and sanitary standards, as well as gender equality.

To address these issues IFC Southern Tajikistan Cotton Lending Project (STCLP) jointly with the NGO “Mahbuba” last week conducted one-day training on improvement of working conditions and women’s rights in Vakhsh district for 36 women from dehqon (peasant) farms in nine districts of Khatlon Province, including Kulob, Vose, Farkhor, Hamadoni, Vakhsh, Yovon, Jomi, Rumi and Bokhtar.

During the training IFC’s specialists taught the participants how to arrange mobile sanitary facilities, arrange temporary baby care, organize medical box in the field, and improve sanitation conditions and food safety in an affordable way. “The methods, which we are teaching to women farmers, are not expensive, and their application can improve the lives of thousands of people” – said Muhayyo Nosirova, IFC South Tajikistan Cotton Lending Project gender champion.

Qurbongul Zubaidova, trainer of NGO “Mahbuba” explained to the women how they could protect their rights and how they could prevent violence both in their families and in their farming activity.

According to a training participant Latofat Aliyeva – “It was very useful to gain knowledge about simple ways of improving working conditions in the field. The most important thing for me was to learn about the human rights NGOs and other centers, providing legal assistance, and now we know whom to apply in order to protect our rights both in our families and within our dehqon farms”.

Southern Tajikistan Cotton Lending Project (STCLP) is funded by Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and its goal is to contribute towards poverty reduction and fostering economic growth in the agricultural sector of Southern Tajikistan. The Project has two objectives. The first and main objective is to assist partner banks (The First MicroFinance Bank and Tojik Sodirot Bonk) to introduce a cotton lending product on a commercially viable basis for small to medium size farms (SMFs) in Khatlon Province. The second objective is to improve the productivity of cotton farms and the working conditions of women farmers in the Province.

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, creates opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives. IFC fosters sustainable economic growth in developing countries by supporting private sector development, mobilizing private capital, and providing advisory and risk mitigation services to businesses and governments.  Its new investments totaled $16.2 billion in fiscal 2008, a 34 percent increase over the previous year.

The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) is a Canadian governmental agency whose mandate is to support sustainable progress in developing countries in order to reduce poverty and contribute to a more secure, equitable and prosperous world.  One of its objectives is to work with countries in transition to stimulate growth through building self-sustainability among local population and mobilizing available resources.  CIDA supports foreign aid projects in many countries around the world.