DUSHANBE, April 8, 2015, Asia-Plus -- Tajikistan Water Supply and Sanitation (TajWSS) Network is having a meeting today to discuss water supply and sanitation issues.   

The meeting is reportedly facilitated by Oxfam GB within the framework of the project, Tajikistan Water Supply and Sanitation, funded by Swiss Development Agency (SDC) and implemented in partnership with the Government of Tajikistan and UNDP.

The meeting includes presentations and updates from its members and partners and main discussion points are:

 

-       Gender and Water: Women participation and leadership in water and sanitation development in Tajikistan will be discussed in the course of the presentation of the Committee of Women and Family Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan. A Working Group on Gender will be established in this meeting with a purpose to identify ways to better integrate gender into the policies and projects dealing with drinking water and sanitation, irrigation and agriculture.

-       Effective ways of water supply management: Successful management of water supply systems requires specific knowledge of the available resources, rules and regulations of the sector, ability to translate policy decisions into actions on the ground. One of the aspects of the effective management is selection of the most appropriate organizational and legislative model of service provider. Comparative institutional and legal analysis of the best models of organizational management for drinking water supply in rural areas was conducted by the independent consultant, Bahodur Habibov, who will share the results of his research with the network members.

-       Community-driven water supply and sanitation: Oxfam in Tajikistan is about to start the implementation of the new project funded by the Government of Finland. The 3-year project will expand the activities of Oxfam’s ongoing Water supply and sanitation programme and foster efficiencies in approach and economies of scale. The new project will be implemented in Ayni and Roudaki districts.

-       Water is Hope:  Tajik Civil Society Organisation/Water User''s Association "Ob Umed / Water is Hope" was selected as a winner of the Equator Prize 2014  under Special Recognition Award, particularly for Water Access and Management. Working with nine downstream villages of Porshnev Jamoat of Shugnan District that have collectively faced severe water shortages, extreme droughts, and seasonal crop failures, Water is Hope has established an equitable water distribution system based on traditional water rights, distribution rules, and the communal maintenance of local water infrastructure. Head of the Association will make a presentation about their experience and lessons learned with the TajWSS Network members.    

-       Displaying achievements in water sector for the period from 2005-2015: A well-known journalist Surayo Shujoat will present her media project about organising a tour that would walk us through recent water history in Tajikistan  that would visit the water and sanitation projects implemented in last decade . The purpose is to learn about the changes these project enabled,  improvements in water and sanitation sector over the time and raise general awareness about opportunities and challenges by involving media in the tour. She will share the project concept and those who are interested in supporting can approach her directly.

 

The Network of Stakeholder Organizations on Sustainable Water Supply and Sanitation was created on November 12, 2009.  The TajWSS Network is a national multistakeholder platform of actors from government, international institutions, donors, science institutions and academia, public, private and other not-for-profit organizations in the water and sanitation subsector in Tajikistan, who gather regularly in plenary meetings and working groups to advance the national drinking-water and sanitation agenda.