Tajikistan is a landlocked and largely mountainous country, ranked 133 out of 189 countries in the UN’s Human Development Index.
The focus of DVV International’s work in Tajikistan is the improvement of educational offers for socially disadvantaged groups, mainly unemployed, prisoners, ex-prisoners, women and youth. They are being provided with market-oriented training courses in cooperation with various adult learning and education providers in Dushanbe and other regions of the country.
Since 2014, DVV International has been implementing EU funded projects to protect the human rights of prisoners and ex-prisoners in Tajikistan. On 1 April 2020, DVV International together with its two partners, the local NGOs Jahon and the Bureau for Human Rights, started the EU funded project “Promoting Access to Social, Economic, and Cultural Rights to Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners in Tajikistan”. It aims to contribute to a peaceful and inclusive society through providing access to justice for one of the most disadvantaged groups of the population, and thus to contribute to the development and consolidation of democracy, the rule of law and respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms in Tajikistan.
The Main Department on Criminal Penalty Execution (MDCPE) under the Ministry of Justice is one of the main state partners of DVV International in Tajikistan. It has published statistics that show a decrease of delinquencies among released persons and an increased interest in obtaining professions such as tailor/seamstress, welder, carpenter, cook, etc., among prisoners within the facilities. This is a result of the vocational trainings and other educational activities for the prisoners and ex-prisoners conducted by DVV International and its partners, together with the prison authorities.
DVV International in Tajikistan supported the MDCPE in its efforts to develop curricula for vocational education and employment trainings for prisoners in penitentiary institutions and persons released from places of detention, as well as in drawing up an action plan for the implementation of future programmes through to 2030.
The current project has led to positive changes in the lives of ex-prisoners. One of the success stories is the one of an ex-female prisoner, Safargul S., who was awarded a Presidential grant in the amount of 10,000 Tajik somoni ($885) for her business idea of establishing a sewing workshop named “Toji Zarrin” (Tajik for “golden crown”) in Guliston village in the Khatlon region.
“While being in prison, I had the opportunity to participate in a vocational course on sewing and dreamt of opening my own sewing workshop in my district. Today my dream became reality due to the knowledge and skills that I obtained during a series of trainings on business skills and the project implemented by NGO Jahon in partnership with DVV International in Tajikistan.” Safargul S.
Safargul S. was also one of the twenty-nine participants in capacity building trainings on topics such as personal development and civic education, entrepreneurship skills development and project design for ex-prisoners which were organized within the framework of the project in 2020.
DVV International operates worldwide with more than 200 partners in over 30 countries.
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