Goals and Objectives
The Republic of Tajikistan has received financing from the International Development Association of the World Bank Group (WBG) for the implementation of the Tajikistan Rural Economy Development (RED) Project. The project's development objective is to improve the sources of livelihood for local populations in the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO) and Khatlon regions through tourism and agribusiness.
Program Structure
The project is structured according to four components, organized based on the types of intervention and beneficiaries:
- Component 1 focuses on improving public infrastructure for the development of agribusiness and tourism.
- Component 2 supports micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and entrepreneurs in agribusiness, community-based tourism, and related sectors through matching grants.
- Component 3 focuses on strengthening skills, entrepreneurship, and business development services to enable potential beneficiaries to gain fully from the grant programs under Components 1 and 2.
- Component 4 provides project coordination and implementation as well as grant management and administration.
Program Management
The RED project is jointly implemented by the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) at the Ministry of Finance (MOF) of the Republic of Tajikistan and the Project Coordination Group (PCG) at the Committee of Tourism Development. The PCG is responsible for the coordination and technical work related to tourism under the REDP while the financial management, and procurement will rest with the PIU.
A national-level Steering Committee supervises the overall project implementation and serves as the highest-level consultative and decision-making body, responsible for strategic guidance, coordination, and implementation support.
The grant scheme is centrally managed by a dedicated Grant Management Company (GMC) which oversees the work of local Grant Enablers working directly with the grant applicants in the selected regions of Tajikistan (Khatlon and GBAO).
Project Funding
The total funding for goods and services that are eligible for financing with grants and matching grants is as follows:
- Grants to communities, municipalities, and not-for-profit organizations to improve tourism and agribusiness infrastructure and develop local tourism attractions (US $2,400,000).
- Matching grants to farmers and agribusiness MSMEs to support post-harvest storage and processing (US $2,600,000).
- Matching grants to farmers and processors in two agribusiness value chains (US $2,600,000).
- Matching grants to tourism related MSMEs to improve services and offerings (US $3,000,000).