European Union provides 26 mln euros to support human development

DUSHANBE, September 1, 2011, Asia-Plus – On Tuesday August 30, the European Union and the Government of Tajikistan have signed the Financing Agreement for a Human Development Support Program (HDSP).

According to the European Union Delegation in Tajikistan, the HDSP will cover three sectors: Health, Social Protection and Public Finance Management (PFM) with an allocated budget of 26 million euros.

The overall objective of the Human Development Support Program is to contribute to the improvement of health and social protection status of the population, especially the poor and most vulnerable groups.  The program will contribute to: a) advancing reforms in service delivery, with a priority on strengthening Primary Health Care, improving governance and health financing; b) a more effective pension policy framework and pension administration; c) an improved efficiency of the public spending in the here-above mentioned sectors through a better financial management, accountability and transparency; and d) a structured Private-Public Partnership with the active participation of civil society organisations in delivering social care services.

The HDSP will also support gender equality in the country by promoting gender equality agenda in Social welfare and Health sectors. The promotion of human rights will be reflected in the focus on equitable access to social protection and health services especially for the poor and disadvantaged population groups.  Good governance will not only be mainstreamed in the program but integral part of the program design as expressed by the Public Finance Management (PFM) related results.

The program will be implemented via three instruments: 1) budget support (18 Million EUR); 2) technical assistance to support implementation of reforms (5.5 million EUR); and 3) grants to civil society organisations (2.2 million EUR).

The Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labor and Social Protection and Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Tajikistan are responsible for the implementation of the Human Development Support Program during a 3-years implementation period.

The European Union, composed of 27 Member States, is the world’s biggest aid donor. Tajikistan gets the main share of bilateral assistance in the Central Asian region (€66 million for 2007-2010 and 62 million for 2011-2013) in support to sector programs, technical assistance and grants. It focuses on social protection, health and private sector development, underpinned by public finance management. Tajikistan also receives regional and thematic assistance in areas like border management and drug control (BOMCA/CADAP), education (TEMPUS, Erasmus Mundus), water / environment, migration, human rights and democracy (EIDHR), non-State actors (NSA) and SME development (CA-Invest). The total value of EU assistance disbursed to Tajikistan since 1992 is over €500 million.