Attachments
Overview
WFP continued to address the food and nutrition needs in Tajikistan through close collaboration with the Government, United Nations (UN) partners and other cooperating partners. WFP undertook a strategic shift from direct implementation to enabling and strengthening the capacities of national and sub-national institutions to address the root causes of hunger and malnutrition. Over the past 3.5 years, WFP focused on supporting national social protection systems, nutrition, resilience building, and disaster risk reduction, aligning its efforts with national priorities and contributing to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger) and 17 (Partnerships). School feeding programme (Strategic Outcome 1) continues to be WFP’s largest operational component in Tajikistan, supporting 550,730 primary schoolchildren in more than 1,900 schools with hot meals. WFP reinforced its efforts to facilitate a gradual transition to a nationally-owned school feeding programme through constant technical support in the development of the legislative and regulatory framework, with functional mechanisms to increase ownership and institutionalize the programme. The Government, with technical support from WFP, developed key policy documents such as the Concept on Improvement of the School Feeding in General Educational Institutions of Tajikistan and the National Strategy on Sustainable Development of School Feeding through 2027. Furthermore, the Government approved the State Programme on the Development of School Feeding in the Republic of Tajikistan (2022-2027). Under Strategic Outcome 2, WFP supported 6,752 children aged 6-59 months in 264 primary healthcare centres through the treatment of moderate acute malnutrition. This was complemented by counselling on Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices provided to the parents and guardians of the targeted children. To further strengthen the preventive aspect of the nutrition interventions, social and behaviour change communication (SBCC) interventions were implemented at schools as well as through the media to promote healthy nutrition behaviour among schoolchildren and the wider population. Through Strategic Outcome 3, WFP and the Government continued to support diversified, climate-resilient livelihoods among rural communities. In addition, WFP provided technical support to the Government to digitalize its weather and climate forecasting system. WFP demonstrated flexibility in responding to emerging needs, through emergency food assistance to some 5,600 displaced individuals affected by the clashes along the Tajik-Kyrgyz border in September. Under Strategic Outcome 4, WFP provided policy advice and capacity strengthening support to the Government and relevant stakeholders in areas of sustainable food systems, nutrition and emergency preparedness. The Government, with WFP's technical assistance, advanced the food fortification agenda in Tajikistan, through conducting a comprehensive landscape analysis and initiating the first-ever discussions on wheat flour fortification. WFP also supported the work of national platforms and interagency efforts on emergency preparedness and disaster risk reduction in coordination with the Committee of Emergency Situations and Civil Defense. WFP scaled up its evidence generation efforts through regular monitoring and assessments to better inform government policies and programming. Under Strategic Outcome 5, WFP continued to ensure the continuity of humanitarian supply chains and provided much-needed logistics services to humanitarian and development partners. WFP scaled up its support to the humanitarian operations in Afghanistan, delivering 13,000 mt of food and non-food items to remote areas of Afghanistan and securing clearance for humanitarian flights between Dushanbe and Kabul operated by the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS). WFP prioritized gender sensitivity in project design, implementation, and monitoring, and collected gender- and age-disaggregated data. WFP conducted extensive community-level consultations in all project locations, encouraging women’s involvement in activities and promoting gender equality within local community development. In 2022, WFP completed the implementation of its Country Strategic Plan (CSP) 2019-2022 in Tajikistan, which was shortened by 18 months to align with the cycle of the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2023-2027. In November, the WFP Executive Board approved the Tajikistan CSP 2023-2026. Under the new CSP, WFP will collaborate with the Government, private sector, academia, and civil society to prioritize food security, increase local food production and strengthen the resilience of the most vulnerable households. Joint action is key to achieving sustainable food and nutrition security while ensuring leaving no one behind.