Final: In order to increase the enrollment and attendance of children in schools and to improve their nutritional status, WFP has expanded school feeding programs yearly to meet the challenges facing Tajikistan. WFP now serves more then 1,671 institutions including pre-schools, primary schools and boarding schools in all regions of the country. In 2002, WFP provided hot in-school meals to 292,235 children (141,279 girls and 150,956 boys). In addition, 71,624 children (33,512 girls and 38,112 boys) received take-home rations. The total number of children served in 2002 was 363,859.

Midterm: Food donations are highly valued in Tajikistan. As a result, food is an effective incentive and is able to increase enrollment and attendance. The program has been positively received in Tajikistan and has led to the allocation of more adequate school resources. Still, low enrollment figures recorded three years ago continue to increase, rising 30-35% during the last two years. In existing school feeding programs, attendance levels average 78% overall, and 83% for girls. In schools with new programs, attendance levels for the same year average just over 73%.

Tajikistan’s 6.1 million people live in the poorest country in Central Asia, with an annual per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of $330. According to the 1999 figures from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the human development index ranks Tajikistan 108 out of 174 countries. Tajikistan is categorized as a low-income, food-deficit country.

Only 7% of Tajikistan’s area is arable. The rest is covered either by mountains or deserts. Agriculture is traditionally the primary sector of the economy and most of the cultivated land is irrigated. Cotton, the major cash crop, depends entirely on irrigation.

The deteriorating irrigation infrastructure, obsolete machinery, and the lack of arable land have had severe consequences for the country’s agricultural output. The pressure to earn foreign currency, together with declining yields, has led the Government of Tajikistan to increase the amount of land cultivated for cotton at the expense of cereal production. Moreover, cereals have suffered a significant decline in per-hectare yield due to unfavorable weather, deteriorating irrigation facilities, brown rust, smut, and the lack of funds to procure necessary inputs.

Official unemployment is around 40%, and inflation has ranged from 630% in 1995 to 43.4% in 1998. An estimated 85% of the population is below the poverty line.

Social indicators are rapidly declining. The historically strong educational system is crumbling with the decay of school buildings and lack of teachers, textbooks, furniture, and heating. Many families are unable to provide their school-age children with clothing and shoes. This is creating increasing numbers of street children, who are easy prey for criminals, drugs, and child-labor abuse scams. The health status of the population has declined with the increased poverty; poor housing, quality of water, and nutrition; and a near-collapse of health services. It is the poor who suffer most from the inaccessibility of basic health services and medicines.

The rapid deterioration of the health care infrastructure and a less nutritious diet have resulted in female anemia rates ranging between 70 to 80% and a 60% malnourishment rate among expectant mothers. According to the World Bank, about 1 million people in Tajikistan are impoverished and experience acute or chronic food insecurity.

Tajikistan used to boast a literacy rate of almost 100%. After the collapse of the former Soviet Union and the grueling civil war, the educational system is now in disarray. Primary school attendance rates have fallen to about 65%. WFP is promoting school attendance and improved child nutrition through the continuation of its school feeding program in collaboration with international and national non-governmental organizations.

Final: In addition to the wheat flour and vegetable oil reported at the midterm, the McGovern-Dole initiative provided 440 metric tons of corn soya blend.

Midterm: USDA provided wheat flour and vegetable oil for use in WFP’s school feeding program in Tajikistan. The flour and oil are both fortified for increased nutritional value.

Final: All surveys show increasing trends in malnutrition, especially among children. Malnutrition is a problem across the country, but the most affected regions are Khatlon and the mountainous region of Badakhshan. In these areas, WFP distributes food directly to the population to prevent loss of life as a result of severe malnutrition.

WFP’s food assistance to schools has grown from 95 tons of food during the 1999-2000 school year to 11,616 tons during the 2002-2003 school year. The total value of the donated commodities is more than 7 million US Dollars. WFP provides wheat flour, vegetable oil, iodized salt and a corn soya blend.

In the 2003 academic year, the number of children WFP assists grew to 370,150 (190,333 male and 179,817 females) including 122,000 students who are served under the McGovern-Dole Initiative.

At the midterm, the average ration consisted of 175 grams of wheat flour, 15 grams of fortified vegetable oil, and 5 grams of iodized salt. The additional donation of a corn soya blend provided by USDA has made it possible to add 40 grams of the blend to the basic package.

As the program has progressed, WFP has made further refinements in the measures used to target schools for school feeding. Criteria for selection include:

Midterm: Students receive 175 grams of wheat flour, 15 grams of vegetable oil, and 5 grams of iodized salt. The feeding program runs for 180 school days and provides rations for 11,000 students, including 5,000 males and 6,000 females.

In addition to school feeding activities, the larger WFP country program in Tajikistan focuses on rehabilitation and the creation of sustainable assets. WFP activities include food-for-work activities that target undernourished and poor individuals who are willing and able to move toward self-sufficiency. These activities are related to rehabilitating infrastructure and include the land-lease program and the rehabilitation of schools. Targeting is based on households that are the most food-insecure. The following factors affect this:

Final: Attendance rates continue to rise, especially in remote villages. Between September of 2002 and March of 2003 the average attendance among boys rose from 70 to 90% and among girls from 68 to 89%. In the GBAO Region, average attendance rates increased from 75.5% in the 2000-2001 school year to 98% for the 2002-2003 school year.

Attendance rates also rose steadily in the Rasht Valley after the school feeding program was initiated. Although the program began in September, the food distribution did not commence until October. Before the distribution started, the average attendance rate among girls in grades 1-9 was 79%. Among boys in the same grades, the average rate was 80%. In December, after two months of food provisions, girls’ attendance reached 89.9% and boys totaled 88.8%.

Beyond improved attendance rates and a continuation of the positive effects described at the midterm, there have been many corollary improvements where the program exists. Examples of other positive effects include:

Midterm: Greater impact can be measured in schools where WFP was already conducting school feeding programs than in schools that are new to the program. However, the ability to review both new and existing schools allows for greater analysis and comparison values.

Low enrollment figures were recorded three years ago and now continue to increase, up 30-35% from levels just two years earlier. In existing programs, attendance levels have averaged 78% for boys and girls combined, and 83% for girls alone. In schools newly introduced to the school feeding program, the attendance levels for the same year averaged just over 73%.

Financial hardship was cited as the biggest impediment to sending children to schools with new programs (24% compared with 13% in schools with pre-existing programs). A recently completed survey of families in WFP-assisted communities showed that due to the high value of food in Tajikistan, many families assume that schools with WFP feeding programs require parents to pay for the food and think that it will be too expensive for them to participate.

WFP works with two international organizations. Mission Øst provides supplementary free food distribution and Food for Work projects in the Khatlon region, and Action Against Hunger supplies supplementary feeding for malnourished children, also in the Khatlon region.

Last modified: Monday, April 14, 2008 06:13:23 PM