Dushanbe, Tajikistan, 29 July 2016 – Focus Humanitarian Assistance (FOCUS), an affiliate of the Aga Khan Development Network, and the Swiss Cooperation Office in Tajikistan have signed an agreement to implement Phase II of a 36-month project that will directly and indirectly enhance community disaster preparedness levels of approximately 50,000 people in Tajikistan.

The project, “Creating Opportunities in a Safe Environment (COSE): Fostering Self-Sustained and Resilient Communities,” will be co-funded by the Swiss Government and implemented by FOCUS, the Mountain Societies Development Support Programme (MSDSP) and Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), Tajikistan.  The implementers are all part of the Aga Khan Development Network, which works in all four regions of Tajikistan.

The project will introduce new and innovative approaches to promoting and enabling sustainable livelihood opportunities and improve communities’ resilience to natural disasters in Khorog, Shughnan and the Roshtqala districts of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO) of Tajikistan. COSE II will make communities more resilient to disasters, through enhanced risk assessment techniques, and will work with communities and local government on hazard risk management initiatives to protect against the adverse impact of natural disasters. To enable disaster risk reduction, FOCUS and MSDSP will work with communities and government authorities throughout the project promoting the sustainable use of natural resources, effective land use planning, sustainable pasture, livestock, and land management for effective disaster risk reduction.  

Phase II of Creating Opportunities in a Safe Environment builds upon the successful results of previous partnerships with the Government of Switzerland FOCUS and MSDSP. This includes the implementation of COSE I, which helped to integrate disaster risk management elements into community-based development planning across GBAO.  Among other results, the programme led to the increased resilience of a quarter of all communities (approximately 75,500 people) in GBAO.

The new phase of the project marks a decade of cooperation between the Government of Switzerland and Focus Humanitarian Assistance, Tajikistan. Throughout this project, FOCUS, Tajikistan, AKF and MSDSP’s key partners will include the Government of Tajikistan, the Department of Geology, the Committee of Emergency Situations and Civil Defence and the Land Management Committee.

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Focus Humanitarian Assistance (FOCUS) is an international disaster management and emergency response agency providing relief and support services during natural and man-made disasters, primarily in the developing world. It is established in Europe, North America, Central and South Asia and helps people in need reduce their dependence on humanitarian aid. Additionally, it facilitates community transition to sustainable, self-reliant, long-term development. FOCUS is an affiliate of the Aga Khan Development Network, a group of institutions working to improve opportunities and living conditions for people of all faiths and origins in specific regions of the developing world. For further information, please visit: https://www.akdn.org/our-agencies/aga-khan-agency-habitat.

The Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network, was established in 1967 by His Highness the Aga Khan to develop and promote creative solutions to problems that impede social development, primarily in Asia and East Africa. Created as a private, non-profit foundation under Swiss law, it has branches and independent affiliates in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Canada, India, Kenya, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mozambique, Pakistan, Portugal, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Uganda, the United States of America and the United Kingdom.  Its office in the United Kingdom has supported 20 partnerships worth £6 million with ECHO covering actions in Afghanistan, India, Pakistan and Tajikistan. For further information, please visit: http://www.akf.org.uk/.

The Mountain Societies Development Support Programme Tajikistan, is a locally registered NGO initiated by the Aga Khan Foundation in 1993. It works in five thematic areas, agriculture and natural resource, non-farm enterprise and employment, access to finance, infrastructure and development and participatory governance. MSDSP works across all four oblasts of Tajikistan. For further information, please visit https://www.akdn.org/where-we-work/central-asia/tajikistan/rural-development.

The Government of Switzerland is represented in Tajikistan by a Cooperation Office that was established at the end of 1998. The Swiss Cooperation Office in Tajikistan monitors the implementation of the Swiss-funded projects in Tajikistan, which are coordinated by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). The overall goal of the Government of Switzerland supported programmes in Tajikistan is to contribute to poverty alleviation, facilitation of sustainable growth, equitable access to good quality public services and transition towards pluralistic and economically viable state. Switzerland partners with the Government of Tajikistan and works together with different national and international agencies. For further information, please visit: http://www.sdc.admin.ch.

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