PANJ DISTRICT IN THE RUNNING FOR TAJIKISTAN'S MOST

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSHANBE 000224 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL EAID ECON EAGR TI SUBJECT: PANJ DISTRICT IN THE RUNNING FOR TAJIKISTAN'S MOST OVERLOOKED DUSHANBE 00000224 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. Summary: In a country with widespread poverty, Panj district ranks at the bottom even by Tajik standards. No internet access exists anywhere in the district. The district's only newspaper comes out every ten days because of the time needed to create type-set for four pages on an old printing press. Some district schools have mud floors and no electrical wiring. A secondary school English teacher did not understand the question, "May I talk with your students?" Most farmers remain stuck in a cycle of debt to Tajikistan's cotton "futures" companies. Few international non-governmental organizations operate in Panj, yet the active local NGO community has conducted a number of civil society and human rights programs and continues to seek new funding to make a difference in its community. A little funding goes a long way in such remote areas, and the Embassy will work to identify more partners to help develop Panj from sinking further into poverty. End Summary. ¶2. Located three hours south of Dushanbe on the Tajik-Afghan border, the 90,000-residents of Panj district rely on cotton and other agriculture. During a February 8 visit, EmbOffs encountered many problems that plague all rural communities in Tajikistan -- limited electricity, unemployment, labor migration, under-funded schools (septel). But Tajikistan's complicated cotton sector places an extraordinary burden on the Panj community, and the low salaries -- less than $10 per month for laborers -- and constant debt for farmers mean that the cotton fields provide only a subsistence living. Panj residents have no contact with the Afghans across the river. There is no bridge or ferry in the district, and the river is too fast and deep to cross. A local official seemed unsure of the effect of the U.S.-funded bridge in the neighboring district Nizhniy Pyanj, scheduled to open in August, but noted Nizhniy Pyanj was a long drive and Panj itself had little trade or commerce with Afghanistan ¶3. Compared to other Tajik districts, fewer men seek work in Russia, because the cottons fields offer some employment, however minimal. A local official estimated that one of every three families had someone working abroad (as opposed to every family in some other regions). Panj's only vegetable processing plant employs 12 workers, mainly women, from May to October. Its owner noted he would like to run a second shift, but the vegetable supply was not adequate to expand beyond the 100,000 jars he produced last year. A CRY FOR HELP . . . AND NEWS ¶4. "We're the last region of Tajikistan!" lamented a local journalist. Without Internet, he had no access to "fresh news." Displaying the 1976 printing press and typeset machine, he noted it took him and his two staff members ten days to produce the four-page Tajik and Uzbek language "Hayoti Nav" paper of poor print quality. He gestured to a more modern version of the paper from 2006. "I could do that in a day on a computer at a printing house in Qurgon-Teppa," which he did until the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe did not extend his grant because the paper is a local government paper and not independent. (Note: Hayoti Nav is Panj's only local paper. End Note.) LOCAL NGOS MAKE A DIFFERENCE ¶5. Only a handful of international organizations currently work in Panj -- two French organizations, United Nations High Commission for Refugees, the International Organization on Migration, and a faith-based Dushanbe group -- but a vibrant local non-governmental community has used small grants to conduct projects on women's rights and domestic violence, labor trafficking, handicrafts and small businesses, and micro-credit. The U.S. organization International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) helped support a civil society project in 2006 that raised awareness of women's rights and helped start a women's center. ¶6. At a roundtable discussion with EmbOffs, four NGO heads called their relationship with the local government "excellent" and noted that all four of the previous district chairmen had supported their projects. They experienced no problems with tax inspectors or other authorities that sometimes vex Dushanbe-based organizations. The main problem was a lack of funds and they asked for help accessing small grants to fund a resource center, kick-start three women's employment projects and open a computer training center. DUSHANBE 00000224 002.2 OF 002 ¶7. Comment: Panj is like many districts in Tajikistan, only worse off. Yet local officials and civil society leaders seemed more motivated and effective than in districts that enjoy more international attention. Post will work with U.S. and international NGOs to get the word out that Panj could be a fruitful place for a small investment in time or resources. End comment. JACOBSON HOAGLAND