In Tajikistan, the onset of the pandemic led to a massive mobilisation of civil society in response to government inaction. We supported civil society partners around the country, especially those who were part of the 30-member Civil Society Platform (CSP) Saferworld helped establish, to identify the needs of communities and local authorities in responding to the pandemic and mitigating its impact. These organisations provided personal protective equipment for communities and authorities alike, and helped raise awareness of prevention methods. The CSP also monitored expenditure of foreign aid donated to fight the pandemic, to ensure it was being spent effectively and deployed where it was needed the most.
On top of our support to existing collaborative police-community problem-solving groups around the country, we helped set up five new ones in remote areas, including along the borders with Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan. We advocated for the groups to be more inclusive of women and youth and provided small grants to address local problems and improve the quality of life in remote communities. We worked with local authorities, supporting them to institutionalise a community-led approach to safety and security. Nationally, we facilitated dialogues between civil society and the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) on safety and security. We also supported Tajikistan’s MIA Academy to develop a community policing toolkit to teach cadets conflict sensitive approaches to policing. We also supported on-the-job training for police around the country, and fed into both the Police Reform Strategy 2021–2025 and the Countering and Preventing Violent Extremism Strategy.
