As the world moves ahead to mark International Women’s Day, the clock on women’s rights is moving backwards. All of us are paying the price. The cascading crises of recent years have highlighted how women’s leadership is more crucial than ever. Women have heroically confronted the COVID-19 pandemic as doctors, nurses, and public health and social care workers.  But at the same time, women and girls have been the first to lose out on jobs or schooling, taking on more unpaid care work, and facing skyrocketing levels of domestic and cyber abuse and child marriage. The pandemic has highlighted even more starkly an age-old truth: the roots of patriarchy run deep. We still live in a male-dominated world with a male-dominated culture. As a result, in good times or bad, women are more likely to fall into poverty. Their healthcare is sacrificed and their education and opportunities are curtailed. And in countries enduring conflict — as we see from Ethiopia to Afghanistan to Ukraine -- women and girls are the most vulnerable but also the most compelling voices for peace. As we look to the future, a sustainable and equal recovery for all is only possible if it is a feminist recovery — one that puts progress for girls and women at its centre. We need economic progress through targeted investments in women’s education, employment, training and decent work. Women should be first in line for the 400 million jobs we are called to create by 2030. We need social progress through investments in social protection systems and the care economy. Such investments yield huge dividends, creating green, sustainable jobs, while supporting members of our societies that need assistance, including children, older people and the sick. We need financial progress, to reform a morally bankrupt global financial system, so all countries can invest in a woman-centred economic recovery. This includes debt relief and fairer tax systems that channel some of the massive pockets of wealth around the world to those who need it most. We need urgent, transformative climate action, to reverse the reckless increase in emissions and gender inequalities that have left women and girls disproportionately vulnerable. Developed countries must urgently deliver on their commitments on finance and technical support for a just transition from fossil fuels. The successful, stable economies of the future will be green, gender-inclusive and sustainable. We need more women in leadership in government and business, including finance ministers and CEOs, developing and implementing green and socially progressive policies that benefit all their people. We know, for example, that having more women in parliaments is linked with stronger climate commitments and higher levels of investment in healthcare and education. We need political progress through targeted measures that ensure women’s equal leadership and representation at all levels of political decision-making, through bold gender quotas. Gender inequality is essentially a question of power. Uprooting centuries of patriarchy demands that power is equally shared across every institution, at every level. At the United Nations, we have achieved — for the first time in the organization’s history — gender parity in senior management at headquarters and around the world. This has dramatically improved our ability to better reflect and represent the communities we serve. Every step of the way, we can take inspiration from women and girls pushing for progress in every sphere and every corner of our globe.  Young women climate campaigners are leading global efforts to pressure governments to live up to their commitments. Women’s rights activists are bravely demanding equality and justice, and building more peaceful societies as peacekeepers, peacemakers and humanitarians in some of the world’s trouble zones and beyond. In societies where women’s rights movements are vibrant, democracies are stronger. When the world invests in expanding opportunities for women and girls, all of humanity wins.  As a matter of justice, equality, morality and plain common sense, we need to turn the clock forward on women’s rights. We need a sustainable, feminist recovery centred around — and driven by — women and girls.

UN in Tajikistan cooperates with the Government of Tajikistan on addressing national priorities to better serve the needs of the people of Tajikistan with a focus on those vulnerable. To promote resilience and ensure sustainability, the UN works on strengthening state capacity to confront threats from transnational organized crime, promotion of balanced, comprehensive, and evidence-based approaches to the drug problem, crime prevention, building effective criminal justice systems. Prevention of violent extremism and radicalization, as well as legislative reforms related to terrorism prevention, are also among these groups of activities that altogether contribute to achieving national development strategies and the SDGs. To mark International Women’s Day, UNODC in Central Asia spoke to Lieutenant Colonel of the Customs Service of the Republic of Tajikistan Zarina Abrorova about the role of women in law enforcement and their agency’s cooperation with UNODC. Zarina Abrorova is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Customs Service. She is Chief Inspector of the Department of Countering Customs Offences of the Customs Service under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan and has been working at the customs service for over 20 years. “The work is challenging, and it is not always easy,” says Ms. Abrorova. “Sometimes, when I reflect on what brought me into the service, I realize that my choice of profession was initially spontaneous, but that, over the years, through gaining more experience and seeing the great importance of this work for society, I discovered that I have a feeling for it, that I belong here, and most of all, here I can be useful to people. Today I cannot imagine being without my work and our amazing team.” In Zarina’s opinion, it is absolutely critical to have women working in law enforcement, including the customs service. “It is important that women officers work with women who have been subjected to violence. Communication with women officers will be easier for these women, they will feel much more comfortable sharing their concerns and problems. It can prevent even greater psychological trauma from being inflicted on them. In any situation, women often feel more at ease with women officers and prefer to communicate with them,” she explains, adding, “we are not any different in our professional competencies from men, and we are equally successful in our work.” From Zarina’s observations, women in law enforcement often tend to be patient, persistent and dedicated which helps them creatively and effectively fulfill their official duties. As a rule, they are more inclined to adopt a peaceful approach, they are better at defusing tensions and thereby preventing conflicts. They easily gain the trust of the communities with whom they work. “During the pandemic,” remembers Zarina, “due to border closures, the decrease in passenger and cargo movements did not lower our workload but rather required us to stay vigilant. We conducted an extensive awareness-raising campaign to prevent the spread of the disease among the population.” “The Customs Service under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan has been cooperating with UNODC for many years,” says Zarina. “We have participated in many events and training courses under the Cross-Border Cooperation Project, including the Border Liaison Offices’ Initiative. Under this project, we have strengthened interagency and transborder cooperation and intelligence-sharing with the neighboring countries that help us ensure border security effectively, conduct joint operations, and take proactive measures to prevent crime. Even during the pandemic, we took part in a number of trainings conducted by UNODC via videoconferencing in which experienced trainers and experts participated. The project encourages and promotes the meaningful participation of women officers in all its activities, contributing to their empowerment.” Zarina says that in Tajikistan many women work in the country’s customs service making their contribution to ensuring the further socio-economic development and security of the state. For her personally, it is gratifying to see that, every year, more and more women are joining the customs service.

“I am 46, and I am a successful entrepreneur, a mother of four kids and a wife of a wonderful husband”-, says Sitoramoh Tojiddinova, a Tajik woman-farmer from Nurobod district. “I married early, in my 18 - being almost a child, having limited education, knowing nothing about home making or taking care of kids. I was lost at some point, without without proper skills and knowledge and the idea where to go, but at that stage, it was my mother-in-law who strongly supported me, and it was her, who taught me the skills to maintain the decent life in the farm and manage the family life. I cherish this experience up to today – it helped me with the business that I am running now.” As agriculture is the main source of food and income in the rural areas of Tajikistan, Sitoramoh and her family were growing potatoes for own consumption, until one day in 2020, and it was her husband who encouraged her to become a member of a farmer’s cooperative established in their area. “The cooperative is provided with seeds and supported with inputs - this may increase our harvest and we may sell potatoes for living,” he argued. First, she was hesitant to join, as she did not have any experience, but she knew that supported by her husband she could manage. She was convinced. “In Tajikistan, the husband’s and his men’s relatives support is always crucial when it comes to women’s active participation in agricultural production at various levels of the value chain, including selling goods. Social norms limit women’s empowerment and they are either discouraged by family members or choose themselves not to engage with public bodies. This complicates the process of registering farming enterprises, applying for loans, paying taxes on land or livestock, taking part in training and accessing extension services, in addition to other activities associated with agricultural production. FAO in Tajikistan with financing from the European Union support smallholder farmers through practical training to produce and market agricultural products, benefitting from storage facilities, provision of machinery and other services. Participation of women and their empowerment is mandatory, but not always easy to accomplish. ‘Sitoramoh was able to join the initiative, because she was fully supported by the family and her spouse”-, says Masuda Saidova, FAO National project manager. In addition to training, EU funds were also used by FAO to distribute quality potato seeds, which was of a crucial importance, as it is very hard to find such quality seed during sowing season in Tajikistan. The idea is to multiply the high-quality potato seed, which have a much higher yield than seed potatoes usually used in the country, in the rural communities to ensure greater food security and incomes of rural families. In May 2020, Sitoramoh received one ton of high-quality potato seed “Red Scarlett” and planted it on 0.20 hectares of land. Her family harvested about 23 tons of potatoes and returned 3 tons of seeds back to the cooperative for the next sowing campaign that are stored in a warehouse, as of the rules of the cooperative agreement. The next campaign will support other women and men in the community.         “I consider it having a ‘triple’ effect- the food that you secure for your table, the money that you get for the rest of the crop and the solidarity that you learn from helping each other. This is what my mother-in-law once taught me to do”-, smiles Sitoramoh. She hopes that more women will join agricultural cooperatives, and she acknowledges the power of women getting together. Being part of the joint forces, also helped farmers to get a stronger voice in the supply chain and benefit from economies of scale through bulk purchase of inputs (seed, fertilizer, chemicals) and sales of products. Cooperatives mainly offer networks of mutual support and solidarity that allow to improve self-resilience, collectively negotiate better terms for contracts, prices, process and access to a wide resources and services. “Last year, during a period of fertilizer shortages and skyrocketing prices we jointly purchased fertilizers which resulted in cost savings for farmers. We had an opportunity to get 20% discount for bulk purchasing of fertilizers,”-, emphasized Sitoramoh. “In the past, as individual farmers we had little bargaining or purchasing power.” Cooperative membership has a particularly strong positive impact on women’s decision-making opportunities at the household, group and community levels. Sitoramoh acknowledges the potential and strength of it as a path to overall women’s empowerment. Activities related to the strengthening agricultural cooperatives are part of the project “Strengthening institutions and capacity of the Ministry of Agriculture and State Veterinary Inspection Service for policy formulation”, funded by the European Union. The main objective of the project is to assist the Government of Tajikistan in institutional reforms of the agricultural sector, including food security and safety.                

Ehanced livelihoods of rural Tajik families help overcome the COVID-19 crisis 28 January 2021, Dushanbe – Agriculture has a central place in the culture of mountainous Tajikistan. In fact, more than 60 percent of Tajik people work in agriculture, cultivating the country’s arable land that extends over 850 thousand hectares. The Nurobod district, located in the Rasht valley, boasts beautiful landscapes with high agricultural biodiversity that contributes to its resilient ecosystems. Yet, like in other rural areas, the life here has its beauties and hardships alike. “It is a hard time now for everyone, including farmers, doctors, teachers, and other rural residents due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation,” said Bukhori Saidov, a farmer, who benefitted from a European Union-funded FAO project. “However, I think we are very lucky, because at the beginning of the crisis, when all borders were closed and no one could enter or leave, we got tremendous support as members of the Nuri Nurobod cooperative.” Bukhori Saidov is not only a member of the Nuri Nurobod cooperative, which was established in early 2020, but he is also a paramedic in charge of the medical station in the Obi Lurd village in the northern Nurobod district that serves more than 3 500 people. He is married and father of six children. Bukhori has about six hectares of land in Javchi and Kahbit areas, both in the highlands, where he is engaged in crop production and horticulture, as well as livestock production. Turning a challenge into a possibility “When I got married and my children were born, life became challenging as it was hard to maintain the family with my monthly wage. At that time, I decided to do something else,” recalls Bukhori. I don’t come from a farmer family, my father worked in the law enforcement, and haven’t practice traditional farming before. Still, I knew that agriculture can be a good solution and ensure a sustainable income and better livelihood for my family.” Bukhori was eager to learn. Every day, he spent six to seven hours on working and learning in the field for his idea and ambitions to flourish. Bukhori tried to explore the intricacies of this sphere. He observed similarities between humans and plants, since growing plants is similar to humans; they both can get sick and need treatment. The light at the end of the tunnel When Bukhori Saidov found out about a cooperative being established in Nurobod district with additional benefits, including distribution of a quality potato seed, construction of a storage facility, and further opportunities, he immediately decided to be part of it. He understood that this initiative can improve potato seed availability and improve the food security of the rural population, particularly important during the COVID-19 crisis. Because the high yield potato seeds enable small-scale farmers to increase productivity and will result in greater availability of potatoes for local consumption, Bukhori grew very enthusiastic. “It is difficult to find high quality potato seeds due to limited availability and high price, especially when the demand for seed is high ahead of the planting season. In addition to this, other challenges such as access to quality pesticides, fertilizers, and other inputs often prevent farmers from attaining higher yields,” pointed out Bukhori. “For the past several years, we have usually planted the Picasso variety potato seed that had better yields in comparison with the local potato varieties. Actually, I harvested no more than 25–30 tonnes of potato per hectare.” As part of the project supported by the European Union, cooperatives in Nurobod and Shahristan districts received a Dutch potato seed called Red Scarlet. With expert know-how provided by FAO, both cooperatives promoted potato seed banks, so local farmers had an opportunity to learn about innovative approaches for producing potato seeds. Training sessions were organized for members of the cooperatives on the advanced technologies of potato growing, fertilizing methods, and developing irrigation schemes. “I received 1 tonne of elite seed potato Red Scarlett and planted it on 0.24 hectares, from which I harvested over 30 tonnes of potatoes. This was the best result and I am very proud of this achievement. I gave 3 tonnes of seed potatoes to the cooperative for the next sowing campaign that are now stored in a warehouse. The rest of the harvest is for our own consumption and part of it I sell as there are many buyers who are interested in this potato variety,” said Bukhori during the interview. “It is a very delicious variety of potato with a good yield, and if we do growing, fertilizing, and irrigation properly, we all can have a record harvest." ©FAO/Bunafsha Azimova Good prospects for the future The project will continue to support cooperatives’ development. In the future, logistical centers will be built to provide cooperatives with sorting and processing equipment, ensuring farmers with access to machinery and other services, and improve product marketing. “It is a very delicious variety of potato with a good yield, and if we do growing, fertilizing, and irrigation properly, we all can have a record harvest. I hope for positive changes with the support of the cooperative. Next year, I intend to expand the area for planting this seed potato.” The EU-funded project is supporting Tajikistan’s agriculture reform programme, which aims to foster and support farmers’ economic and social growth. It also encourages establishment and development of effective and efficient cooperatives. Last year two cooperative unions in Nurobod and Shahriston districts received 60 tonnes of Red Scarlet potato seeds from the Netherlands, incorporated altogether 60 farmers as members. The total costs for purchasing seed potato was USD 90 000 and overall the farmers received 803 tonnes of potato, from which 482 tonnes are seed potato of the first reproduction.   LINKS: FAO, EU provide 60 tonnes of potato seeds to Tajik farmers http://www.fao.org/europe/news/detail-news/en/c/1274360/ Stronger linkages of cities and rural areas back efficient food systems in Tajikistan http://www.fao.org/europe/news/detail-news/en/c/1365924/ GEF allotment helps Azerbaijan and Tajikistan http://www.fao.org/europe/news/detail-news/en/c/1364299/ Ensuring quality seeds when the need is greatest http://www.fao.org/europe/news/detail-news/en/c/1331170/ Matching grants help migrants’ businesses take off in Tajikistan http://www.fao.org/fao-stories/article/en/c/1287874/   Journalists & editors:
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