Water Resources Management
GIZ implemented the project “Towards Rural Inclusive Growth and Economic Resilience (TRIGGER)” in Tajikistan, jointly co-funded by the BMZ and the EU, with GFA assigned to support project implementation. The project aimed to improve the enabling environment in the water sector in Tajikistan and to advance the implementation of water-related national policies in regional and local development processes.
The project was implemented against the backdrop of key reforms in Tajikistan’s water sector. In 2015, the Government of Tajikistan (GoT) adopted the Water Sector Reform Programme 2016–2025, which aimed to achieve water security as a precondition for food security through the application of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and a shift from administrative water management to hydrographical river basins. The programme defined five river basins as water management units: Syr Darya, Zarafshon, Vakhsh, Kafarnighan and Pyanj. In 2020, a new Water Code was adopted, enabling the establishment of River Basin Organisations (RBOs), which were subsequently created in all five basins in June 2020.
Within this framework, GFA supported key government institutions at the macro level, including the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources, the Agency for Land Reclamation and Irrigation, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Committee for Environmental Protection and its subordinate Hydrometeorology Agency, with a view to strengthening the policy and legal framework for sustainable and resilient water resources management. At the river basin level, the project supported RBOs and River Basin Councils (RBCs) in the Zarafshon River Basin, as well as local authorities, Water User Associations, civil society organisations and agricultural producers, to establish intersectoral and multilevel procedures for the formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) and their integration into development planning.
GFA’s support was structured around four work packages: water governance; information and knowledge management; capacity building; and water-resilient food systems.
