March 13, 2024

SGS 2023 Grantee: Development and support of innovations “Almaz”, Nurek, Tajikistan, with partner CSOs Zanoni Komeb (Women of Komeb), and Садои Кухсор (Sound of Kukhsor).

Project: Information centres for rural migrants and their families affected by the war in Ukraine

Here is their report:

In three regions of Tajikistan – Nurek, Khovalinga and Rogun – meetings were organised to provide information to labour migrants and their families. The main outcomes were:

· In Nurek city 76 people were provided with information; in Khovalinga district – 120 people; and in Rogun district – 80 people.

· Information booklets were distributed: 500 in each of the three locations above.

· Training: in Khovalinga district in January 2024 a one-day training session on the rights of migrant workers was held with leaders of local communities.

The project achieved the following:

· Greater awareness among migrant workers and their families of their rights and responsibilities;

· Improved access to information about the risks attached to migration, and about job-seeking, legal issues and social services;

· Increased legal awareness among migrants;

· Reduced risk of exploitation and trafficking;

· Strengthening of social ties and mutual support among migrants.

Why the project was important

The war against Ukraine has made the situation regarding support for migrants and their families more acute. The information centres became a valuable resource for people who found themselves in a difficult situation. The project also demonstrated the effectiveness of collaborative work between local non-profit organisations and international organisations in tackling the problems faced by migrant workers. We plan henceforth to support a network of information centres and scale up the successful experience of our project in other regions of Tajikistan.

Comments by a participant in our project:

“I, Sirodjob Golibshokh, am Director of secondary school No 6 in Khovalinga district, in Sokhtmonchien village. As part of the project ‘Establishment of information centres to help rural migrants and their families affected by war in Ukraine’, I and my colleagues took part in information training and were also involved in a consultation session at the centre. I would like to express my gratitude to the organisers of the project, which provided valuable information and support. For me, the most useful aspects of this were talking to specialists on crossing the border with Russia, the issue of mobilisation (conscription) of Tajik citizens, and most importantly, learning that I cannot be compelled to do something I do not wish to do. The information booklets were most useful in providing the rules for registration of migrant workers, the obligations of migrant workers, social support for migrant workers, and employment of migrant workers. The training session informed us of the rights and obligations of migrant workers in Russia.

Thanks to having visited the centre I was able to use some of the information I gained from the centre and the booklet in my teaching work, and to help colleagues among the teachers to identify false information and find information from accessible sources and promulgate the information among older students in the school, who were intending to travel to work in Russia after finishing their studies.

I consider that this project was very important and timely because in this rural area migrant workers receive a lot of false information and have poor access to reliable information. Many people do not have internet access because it is expensive or because in many places there is no signal, so they cannot access information. The project was also useful because the war has made the situation for refugees and migrant workers more difficult, and this was exacerbated by their lack of access to reliable information. This caused negative consequences for migrants.

Here are some of the ways in which the experts organised the project well: they provided full and reliable information; the leaflets and booklets were useful, and challenged false information (such as that if a migrant worker signed a contract with the Russian Defence Ministry they would automatically receive Russian citizenship).

Once again thank you to everyone who organised the project!”

Sirodjob Golibshokh

Head of secondary school No 6, Khovalinga district, Sokhtmonchien village.

10 January 2024

Many thanks from Almaz to The BEARR Trust for its financial support for the project, and to our partners Zanoni Komeb (Women of Komeb), and Садои Кухсор (Sound of Kukhsor) for their fruitful cooperation.

Contact information:

Dilshod Tagoimurodov

Project leader, Almaz

Nurek City, Tajikistan

Email: dilshod555@mail.ru, dilshod.tagoimurodov@gmail.com