[{"bbox": [83, 105, 1146, 159], "category": "Text", "text": "damages in the central and south-western densely populated parts of Tajikistan⁸, affecting more than 1200 households across 12 districts of Khatlon region only⁹ with major impact on the WASH infrastructure."}, {"bbox": [83, 170, 1146, 279], "category": "Text", "text": "Tajikistan shares a 1,357 km border with Afghanistan with eight border crossing points in the provinces of Kunduz, Takhar, and Badakhshan. The withdrawal of the NATO forces from Afghanistan in the summer of 2021 and associated developments have led to an arrival of refugees into Tajikistan, which would put additional pressure on already weak social systems and service provisions of host communities¹⁰."}, {"bbox": [87, 307, 326, 339], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 2.2. Problem Analysis"}, {"bbox": [83, 364, 303, 392], "category": "Text", "text": "Short problem analysis:"}, {"bbox": [83, 403, 1146, 724], "category": "Text", "text": "Improvement in service level has been spatially unequal across the urban and rural continuum. According to the Tajikistan Joint Monitoring Programme data¹¹, 95 percent of the urban population, and 76.64 percent of the rural population have access to basic water supply services. In rural Tajikistan access to piped water supply services remains extremely low at 55.5 percent, with only 48.77 percent of rural population qualifying their services as safely managed. The gap between the urban and rural areas has been narrowing since 2010, with the role of groundwater becoming more prominent as many communities continue investing in development of private wells. Some estimates suggest that while around 27 percent of population receive piped water supply services from the State Unit Enterprise \"Khojagii Manziliyu Kommunali (SUE KMK) (~13 percent), Dushanbe Vodokanal (~11 percent), Khujand Vodokanal (~2.5 percent) and other municipal water utilities, the rest of population relies on water from springs, rivers, canals and ditches, shallow wells, rain-water harvesting and unregulated water trucking services. However, no consolidated information exists on distribution of population by water use from different water sources at the national level."}, {"bbox": [83, 738, 1146, 871], "category": "Text", "text": "The burden of deficient water supplies is especially impacting the poor. In rural areas, house connections are available to 34 percent of the poorest households compared to 80 percent of the poorest households in urban areas, which demonstrates that the gap in services is largely correlated with location rather than income of households. However, the gap between rich and poor in drinking water service provision is much less pronounced than is commonly seen in other low-income countries."}, {"bbox": [83, 883, 1146, 1256], "category": "Text", "text": "Recognising the importance of water to its development agenda, Tajikistan has embarked on a process of water sector transformation in the last decade. Tajikistan's goals and macro strategies are laid out in the National Development Strategy for the period up to 2030, which is the main reference for the WSS sector, while additional laws, decrees, plans and strategies further set the context in which WSS services are provided. The National Water Sector Reform Programme (WSRP) for the period 2016–2025¹², inspired by the 2000 EU Water Framework Directive, stresses water as a valuable resource and calls for broad adoption of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) on a river basin basis. It sets out the key national principles for water resources management including (i) separation of policy and operational functions, (ii) aligning water resources management to hydrological boundaries; and (iii) decentralisation of service functions. In 2019, with the support of the EU, Tajikistan developed a National Water Strategy (yet to be endorsed) with a 2030 horizon that sets ambitious targets including (i) ensuring complete coverage of population with safely managed and affordable water supply services; (ii) ensuring access of urban population to adequate sanitation and increasing access rate of rural population to adequate sanitation from 3 percent to 50 percent. Key reform achievements in 2019 and 2020 were new law on Drinking Water Supply & Wastewater and the adoption of a long-awaited revision to the National Water Code, operationally backed by the EU through the Landell Mills"}, {"bbox": [72, 1350, 735, 1374], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁸ WB (2021). *Assessment of contributing factors of the May 2021 disasters in Tajikistan*"}, {"bbox": [72, 1375, 830, 1399], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁹ UNICEF (2021). *Emergency WASH Assessment in response to the May 2021 disasters in Tajikistan*"}, {"bbox": [72, 1399, 1158, 1591], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁰ While refugees from Afghanistan are likely to be housed in temporary reception areas in rural parts of Khatlon and GBAO regions, they are likely to move to peri-urban areas upon completion of the legal paperwork. To prepare for potential refugee arrivals a multi-sectorial needs assessment was conducted by the WB in October 2021. Given the fluid situation in Afghanistan, the Tajik authorities and UNHCR estimate that, in a potential worst-case scenario, as many as 23,000 persons may seek refuge in Tajikistan by the end of the year. Interagency discussions are ongoing with the concerned Government authorities to identify and discuss appropriate responses and prepare suitable refugee sites. While the Government may decide to host any new and sudden arrivals in refugee camps, the interagency response will continue to support host communities and their public services to ensure peaceful coexistence, and advocate that the refugees be hosted outside of camps."}, {"bbox": [72, 1591, 838, 1614], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹¹ WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP), link: https://washdata.org/data/household#!/tjk"}, {"bbox": [72, 1614, 873, 1638], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹² Minister of Energy and Water Resources (2015) *Реформа водного сектора Таджикистана*"}, {"bbox": [1051, 1663, 1158, 1687], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 5 of 22"}]