[{"bbox": [83, 120, 1178, 360], "category": "Text", "text": "Since the change in leadership, the government has taken a series of positive steps showing a greater openness about human rights and has allowed several external independent scrutiny processes in Uzbekistan to be conducted (since 2017). A law was approved to strengthen the Human Rights Ombudsman (2018), and dialogue between the Uzbek authorities and international organisations which monitor human rights was revived. Within the agri-food sector, Uzbekistan has achieved significant progress in eradicating the systematic and systemic use of child labour and forced labour in the cotton industry. According to the ILO this is no longer a major concern⁵. Uzbekistan's national and foreign policy objectives are now closely aligned with those of the EU with a shared vision on peace, security, universal human rights, democracy and sustainable development, as reflected in the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement which establishes a common values framework for policy and political dialogues."}, {"bbox": [83, 371, 1178, 609], "category": "Text", "text": "This Action focuses on sustainable agriculture and food and nutrition security, which are at the top of the EU's long-term development cooperation objectives, as defined in the Agenda for Change, and it brings a strong coherent focus on people, planet and prosperity in line with the European Consensus for Development. Furthermore, an enhanced partnership is pursued through an integration of this Action with the TEI planned in this sector. The 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development also puts an emphasis on rights and common responsibility for healthy environment and access to adequate, which will be supported in the proposed action. The Action will target primarily to SDG 2 Enhance food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture, and SDG 8 'Promote sustainable and inclusive economic growth through increased productive employment and decent work for men and women. It also intends to contribute to SDGs 1, 3, 5, 10, 12, 13, and 15."}, {"bbox": [83, 622, 1178, 757], "category": "Text", "text": "Agriculture and rural development has been the only focal sector of cooperation with Uzbekistan in the last MIP. The new Action will further facilitate support for inclusive, green, sustainable, gender responsive and climate-smart development through digital technologies, research and innovation. The joint engagement with the EU Member States and the EDFIs shall allow for enhanced engagement in the policy dialogue and support the promotion of the EU objectives."}, {"bbox": [83, 768, 1178, 927], "category": "Text", "text": "The Action foresees an engagement with the authorities at both central and regional levels and multiple institutions in the agri-food sector. The EU budget support is expected to be effective in stimulating a stronger ownership of the reforms being undertaken in the agri-food sector and continued collaboration between the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and the multiple sector institutions. Inter-institutional governance mechanisms for the strategic reforms have been put in place and will be strengthened by the activity with a particular focus on private public dialogue targeting women farmers and entrepreneurs."}, {"bbox": [72, 958, 304, 988], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 2.2 Problem Analysis"}, {"bbox": [83, 1003, 1163, 1106], "category": "Text", "text": "The Action is inspired by the EU \"Farm to Fork\" strategy promoting fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food systems, and shall bring environmental, health and social benefits while offering economic gains in particular to primary smallholder producers, women and the most vulnerable who lag behind in terms of income and security of their livelihoods."}, {"bbox": [83, 1121, 1163, 1577], "category": "Text", "text": "a) Competitive and inclusive agri-food value chains: One important socio-economic challenge lies in developing not only competitive but also inclusive value chains with more fair trading practices to support sustainable rural livelihoods, in particular those of women, youth and the most vulnerable. People under 30 years of age representing over 56% of the population require more jobs, particularly in rural areas where around half of the population of Uzbekistan lives. Entrenched gender stereotypes leading to almost exclusive responsibilities for unpaid domestic work and childcare, continue to undermine women's ability to participate in the labour force, both in terms of farm and non-farm employment. Overall, married women have a much lower likelihood of working than single women – 36 percent compared to 52 percent, and women are over-represented in informal, seasonal, and part-time jobs that were hit hard by the COVID-19 crisis. Moreover, among the working-age population, one in five males is an international migrant, and among the youth, the migration rates are particularly high—one in three males between the ages of 20 and 24. There is also internal migration from rural areas to urban centres. Males migrating from rural areas leave many women behind to manage *dehkan* farms and kitchen gardens while being especially vulnerable to poverty and social stigma. When women work informally on *dehkan* farms they do not receive protection under labour law in terms of sick pay, maternity or childcare leave, and are unlikely to benefit from rural advisory services. Interventions in this area should contribute to poverty reduction and prevention as the majority of the poor live in rural areas. The costs for collection, transportation, storage, processing, packaging and certification of products from the field to final consumers are high"}, {"bbox": [72, 1609, 1157, 1656], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁵ \"Third-party monitoring of measures against child labour and forced labour during the 2019 cotton harvest in Uzbekistan\", ILO 2020."}, {"bbox": [1144, 1659, 1158, 1681], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "5"}]