Tajikistan
662
people served
73%
of whom were
female
CHALLENGES
Tajikistan is home to some of the world’s
highest mountains. However, the country’s
majestic views come with a price – extreme
weather. In the fall, an unexpected cold snap
delayed construction on a new school. Another
challenge for CAI was an increased level of
inflation. The inflation rate increased 8%
between 2018 and 2019, impacting Tajikistan’s
already impoverished communities. We suspect
this contributed to the 50% increase in requests
for aid received by our in-country partner.
SUCCESSES
Nineteen talented university students received
scholarships in 2019. They were the lucky ones. Close to
28% of people live below the poverty line in Tajikistan’s
eastern province, Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous
Oblast, where Central Asia Institute works. Many
families in the region can’t afford to send one child to
university, much less send multiple children. These 19
scholarship recipients were grateful for the opportunity
they were given and spent the year studying foreign
languages, information technology, and mathematics.