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sustainable national development 2 . Following the PAR Strategy, a new public administration system for the country was adopted 3 , and work on reorganizing public entities and institutions began. Country context A small, landlocked nation with a population of about 7.2 million, Tajikistan is one of the world’s least accessible countries. Its high, mountainous terrain and remoteness are compounded by a lack of infrastructure and a weak governance and regulatory framework. These are significant barriers to external trade, connectivity, and investment. It remains the poorest of the countries that emerged from the former Soviet Union and its fragile economy, still heavily reliant on agriculture, aluminium, and hydroelectric power – as well as on its neighbours, especially Uzbekistan, for international trade and transit – is vulnerable to unexpected shocks, such as the severe 2007-08 winter, the 2007 upsurge in world food and fuel prices, and, more recently, the global economic crisis. Its post-independence five-year civil war (1992-97) resulted in significant economic and human losses amounting to an estimated 60 percent of GDP, and up to 50,000 deaths, and greatly complicated its initial economic transition. Tajikistan is a presidential republic, with a bicameral legislature. The heavily centralized country is led by the President, Imomali Rahmon. The People’s Democratic Party of Tajikistan, led by the President, won the February 2010 general election with 71.04 percent of the vote, and controls both houses. Real power is concentrated in the executive rather than the legislative branch of government. The role of civil society in politics, policy development, and decision-making processes remains weak. The public sector is also weak. Many public institutions are inefficient, lacking accountability and transparency in financial management and internal controls. The systems, procedures, and capacity to fight corruption are frail, and the legal and regulatory frameworks remain underdeveloped. The government has, though, attempted to deal with these deficiencies. In March 2006, it adopted the Public Administration Reform Strategy of the Republic of Tajikistan 1 (2005-2015), whose goal was to develop an effective public administration system as a basis for Corruption remains one of the most serious problems for Tajikistan. One of the first steps taken to address the issue was the OECD’s Anti-Corruption Plan, adopted in Istanbul in 2003 4 . The government developed the National Anti-Corruption Strategy, 2008 – 2012, as a nationwide anti-corruption plan. The State Committee on Financial Control and Fighting Corruption 5 is responsible for implementing the anti-corruption measures. Socio-economic trends and developments Tajikistan’s macroeconomic performance has improved steadily in recent years. It has seen GDP grow at 8 percent annually, declining inflation, greater fiscal discipline, and a manageable external debt. Growth was fuelled mainly by high world prices for aluminium and cotton, Tajikistan’s principal exports, and by remittances. 6 The economy is gradually diversifying, and this is reflected, inter alia, in the much smaller share of aluminium and cotton in value added products 7 , and an increase in the output of non-traditional products. But Tajikistan remains the poorest of the former Soviet Union republics, with income per capita reaching just US$2,020 in 2010 8 . It has made progress in terms of enabling the business environment 9 , but efforts are still far below those of neighbouring countries 10 . Poverty has declined since 1999 (from 72.4 percent in 2003 to 46.7 percent in 2009 11 ), but still remains high. About 53 percent of the population, rising to 70 percent in isolated rural and mountainous areas, lives below the poverty line 12 . 1 Approved by Presidential Decree No. 1713 on 15 March 2006. 2 Specific objectives are to i) Increase effectiveness of the national development management: ii) Improve public administration in line with the market economy principles; iii) Increase effectiveness of the public finance management; iv) Form modern professional civil service; v) Develop administrative and territorial management; vi) Form local self-governance capable to provide qualitative services to the population. 3 Presidential Decree 541 (September 2008). 4 http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/51/3/37228458.pdf Last access: 26 April 2011. In particular, the Istanbul Action Plan of the ACN creates a peer review mechanism for a group of ex-Soviet countries. Tajikistan made its first status report to the group in January 2004, and remains committed to implement the resulting 21 recommendations. 5 Signed by the President on 24 January 2008. 6 Remittances rose from $82 million (5% of GDP) in 2003 to $2.6 billion (50% of GDP) in 2008. 7 10% in 2006 compared to 30% in 2000. 8 Compared for example with USD 2291 Kyrgyzstan and 3,084 Uzbekistan for more details ref. to: http://hdrstats.undp.org/images/explanations/TJK.pdf Last access: 26 April 2011. 9 World Bank’s Doing Business 2011 report showed improvement from 149 in 2010 to 139 in 2011. 10 For example: Kazakhstan (59) and the Kyrgyz Republic (44). 11 MDG Progress Report. 12 Projections based on World Bank. 2008. Tajikistan Living Standards Measurement Survey, 2008. Washington, DC. 11
Local Governance and Decentralization Since early 2009, the global economic and financial crisis has negatively affected Tajikistan’s fragile economy. Remittances from migrant workers fell by almost 15 percent 13 , affecting private consumption, reducing imports, and reducing construction activities. In addition, labour migrants returning to Tajikistan, mainly from Russia, are placing new demands on public services and pressurizing the country’s social fabric 14 . As a result, poverty rates are likely to increase in the short to medium term. Job creation and fiscal stimulus measures are challenging under current macroeconomic conditions. The fundamental challenge facing economic policy and future reforms in Tajikistan is to ensure an acceptable post-crisis growth for the economy, to alleviate poverty, and to increase employment. In 2005, the government, in partnership with <strong>UNDP</strong>, undertook a detailed assessment of resources needed to achieve the MDGs. A key conclusion highlighted a large resource gap and recommended donors to double aid to help the country to meet its MDG targets by 2015. The assessment formed a basis for alignment of national development strategies and policies with MDG priorities. Following this assessment, the Government of Tajikistan, with <strong>UNDP</strong>’s support, designed and adopted the National Development Strategy 15 2006-2015. This strategy focuses on three interlinked goals: (a) promotion of sustainable economic growth, (b) improvement of public administration, and (c) development of human resources. Two poverty reduction strategies (2004-2006 and 2007- 2009) were also developed to help implement the National Development Strategy. The government subsequently adopted a third poverty reduction strategy (2010-2012), which included an action plan with much more realistic and focused targets. However, implementation of that action plan remains challenging, as there are no direct links between the strategic framework and financial resources from the national budget. Local governance system in Tajikistan Legal framework The administrative and territorial structure of the Republic of Tajikistan did not change after independence from the Soviet Union. It is still determined by the country’s administrativeterritorial structure 16 , defined in the Law on Local Government and the Order of Formation and Restructuring of the Administrative-Territorial Units. Tajikistan’s territory is divided by regions (oblasts) that, in turn, are sub-divided into districts, towns and villages. The Gorno- Badakhshan Autonomous Region is a special territorial and administrative unit with more autonomy than Sughd and Khatlon regions. Among the country’s administrative and territorial units, only the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region enjoys the right of legislative initiative. Formation and abolishment of regions is the responsibility of Parliament, when requested by the government. The administrative structure has another specific feature: 13 districts do not have a regional authority, but are directly ruled by the centre, including three towns, 91 jamoats and three settlements. This is because these districts are located close to the centre. In most cases, towns are directly accountable to regions and the central government 17 . The local government structure is organized as follows: a The community level: village and town governments in rural areas (jamoat, shakhrak and dekhot). a The district level: administrations of cities and districts (rayons) subordinated to regions (oblasts), four Dushanbe city districts subordinate to Dushanbe city government as well as those of thirteen districts directly subordinate to the Republic. a The regional level: administrations of Dushanbe, the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region, and Khatlon and Leninabad regions, all of which are directly subordinate to the national government. Local authorities consist of representative and executive bodies that act within their terms of reference. Representative bodies in regions, cities and districts are assemblies (majils) whose delegates are elected for a period of five years. The khukumat is the assembly’s executive body. Both the representative and the executive bodies are headed by a chairman, who is appointed by the president and approved by an assembly 18 . In contrast, 13 The Country Partnership Strategy for Tajikistan 2010-2014 by the Asian Development Bank 14 According to the Asian Development Bank Country Partnership Strategy 2010-2014, the number of labour migrants returning to Tajikistan is estimated at 460,000. 15 http://www.untj.org/principals/files/nds/nds_first_draft.pdf- National Development Strategy for the Republic of Tajikistan 2006-2015. Last access: 26 April 2011. 16 Art. 76-80 and 83 of the Constitution of the Republic of Tajikistan. 17 These are so-called ‘direct rule towns’, which have a population of less than 200,000, but are of significant administrative, industrial and social and cultural importance. However, the legislation does not clearly define the concept of ‘republican importance’ and ‘direct republican rule’. 12
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