The objective of this programmatic South-South knowledge exchange, “Skilled Teachers, Skilled Nation”, was to support governments in Central Asia (CA) in improving the effectiveness of their investments in teachers. The program organized five knowledge exchange (KE) events from October 2021 to September 2023, where national researchers from the four CA countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) presented the current landscape of teacher policies and practices across the full career lifecycle – selection into initial teacher educatio

With one of the largest silver deposits in the world as well as other important minerals, Tajikistan is trying to make full use of its mineral sector to encourage economic growth. However, Tajikistan’s geological information is outdated, the mining sector is only now starting to attract significant foreign investment, and the many government agencies involved in the sector are unorganized and so not prepared to advance it as a sustainable economic driver.

Developing forested areas offers many interrelated environmental and other socioeconomic benefits. Increased biodiversity, soil conservation, jobs, firewood, and building materials for the rural poor work together to create a virtuous cycle—the more forests, the more benefits; and the more benefits, the more forests. National plans in both the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan give priority to the development of forested areas, and link these activities to carbon sequestration and carbon-trading activities that can provide critical intermediate funding for broader forestry goals.

Although Tajikistan enjoyed impressive economic growth in the first decade of the new millennium, most of the growth was based on good fortune and focused narrowly in a few sectors. Needing a strategy to sustain and diversify growth over the medium to long term, the government of Tajikistan (GOT) began the long process of developing its hydropower resources for domestic and export markets.

Every year, approximately 10 million migrant workers from the lower-income Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) head to Russia and other middle-income CIS countries to seek employment and provide a livelihood for their families.¹ Many migrant laborers remit funds to their home countries to support their extended families.

The Government of Tajikistan wanted to keep up with the growth of e-governance as well as reform its public procurement system. Through the exchange with Malaysia, experts from Tajikistan learned about the importance of improving efficiency and transparency in the public procurement process. The Government of Tajikistan also increased its capacity to develop and implement reforms, including e-procurement practices.

Challenge

To provide access to more reliable, sustainable energy and power sources, representatives of five Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) participated in an exchange with India. They learned about the pros and cons of new technologies in the transmission and distribution of power, and how such technologies might be practical in their respective contexts.

Challenge

Water utilities in Tajikistan and other post-Soviet countries faced challenges in upgrading infrastructure and modernizing operations. Complementing a World Bank project, officials from a water utility in Dushanbe engaged in an exchange with a utility in St. Petersburg, Russia to learn how it had revitalized its performance. The exchange helped officials revise an action plan for the Dushanbe utility, and the two utilities formed a partnership for longer-term cooperation.

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