The European Union-funded project — Technical Assistance to Support Pension Reform in Tajikistan — was launched on May 19 in Dushanbe. The project will run over three years (until January 2020) and will provide support to the Agency for Social Insurance and Pensions (ASIP) in the areas of Information and Communications Technology, legal reform, actuarial projections, and training and capacity building for ASIP staff, according to the Delegation of the European Union to Tajikistan

The overall objective of the assistance is to sustain poverty alleviation and inclusive growth in Tajikistan through the provision of support for the development of a social protection system geared towards equity, efficiency and improved quality, in line with the country’s sector strategies. The Project will strive to enhance the capacity of the ASIP to establish and manage a sustainable universal pension system, effectively meeting the needs of target beneficiaries. The successful implementation of the Project will lead to an operational, sustainable and universal pension system.

The Project is an integral part of the Human Development Support Programme II (HDSP II) signed by the EU and the Government of Tajikistan (GoT) in October 2014. Pension reform also works best in cooperation and coordination with other programmes that the European Union is supporting in promoting further economic and human development in Tajikistan.  For the period 2014 to 2020, under the Development Cooperation Instrument, the EU is planning to provide EUR 251 million in grant assistance for these programmes.

The ICON-INSTITUTE of Cologne, Germany, is heading a consortium from the United Kingdom and France implementing the Project which began operations in January 2017. The Project is being implemented in partnership with the Agency for Social Insurance and Pensions (ASIP).