Community Outreach 

Kalam is continuing a project funded by Counterpart Tajikistan to assist the communities of 

Abdulloev, Tirchid and Khufak to help them identify and solve their problems. As a result of Kalam's 

community mobilization activities to develop Community Action Plans two of the communities, 

Tirchid and Khufak, received Community Action Grants from Counterpart Tajikistan. Kalam 

negotiated with MSDSP Aga  Khan Foundation and the WFP to provide additional support to the 

communities funded by the Counterpart grant. Both organizations expressed interest in cooperating 

with Kalam and Counterpart in supporting other community development projects.  

This quarter the local NGO Tashrif recruited one volunteer who was trained by Kalam.   

5. The Kulob CSSC (Shahrvand) 

Activity Overview 

This quarter the Shahrvand conducted 8 training workshops on the following topics:  

NGO and Community 

Problem Identification 

Project Design 

Financial Sustainability 

Social Partnership 

Constituency Building 

Facilitation Skills 

Effective Governance 

Shahrvand also provided 3 two day training workshops on gender issues for local NGOs targeted by 

Save the Children  US on a fee basis. 

Internal Capacity Building 

The Kulob Civil Society Support Center, which was registered last quarter as a local NGO, 

Shahrvand, is planning to establish a governing body in the form of Advisory Board. In order to move 

ahead with the process the members of Shahrvand met with a number of potential Advisory Board 

candidates. Among them there are: the Head of Kulob Mayor's Office, the Correspondent of the 

national newspaper Asia Plus, the Manager of the International Organization Children Aid Direct and 

a businessman. Almost all expressed interest in being on the Board, some of them asked additional 

information about Shahrvand and its activities. Shahrvand is planning to conduct the first meeting of 

the Advisory Board in July. 

This quarter Shahrvand conducted a special session to revise the strategic plan of the Kulob Civil 

Society Support Center. All the members of Shahrvand actively participated in the session and as a 

result of the session several important changes were made and amendments were included to the 

Center's strategic plan. 

In May Shahrvand conducted a survey among the local NGOs on the services provided by the Civil 

Society Support Center in accordance to Phase III Program. Based on the survey a plan was 

developed to improve the quality of some services to NGOs. In particular, the plans calls for:     

Meeting with the training participants after each training to receive feedback. 

Selecting volunteers for Shahrvand based on their qualifications 

Developing a plan to cover the NGOs located in the remote districts of the Kulob region 

Providing new and updated information for NGOs.  

Shahrvand has developed an action plan on community mobilization for the period of April 2002 to 

April 2003. It has also developed for the first time its action plan on advocacy for the same period. 

When developing the action plans staff members from Shahrvand consulted with staff members from 

the Khorog and Khujand Civil Society Support Centers.  

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