Rural Economy Development Project (REDP) — Tajikistan's World Bank-Funded Tourism and Agribusiness Grants Programme

Between 2019 and 2024, the Government of Tajikistan ran the Rural Economy Development Project (REDP), using a $30 million World Bank (IDA) grant to boost livelihoods in two of the country's poorest and most remote regions, Gorno-Badakhshan (GBAO) and Khatlon.

REDP aimed to strengthen tourism and agribusiness MSMEs through a combination of public infrastructure investment, matching grants and capacity-building, with an explicit target of 50% of jobs and training places going to women and youth, including returning labour migrants.

A Project Implementation Unit under the Ministry of Finance combined public infrastructure investment ($12.0M), matching grants to farmers and entrepreneurs ($8.2M), and capacity-building and business development services ($6.9M); five local grant-enabler firms ran 159 capacity-building events.

By January 2024, REDP had disbursed 526 matching grants, generating an estimated 1,500 jobs; investments included renovating 25 food-safety laboratories, building 45 post-harvest and cold-storage facilities, and restoring cultural heritage sites for tourism, while 159 capacity-building events reached over 15,500 potential beneficiaries. One documented beneficiary, embroiderer Tozagul Samadova, used her grant to expand a workshop, hiring four employees and training eleven female students.

REDP's reported figures come from the World Bank's own results-monitoring system rather than an independent evaluation, and continued operation of its cold-storage facilities and laboratories will depend on financing not yet confirmed beyond the project's December 2024 close.