Tajiks, or at least some of them, are capitalizing on United Nations micro-loans.

Initiated by the Tajik government and supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the local Women in Development bureau is providing assistance to rural women through training and micro-credits.

UNDP’s programme on community development in Tajikistan is currently working in 30 districts of the former Soviet republic and has distributed loans worth some $3 million, with around 40,000 beneficiaries, of whom some 30 percent are women.

The article provides an anecdotal case study, but hopeful nonetheless.

Mavliuda decided to borrow a micro-credit to buy seeds and fertilisers. “It was a very big risk for us. When we used to work for a collective farm, we only worked the fields and did not bear any responsibility. But now we have to learn how to run things, make profit and pay back the loan,” the female farmer said.

While Mavliuda’s income back in 1998 was almost zero, after joining the scheme she has been able to marry two sons and the family have money to buy good quality foodstuff and clothes.

How effective and viable is microfinance? For an excellent analysis of the trendy new form of development assistance, see this post on Owen’s Blog.