Dushanbe – Two Tajik migrants, Hassan and Husein, send roughly two thousand somoni back to their families in Tajikistan each month. Hasan's wife uses this money to buy household goods, a cow and even has some left over to save. However, Husein’s wife has run out of money and is also in debt to the village shop for flour and butter. Why has this difference between the two occurred?

It might seem like an easy answer, but if it were truly that simple, hundreds of families of migrants would note face this dilemma.

IOM Tajikistan has implemented trainings and a capacity building workshop for financial literacy trainers from a local NGO to investigate these questions and discover answers so they can hold classes with rural women in Kulob and Dosti.

On 12 July, twelve trainers underwent training to teach financial literacy for families of migrants remaining behind in Bokhtar. They learnt about:

• Budget, income and daily expenses,
• Long-term spending plan,
• Savings management,
• Credit management.

They then implement what they’ve learnt by teaching financial literacy to the women of Kulob and Dosti.

This initiative is carried out within the framework of the project "Empowerment of ‘Families left behind’ for Improved Migration Outcomes in Khatlon, Tajikistan." The project is financed by the Migration Multi-Partner Trust Fund (MPTF) and is being implemented by four UN agencies in Tajikistan: the UN Migration Agency - the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women ) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

***

For more information please contact: Dushanbe@iom.int