Uzbekistan Country Gender Assessment: Update

Achievements and Lessons Learned

the design phase for WSS projects includes a social and gender analysis to ensure women’s access to project-related services, participation in capacity building, hygiene promotion activities, safe water consumption strategies, and collection of sex-disaggregated data.
the economic effect of rehabilitated and new infrastructure is measured by savings (e.g., about 30% savings on water for basic needs in the Surkhandarya region). For a woman, this means at least 3 working days less per month.⁹¹

Safe water consumption and observance of the rules of sanitation and hygiene depend on basic knowledge of sanitation and hygiene. therefore, water supply projects have significant sanitary and hygiene components.

adB’s WSS and water resource management (WRM) projects in Uzbekistan present positive examples of Gap implementation. Box 4 outlines some of the key achievements.

Box 5 presents some examples of WSS project impact, based on field observations and discussions with project beneficiaries, as well as on Gap reports.⁹²

6. Water resource Management Project

the Water Resource Management project relates to irrigated agriculture, a key economic area in Uzbekistan that accounts for 90% of agricultural production and employs about 27% of the country’s total labor force. ⁹³ In 2017, almost half (49.3%) of the country’s population resided in the rural areas.⁹⁴ Irrigated agriculture is the main source of livelihood in rural communities, with livestock and farming as major sources of income.⁹⁵

Water is an essential asset, and access to irrigation is as significant as access to land. When households have a garden plot and market their own agricultural products, sustainable irrigation is crucial.

Most rural women participate in several activities apart from housekeeping. In WRM project regions, women’s income accounts for about 15% of households’ total. Over 10% of household heads are women. Major sources of income include farm crops and livestock on home plots (10–50 hectares) and employment in nonagricultural sectors (18%). almost 15% of women engage in farming as part-time seasonal workers; of these, 49% are employed by private farms

⁹⁰ adB. 2016. Country Operation Business Plan: Uzbekistan 2017–2019. Manila.
⁹¹ adB. 2015. Project Completion Report: Surkhandarya Water Supply and Sanitation Project (Loan 2466). Manila.
⁹² adB field survey for this CGa update; adB. 2016. GAP Progress Report: Water Supply and Sanitation Project. tashkent.
⁹³ adB. 2016. Multitranche Financing Facility: Water Resources Management Sector Project in Uzbekistan. Manila.
⁹⁴ State Committee on Statistics. 2017. Statistical Yearbook 2017. tashkent.
⁹⁵ United Nations development programme. 2013. The Republic of Uzbekistan: Overview of the Economic and Social Policy during the Implementation Period of the Welfare Improvement Strategy for 2007–2010. tashkent.
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