{"id":10104,"date":"2018-11-01T14:14:34","date_gmt":"2018-11-01T12:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/?p=10104"},"modified":"2018-11-01T14:19:23","modified_gmt":"2018-11-01T12:19:23","slug":"its-a-miracle-the-scheme-ending-abuse-against-women-in-tajikistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/2018\/11\/its-a-miracle-the-scheme-ending-abuse-against-women-in-tajikistan\/","title":{"rendered":"‘It’s a miracle’: the scheme ending abuse against women in Tajikistan"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE GUARDIAN<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

By Liz Ford\u00a0in Penjikent and Jomi<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/span>Women in Tajikistan involved in the Zindagii Shoista project, which is tackling domestic violence. Photograph: Anisa Sabiri for the Guardian<\/span>.<\/p>\n

For 22 years, Rano Mahmurodova was violently abused by her husband. A groundbreaking new project changed everything<\/p>\n

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\u2022<\/span>\u00a0Women in Tajikistan get a new lease of life \u2013 in pictures<\/a><\/p>\n

The change in behaviour of Rano Mahmurodova\u2019s husband was nothing short of a \u201cmiracle\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n

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Married at 18, the 42-year-old had spent more than two decades being physically and verbally assaulted by her husband, who was fuelled by drink, drugs and unemployment.<\/p>\n

Her five children would flinch and cower when their father was in the house, flying into violent rages. Their only respite was when he travelled to Russia for work.<\/p>\n

But then came Mahmurodova\u2019s miracle. Her village, in the southern plains of Jomi, was selected for a pilot project aimed at reducing Tajikistan\u2019s appalling levels of violence against women.<\/p>\n

Mahmurodova\u2019s family was selected by community elders to take part. Not only did her husband agree to participate when he returned from his latest stint in Russia, he gradually stopped drinking, stopped the abuse and apologised for causing her 22 years of pain.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy husband is very grateful towards me,\u201d says Mahmurodova, sitting on a patterned rug on the floor of her neat, one-storey home, a white ceiling fan offering a slight cooling breeze on a stifling day.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said: \u2018Thank you for tolerating me. I didn\u2019t recognise how difficult it was to live with me.\u2019 There were several attempts before from the community to talk to him and try to persuade him [to stop the abuse], but it didn\u2019t work. But this time, I wonder how, it happened. It\u2019s a miracle. I\u2019m very happy that he changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/span>Rano Mahmurodova, 42, says her previously violent husband has responded positively to the project. Photograph: Anisa Sabiri for the Guardian<\/span><\/p>\n

Villages in Jomi and in the northern district of Penjikent were targeted for the\u00a0Zindagii Shoista<\/a>\u00a0(Living with Dignity) project, implemented by five organisations \u2013 International Alert and Cesvi, together with local partners Farodis, Women of the Orient and Action, Development and Prosperity (ATO). It was funded through the British government\u2019s\u00a0What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls<\/a>\u00a0initiative, a \u00a325m global project launched in 2014 to collect evidence about the scale and impact of violence against women and girls, as well as potential ways to stop it.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/span>A counselling group meeting on domestic violence in Tajikistan. Photograph: Anisa Sabiri for the Guardian<\/span><\/p>\n

Fourteen projects across Africa and Asia \u2013 ranging from couples\u2019 counselling in Rwanda, to introducing school play time in Pakistan \u2013 are being funded through the What Works programme, as well as research into the drivers, prevalence, and social and economic costs of violence. The Department for International Development (DfID) wants the research to inform future global projects and drive more money towards tackling the global pandemic.<\/p>\n

The World Health Organization\u00a0estimates<\/a>\u00a0that one in three women worldwide \u2013 nearly a billion in all \u2013 will experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, mostly from an intimate partner. While men are not immune from abuse, globally\u00a0women are more likely to be killed<\/a>\u00a0by a partner than men.<\/p>\n

According to government\u00a0figures<\/a>, about one in five Tajik women who are in a partnership will experience some form of physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. But rights groups say that, if all women and incidences outside the home were included, the figure would be much higher. Shame and stigma prevent women from reporting abuse.<\/p>\n

A mountainous country wedged between Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and China, Tajikistan is the poorest of the former Soviet Union republics. Its high unemployment rates mean many men tread the well-worn path to Russia in search of work. The country is heavily dependent on remittances, which contributed\u00a0almost a third<\/a>\u00a0of Tajikistan\u2019s GDP in 2017.<\/p>\n

Less than half of girls complete secondary school and, according to UN statistics,\u00a0about 59% of women work<\/a>\u00a0outside the home, compared with 77% of men. The vast majority of those who work are in low-paid jobs. Arranged and early marriages are common, and married women are required to live with their husbands\u2019 families. The man is considered the head of the house but, if he is working abroad, wives will fall under the authority of their mothers-in-law.<\/p>\n

Research in Jomi and Penjikent in 2016, before the project began, found that roughly 60% of women had experienced sexual, physical or emotional violence in the previous 12 months, with the highest rates recorded between 18- and 24-year-olds. Depression was common and suicide were both common. All the villages involved had high rates of unemployment, poverty and food insecurity.<\/p>\n

The Zindagii Shoista programme, conducted over 18 months, took a two-pronged approach. It offered relationship counselling for women, couples and extended family members, alongside training in setting up small businesses that would bring in some much needed cash.<\/p>\n

The results of the pilot, published at the end of September, have been astonishing. After 10 weekly group and individual counselling sessions and 10 weeks of skills training, followed up with mentoring from local mediators, levels of violence against women have almost halved \u2013 dropping from 64% to 34%. The percentage of men who said they were violent fell from 47% to 5%.<\/p>\n

Family relationships have become more equitable and the mental wellbeing of both women and men has improved significantly. Suicide rates for women fell from 20% before the project to 9%. Among men, rates fell from from 10% to nil. Women\u2019s earnings increased fourfold, and their savings tenfold. The proportion of women experiencing severe food shortages fell from 56% to 19%.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very good start,\u201d says Shahribonu Shonasimova, project manager for International Alert in\u00a0Tajikistan<\/a>. \u201cIn these communities, no one talked about violence against women and girls \u2026 but people had the opportunity to talk for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shonasimova says the economic aspect of the project was essential \u2013 financial problems are a contributry factor in violence. Giving women earning power eases money worries and gives them greater independence. Shonasimova hopes funding will be found to expand the project.<\/p>\n

The Guardian spoke to a number of women from the pilot villages. They spoke of how their husbands would lash out when money became tight and they had been drinking, about the abuse meted out by their in-laws, and of the startling transformation.<\/p>\n