Chinese MOFCOM and UNDP Provide Assistance To The Blind And Deaf Society Of Turkmenistan through South-South Cooperation Fund

On November 8th, 2019, Zhang Maoyu, vice-chairman of the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CICDA), met with Mourad Wahba, associate administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in Beijing. The two signed an agreement to provide assistance for training individuals with disabilities in Turkmenistan. The assistance was to be funded through the South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund. In January 2020, the UNDP began implementation of a project designed to provide funding and support to the Blind And Deaf Society Of Turkmenistan. The project document states that funding will be provided by the UNDP and the South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund (SSCAF). The document also states that funding for SSCAF is from the government of The People's Republic of China. China would provide $1,440,000 towards the project, and the UNDP would provide $60,000, for a total budget of $1.5 million. China aimed to provide funding and technical assistance, and assign experts to the project while the UNDP planned to oversee the project and provide funding. The Blind and Deaf Society of Turkmenistan (BDST) would implement the project. The project focuses on improving the activities of three branches of the BDST in the cities of Ashgabat, Turkmenabat, and Mary, Turkmenistan. These enterprises provide training for, and employ disabled Turkmens. The goal is to increase capacity of the BDST to help its members gain access to quality vocational training and decent work; modernize and reequip 3 selected training and production enterprises; and design a plan for selected enterprise to become sustainable models of vocational skills training, support employment and transition to an open market employment for people with disabilities. One example of China's financing in action was a six-day online poverty reduction training program in June 2021. The project is expected to be completed in December 2022.

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