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	USAID Information: USAID Country Page More Stories from Tajikistan FY 2009 Congressional Budget Justification Selected Reports from the USAID Document Database Mission Web Site Tajikistan Country Background (181kb pdf) External Links: U.S. State Department Background Notes CIA World Factbook
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Success Story

Photo: CHF International

Despite being unable to find a job for 10 years, Farhod Yusupov found a job soon after participating in a USAID-funded apprenticeship.

“I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I was placed as an apprentice by the USAID program. I had been unemployed for years and I had almost lost hope to find a job,” said Farhod Yusupov, who now wants to start his own business.

Farhod Yusupov holds a steady job and is dreaming about owning a business. Farhod, from the city of Isfara, is one of the 600 young men in Tajikistan’s remote Sughd Province who have found jobs with USAID assistance.

Before contacting USAID’s program, Farhod had been unemployed for nearly ten years. His education at the Radio Technical School in Khujand ended prematurely when the army drafted Farhod in 1994. He returned from the army three years later, but his efforts to find a job were fruitless. Farhod migrated to Russia, pursuing what he thought was his only option to earn a living and support his family. However, like many of his peers, he ended up returning to Tajikistan after several unsuccessful attempts to find a job, still unemployed.

“When I first heard about the USAID program from my brother, I didn’t believe they would help me,” said Farhod. “I had been unemployed for years and had almost lost hope to find a job.”

Through USAID’s program, Farhod was placed as an apprentice with an experienced mentor in the local radio and TV repair shop. After he completed his six-month apprenticeship, a business that partnered with the USAID program to create job opportunities for local youth hired him. Now that Farhod has a steady job, he wants to continue to gain more experience, earn some money, and then start his own business back at his village.

USAID’s program works with local businesses to provide apprenticeships where youth gain marketable skills. The program also offers trainings courses, where young people can acquire job-search skills, learn to think strategically, develop sound business models, and design their own enterprises.

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