KULOB, April 14, 2016, Asia-Plus -- Two special classes provided with the state-of-the-art equipment have opened at the Kulob State University and the Kulob Fire Service under the OXFAM DIPECHO-8 Project.

Mr. Bojan Kolundzija, Program Director, OXFAM Tajikistan, says the special classes will promote implementation of Tajik Education Ministry’s program, Basis of Civil Defense.

The special class at the Kulob Fire Service will also host training and workshops for employees of local authorities, public activists and disaster response teams that were set up in the area under support of OXFAM Tajikistan.

The European Commission''s Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO) launched its disaster preparedness program, DIPECHO, in 1996.  The program targets vulnerable communities living in the main disaster-prone regions of the world.

Oxfam started in Tajikistan in 2001, and has continuous program delivery since.  Its program is concentrated in rural areas in the northern and southern regions in of the country, where migration rates are high, and where farming is the main source of employment. The main areas of work are: safe drinking water and sanitation; economic development; and improving the capacity of villagers and state institutions to adequately respond to disasters.