Tajikistan Digital Foundations Project

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The project will provide a US$46.05 million to the Republic of Tajikistan, including US$30million of IDA grant, CHF13.3 million (equivalent to US$14.8million) of co-financing from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and US$1.25 in Counterpart funding (Note: the Bank will lead the project implementation on behalf of the SDC). The Project will assist the Government of Tajikistan (GoTJ) in (i) establishing Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) foundations, defined as a core set of foundational digital systems (i.e., infrastructures and platforms) that are interoperable, open, and inclusive and that stakeholders can use to provide a wide range of digital services, and (ii) digitalize learning environments and strengthening the digital skills of the population, with the objective to boost the uptake of digital services, drive employability of targeted population groups. Component 1: Strengthening Foundations for Safe Digital Government Systems and Services (US$26.0million equivalent). This component will aim to strengthen foundational digital systems and platforms to improve the GoTJ's capacity to deliver safely public services digitally. Amplifying burgeoning efforts of the GoTJ to build a modern public administration leveraging digitalization , the main activities will be focused on (i) strengthening selected building blocks of DPI, including a range of comprehensive assessments and audits followed by investments into – inter alia – upgrading and extending the public services portal, establishing interoperability platform, digital authentication platform, digital payment gateway, one network operations center (NOC) and acquiring required IT infrastructure; and (ii) ensuring that digital safeguards and enablers are in place for a secure and inclusive use of data-based services through a package of Technical Assistances (TAs) focused on cybersecurity, data protection and privacy, data governance, and digital infrastructure and electronic transactions. This component will be led by the Executive Office of the President (EOP) of Tajikistan and implemented jointly by the Agency on Innovation and Digital Technologies (AIDT), the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) that leads on digital payments, the Smart City of Dushanbe that has built a data center to expand data hosting capacity of the GoTJ, etc.Component 2: Enhancing Digital Skills and Learning Environment (US$15.8million equivalent). This component will help reduce the digital usage divide between different population groups (defined by gender and income levels) and geographic zones, addressing a fundamental demand-side barrier to digital adoption, as well as provide connectivity to education institutions. A strong emphasis will be put on enhancing digital skills and enabling digital solutions in schools through digital connectivity and IT equipment acquisition. This component will be led by the EOP and involve the Ministry of Education and Science (MoES), the State Business Incubator, AIDT and the Communications Service. This component will also finance advanced digital trainings, with the participation of other stakeholders (private companies, NGOs, and other donors), to drive job creation and support the development of a nascent ICT industry.Component 3: Project management (US$4.25million equivalent). This component will finance project implementation and activities to strengthen the technical, institutional, and project management capacity of the GoTJ implementing entities. This will cover costs related to the establishment and operations of a Project Implementation Center (PIC) as well as the purchase of office equipment, various operating costs, and trainings of the PIC staff. The Project will finance the core team of the PIC, including environmental and social risk management specialists, procurement, and financial management (FM) specialists and technical experts, as needed. The component will also support capacity building of the AIDT and other institutions involved in implementation of specific project activities, such as NBT, Smart City, MoES and the recruitment of ad hoc experts for the implementation of Project’s activities.