Organization

Our History

The Equidev journey began when our founding organisation Oxfam GB started its programmes and campaigns in Tajikistan in 2001. In the course of its two decades of operations, Oxfam GB built its leadership and reputation in designing and implementing programmes and influencing policies in sectors such as WASH, climate resilient agriculture, enterprise development, health and nutrition and gender justice. In 2018, as part of its global presence review, Oxfam decided to phase out of Tajikistan, but with a clear objective to carry forward its legacy, values and expertise. To this end, it set up a new public organisation called “Equitable Development”, or “Equidev” for short, in February 2021.

Equidev is expertly mentored by Oxfam, which is supporting Equidev in setting up its robust strategic and operational base in the region through investments in capacity, network and assets over the next year. Oxfam will formally exit Tajikistan on 31 March 2022.

Today, we see a great opportunity to leverage our partnership and network in the region to deliver high quality services for our clients, based on global best practices. The region is poised for rapid transformation, with the opening of borders and economies, the infusion of technology, more power being given to young populations seeking jobs and a say in their future, and women increasingly asserting their social andpolitical rights. Equidev aspires to be a catalyst in this change process, accelerating transformation by improving the effectiveness of policy, processes and outcomes.

Our founding organisation

Oxfam is a global movement of millions of people who share the belief that, in a world rich in resources, poverty is not inevitable. Oxfam believes that to spread that change and make it last, political solutions are also needed to tackle the root causes of poverty and create societies where empowered individuals can thrive. Together with local partners, Oxfam works in more than 90 countriesas part of the Oxfam International confederation to tackle the root causes of poverty and respond to emergencies.

Core Values

We are enablers of change, and believe in catalysing transformation by bridging the world, brokering partnerships and establishing collaborations between government, aid agencies and local partners. Our unique strength is our cross-sectoral approach to development problems: we harness our expertise in WASH, climate resilient agriculture, enterprise development, health and nutrition and gender justice. We are restless innovators with a flair for challenging existing development paradigms, policy and practices in our quest for better solutions. To achieve our goal, we make extensive use of evidence, measurement, impact and data. Our in-depth understanding of realitieson the ground, born of decades of community development experience, has endowed our diverse solutions with a unique sense of local relevance. We believe in long-term partnerships where wework hand in hand with our partners, learning together and using multiple engagement models to deliver an enduring value proposition.

We use our extensive regional and global network reinforced by a deep and diverse expertise base indifferent business areas, specialities and geographic locations to bring superior technical expertise, robust project management and unmatched quality to all our work.

Equidev’score team consists of staff members with extensive work experience in Oxfam. Drawing onthe experience of our founding organisation Oxfam GB, we have a proven track record indesigning, implementing and upscaling hundreds of programmes, humanitarian assistance projects and campaigns in the region. Our widely reputed models in WASH, climate resilient agriculture, enterprise development, health and nutrition and gender justice serve as benchmarks of excellence in these sectors. We do not rest on our reputation and continually seek to develop path-breaking strategies and improve the effectiveness of practices, tools and outcomes, while keeping client requirements front and centre.

Mission and vision

We proudly enshrine the core values of our founding organisation Oxfamto end the injustice of poverty. To infuse our work culture with this mission, we are uncompromising in our values, relentless in our search for innovation and totally focused on impact.

Our vision for the development of the region is to fosterholistic and inclusivedevelopment solutions ona scale that eliminates inequities, marginalisation, hunger and poverty. We strongly believe that an integrated and people-centric ecosystem thatsynergises the strengths of various partnersis a must. The primarydriver of transformational change is an enabling environment that integrates four elements:the capacities of the communities, the efficiency of the market, the reach and vision of the facilitators and the power of the state. To this end, we strive to design models and approaches, test them, nurture partnerships to reach scale and engage with policy to create enabling space.

Organizational Structure of Equidev

The Equidev Board of Directors

Shovcat Alizadeh

Head of Business Operations – Asia EA Node, Oxfam GB

Shovcat Alizadeh has worked as the Country Director of Oxfam in Tajikistan and will continue in this role overseeing Oxfam’s exit until March 2022.

Since 2000 she has been working as Country Director for Oxfam International in different countries, including Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Kenya and Somalia.

She has more than18 years of experience in the design and management of relief and development programmes concerning sustainable livelihoods, microfinance, community-based primary healthcare, WASH, inclusive education, community-based ERR, institutional accountability/local governance, gender equity, rights of disabled people and civil society development.

Shovcat has a PhD in Radiation Chemistry and has authored 20 publications based on scientific research results.

Lilian (Lan) Mercado

Asia Pacific Regional Director, WWF

Lan Mercado is Oxfam’s Director for Strategy and Feminist Futures and, concurrently, is the Regional Director for Asia. She is an activist, a humanitarian and development worker with over 30 years of international experience working with civil society groups, environmental movements, and women’s rights organizations.

In the Philippines, she is a convenor and founding member of Every Woman and Baigani and is a member of the board of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism where she once worked on the environment desk. She is a founding board member of the Citizens for the Promotion of Human Rights. Under her leadership, Oxfam is implementing a future-oriented strategy in Asia for an inclusive, sustainable, and resilient region.

Lan returned to Asia after serving as Oxfam’s Deputy Director for Global Campaigns. Prior to this, she was Country Director in the Philippines and served as Advisor to the ASEAN on disaster management and emergency response. Lan has a degree in mass communication and pursued post-graduate studies on sustainable development. Working with the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism team of reporters, she had won first prize for investigative journalism. She was recently recognized by the University of the Philippines as a Distinguished Alumna for Poverty Alleviation and Human Development. In 2017, she was conferred the inaugural Glory Award by the UP College of Mass Communication for social advocacy and leadership in the development sector.

Seyed Faiz

Country Relations Senior Broker (On secondment), Oxfam GB

Seyed has more than 20 years’ experience in setting up successful institutions, effectively managing complex development programmes and humanitarian responses for international aid organisations and providing consultancy services to companies and bilateral/multilateral agencies.

He has expertise in climate resilient agriculture, market systems and enterprise development, financial inclusion, private sector development, WASH, health and nutrition and gender justice. He joined Oxfam in 2015 as the Economic Justice Programme Manager and was then Deputy Country Director in Tajikistan before he took over the role of CEO for Equidev.

Before this, he worked with the Aga Khan Foundation, WWF and Deloitte in India and South Asia. Seyed holds a degree from the London School of Economics in the United Kingdom and is fluent in English, with conversational abilities in Arabic and Tajik.

Kate Attwooll

Project Portfolio Manager, Oxfam

Kate is the first woman Chair of the Tajikistan Country Governance Group and the youngest ever Chair of the Asia Regional Governance Group. Kate is the Country Relations Senior Broker for Oxfam GB, covering Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. She has worked for Oxfam for 12 years, specialising in strategic governance and technical programme quality and impact. Kate has substantial field experience across all regions of the world, particularly fragile and conflict affected contexts such as Haiti, Myanmar, South Sudan and the Middle East. She has strong portfolio planning and investment skills, organisational and strategy development skills, and is experienced in managing risk and leading large, geographically dispersed, multicultural teams. Prior to Oxfam, she worked in HIV/AIDS and education in Brazil; mental health, substance misuse and homelessness in the UK; social entrepreneurship at the Skoll Centre of Said Business School; and postgraduate research in sociology at Oxford University.

Saidrakhmon Nazrizoda

First Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade of the government of Tajikistan (retd.)

Saidrakhmon has more than 20 years of experience in working with the government of Tajikistan in various capacities. He actively participated and contributing to a number of important reform processes in the country as the Head of Department of Economic Reforms and Investments at the Administration of the President of the Republic of Tajikistan in 2007. In 2009 he held the post of Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade in Tajikistan and supervised the foreign economic relations and international trade, monitored the implementation of the economic reform process and coordinated the interaction between the World Trade Organisation and government of Tajikistan. Currently, Saidrakhmon is serving as an adviser for the Tajik Technical University.

Management Team

Gulchehra Boboeva

CEO, Equidev

A senior development expert, with strong analytical, strategic, and programmatic skills. Over 24 years of experience in managing development and humanitarian work, and multi-sector programmes in Central Asia.

She brings a wealth of technical leadership and programmatic experience and expertise in WASH, public health, agriculture and nutrition, child survival, reproductive health, and control of pandemic diseases. Over 24 years, she has been leading various health and nutrition projects on food security, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) in Tajikistan and Central Asia.

She is membership of professional bodies: Tajikistan Maternal and Child Health Advisory Council; Tajikistan Water and Sanitation Network of stakeholders; Donor Coordination Meeting on WASH, Health and Disaster Risk Management, Multi-Sectoral Engagement and Action on Scaling Up Nutrition in Tajikistan;

Key qualifications :
Senior Development Expert with over 24 years of experience providing technical leadership and programmatic directions in Public Health with a focus on child survival, reproductive health; control of endemic diseases (TB/Malaria); maternal and new-born and reproductive health, maternal and child nutrition including Emergency-Infant Young Child Feeding
Management of large health and nutrition, Food Security, and WASH programs funded by USAID, SDC, European Union, World Bank, DFID, OFDA, GIZ, and UNICEF.
Prolific experience in managing around 20-70 projects staff, including medical doctors, water engineers, governance specialists, policy maker specialists, partnership and networking specialists, field staff, admin, HR and finance staff, MEAL staff, etc.
Capacity building of health staff an Area Health Advisor in Central Asia including Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan
Extensive knowledge and experiences on proposal writing, detailed implementation planning, grants management
Networking with government and non-government stakeholders including policy makers, MOHSPP, Healthy Life Style Centres, Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses (IMCI) centres, National Reproductive Centres, MOES, MoEWR, WHO, UNICEF, GFATM, UNDP, World Bank, GIZ, WFP, Oxfam, OSCE and other agencies.
Profound experience in Monitoring, Evaluation; Learning and leading innovative/research projects focused on health and nutrition, cradling practices and its impact to social, motor and physical child development, water and sanitation, rapid care assessment, gender analysis, etc.
Experience in implementation of innovative approach on Mobile Health through working with private sector (TCell company) and Ministry of Health to disseminate key health and nutrition messages through mobile phone to women and their family members.
Aware of WASH, Agriculture and health sector priorities and issues as well as health reform in Tajikistan, and build good relationships with different institutions of WASH, Agriculture and health sector

Orkhan Ali

WASH Advisor

Orkhan has more than 12 years of experience in project and business operations management. Apart from being the WASH Advisor to Equidev, he currently works as a Team Leader in WASH at Oxfam in Tajikistan. Before this, he fulfilled various positions, such as business development manager, project manager and/or consultant and university instructor, in diverse companies, public institutions, and international and local NGOs in Azerbaijan, Jordan, Georgia, Iraq, Myanmar, Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel and Tajikistan. Orkhan’s expertise is in improving market-based solutions for WASH products and services for customers using advanced marketing services, data-based decision-making tools, institutional/human capacity building and business innovations in both infrastructure building and value chain development. Orkhan also consults with the government on policy reforms and institutional development to enhance its potential in the implementation of national reforms.

Nazira Kurbonova

Media, Communication and Gender Advisor

Nazira has more than 20 years of experience in the humanitarian and development sectors. She has held leadership roles in implementing and managing large projects in integrated food security and community-based development, WASH, DRR and climate change, community-based rehabilitation and good governance. Nazira has engaged with civil society organisations across all five Central Asian countries and Afghanistan and has frequently travelled to these areas to over see the quality of implementation, provide support for raising the financial portfolio, and act as the lead liaison to institutional donors and trust funds. She joined Oxfam in 2016 to lead the media and communications team and later took over coordination of the gender justice programme.

Mizrobsho Amirbekov

Agriculture and Enterprise Development Advisor, Equidev

Mizrobsho has more than 20 years of experience in managing large and complex agricultural programmes related to sustainable development, agricultural policy advocacy and enterprise development in the Aga Khan Development Network in Tajikistan. He has published a number of agricultural research papers on water basins management, advanced technology invegetable growing, live stock diseases prevention, pasture management and others. Mizrobsho has attended international professional development training and conferences and adds a wealth of agricultural experience and expertise.

Local Staff Members

Firuza Kosimova

Local Governance and WASH Trainer

Firuza is a good governance expert and has been working in the field of local governance and community mobilization for over 18 years in the projects related to WASH and public health. She is a qualified hygiene promotion and healthcare expert. She has over 18 years of experience in development sector and is a reputable trainer in the field of WASH and public health.

Firuza will develop and coordinate the implementation of all activities related to Water and Sanitation Governance at the local level, and will contribute to the development of the Partnership between key stakeholders at district and national level including local authorities, local hospital administration, MoHSPP, Tajik technical university.

In addition, she will assist in organisation of workshops, trainings and events in both national and district levels. She is the WASH trainer at Equidev and fluent in Tajik and Russian.

Olimjon Saidov

National Field Engineer (Equidev core staff)

Olimjon is a field engineer and lead the technical design and construction of water supply and sanitation infrastructure. He is responsible for all construction activities and quality assurance/control over its implementation. His responsibility includes day-to-day oversight of DEWATS activities in target hospitals.

He will provide technical oversight of all DEWATS infrastructure projects including project technical assessment and design, creation of Bill of Quantities (BoQs), working with design institute and construction companies, and daily monitoring of construction progress and handover to the hospital administration.

He has a rich engineering experience in Sughd region and has worked for various international organizations for the last 15 years. He is former Oxfam Filed Engineer with Watershed for the Natural Resource Management Project funded by the European Union (Sughd region). Currently, he is Equidev engineer with DEWATS projects funded by Lions Club. He is fluent in Tajik, Russian & Uzbek.

Farhod Khalikov

National Civil Engineer

Will be a field engineer and lead the technical design and construction of water supply and sanitation infrastructure. He is responsible for all construction activities and quality assurance/control over its implementation.

His responsibility includes day-to-day oversight of DEWATS activities in target hospitals. He provides technical oversight of all DEWATS infrastructure projects including project technical assessment and design, creation of Bill of Quantities (BoQs), working with design institute and construction companies, and daily monitoring of construction progress and handover to the hospital administration.

He has a rich engineering experience in regions of Tajikistan and has worked for various international organizations for more than 20 years. He is former Oxfam Filed Engineer with Watershed for the Natural Resource Management Project funded by the European Union (Sughd region). Currently, he is Equidev engineer with DEWATS projects funded by Lions Club. He is fluent in Tajik, Russian & Uzbek.