Strategic Plan of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development.

The Strategic Plan of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development is a national policy plan aimed at reducing poverty in the country through sustainable development in rural areas. The time frame of the Plan is 4 years between 2017 to 2021. The Plan is drafted based on two main objectives: to reduce poverty through basic services supply in rural areas (I) and to strengthen civil society institutions to improve sustainable development of rural areas (II).
To achieve the first objective 4 strategies have been set out: sustainable development of infrastructure in rural areas; sustainable irrigation and environmental protection; development of renewable and sustainable energies; development of small-scale and medium-scale corporations and industries. To meet the second objective two strategies have been outlined: strengthening of the local government; efficient service supply and independence of the rural areas.
The Plan explains the main challenges which should be tackled: lack of safety in part of the country; insufficient budget for development projects; social barriers; climate change and droughts; bureaucracy; lack of information and accurate data for decision-making; lack of electronic equipment; insufficient and inefficient coordination between projects, authorities and departments; low technical capacity; insufficient human resource. The Plan also determines main reasons of poverty and development in rural areas of the country, which include: lack of economic opportunities; lack of proper infrastructure; vulnerabilities against natural disasters; weak local governance; lack of research and survey; low level of public awareness.
The Plan requires the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development and other relevant authorities to consider the following principles while implementing the main strategies of this plan: harmonization of norms and standards; empowering women; protection of the environment; fight against use and production of drugs; fight against corruption; balanced development; development of border areas. According to the overall objectives of this Plan, the national and international development standards, and the global sustainable development goals, the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development is required to: facilitate access of people in rural areas to basic services; increase agricultural products; improve the quality of agricultural and livestock products; increase access of people to irrigation system; improve the irrigation and water infrastructure in rural areas; improve public health and reduce diseases and death of children; facilitate easy access to safe drinking water, especially after natural disasters and in time of drought; provide renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, water, bio gas and biomass sources in rural areas; increase employment and long-term economic opportunities; encourage investment of private sector; increase the overall income in rural areas and reduce poverty; strengthen the relationship between nation and government and improve democracy mechanism in the country.