25 May 2011: UN Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Helen Clark has visited a hydropower plant that supplies clean energy to a rural community nearby Dushanble, Tajikistan’s capital. UNDP partnered with local communities to repair the mini hydropower plant and install new turbo-generator units, with the aim of contributing to poverty alleviation and raising the living standards in the village.

The partnership will benefit 400 people or 60 households, a local hospital, a school and the operations of small local business. In addition, the partnership has installed: solar panels and insulation in a local health centre to generate renewable energy and increase energy efficiency; and a new boiler that has cut coal-fuelled heating by 20-25%. [UNDP Press Release]