Dagestan

Background
Dagestan, a Muslim republic in Russia’s turbulent north Caucasus, shares its borders with Chechnya and Georgia to the west, Azerbaijan to the south, and the Caspian Sea to the east. It has significant oil, gas, and coal reserves, albeit largely untapped, and its location on the Caspian gives it a strategic importance in the region, as a necessary conduit for oil exports.

Dagestan is home to more than 36 nationalities, in addition to those Russians transplanted during the Soviet era. Because its mountainous terrain impedes travel and communication, Dagestan is unusually ethnically diverse, and still largely tribal. Despite being the least urbanized republic in the region, its population is growing quickly, due mainly to migration. Some of this is due to the conflict in neighboring Chechnya, which spills over its borders from time to time, and brings with it Chechens seeking refuge from the violence. Already quite poor, this influx of displaced persons has put a serious strain on Dagestani host communities. Resources in the border area are stretched to the breaking point. To make matters worse, Dagestan has been fighting its own, low-level guerilla war since 2000. The conflict has claimed the lives of hundreds of civilians, local police, federal and local officials, and rebels.


What IMC Is Doing
IMC began working in Dagestan in 2006 to help the already-overburdened republic cope with an influx of Chechens fleeing from the war.

Since that time, IMC’s programming has aimed to reduce poverty in twelve war-affected communities along the Dagestan-Chechnya border by supporting a variety of income-generation projects to help both Dagestani hosts and displaced Chechens restore their livelihoods. While beneficiaries include the internally displaced, families of returnees, and the local population, IMC tries to reach as many women as possible with its microfinance projects. This is because, as IMC’s decades of experience have shown, when women are given the opportunity to earn their own income, they provide care for themselves and their children, both financially and emotionally. Targeting women facilitates the road to self-sufficiency for entire communities, rather than individuals, increases the impact of programming, and ensures a lasting legacy.

In Dagestan, IMC provides seminars on the improvement of living conditions, vocational training courses, and cooperative small business development programs. In the future, IMC plans to link beneficiary micro-project teams to local government and community representatives, technical advisors, educators, and even trading partners with other vulnerable families, creating a local, sustainable network of support for future income-generation projects. Working in the notoriously dangerous environment of the Northern Caucasus, IMC remains committed to providing much-needed education and training to the thousands of civilians who have suffered from one of the world's fiercest conflicts.