Student Umedjon Sharifov uses blow-up dolls in his voluntary work for a Tajikistani non-governmental organization around the Central Asian country's third-largest city of Kulob and he shows videos against domestic violence to men and women.

Tajikistan has been at peace for 10 years. After its seven-year civil war, however, bitter memories still linger in people's lives - but the country remains poor and hard pressed.

Church-backed self-help groups in Tajikistan and other parts of Central Asia are working to cope with migrant labour displacement and other social problems in an area that is both static and rapidly changing for citizens who struggle to cope with daily life.

A coalition of church-based aid and development agencies is backing a creative range of self-help initiatives in the former Soviet Central Asian republics, such as Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, which are often overlooked in the worldwide media.