Project name: AZE2P201 - Creating an Enabling Environment and Strengthening
National Capacity to Mainstream Population Dimensions in Development and
Environment policies
Budget: US$ 83,000
Timeline: 1 January 2006 – 31 December 2006
What's the situation?
In 1994 the International
Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) called on countries to “fully integrate population concerns
into development strategies, planning, decision-making and resource
allocation at all levels”. The Government of Azerbaijan has
acknowledged these links among demographic, economic and social concerns
and has begun to develop comprehensive demographic policies. The
State Programme on Demography and Population Development was developed
and approved by Presidential Order on November 11, 2004. The Programme
is based on national interests, and takes into consideration agreements
reached at the ICPD (Cairo, 1994), the World Summit on Social Development
(Copenhagen, 1995), and the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing,
1995).
Azerbaijan's 2003 State Programme of Poverty Reduction and Economic Development (SPPRED) includes programmes to address population, reproductive health and gender concerns. This reflects the fact that there is a good level of understanding of the links between issues of population, gender, reproductive health and poverty. The first country programme had a strong focus on gender equality, particularly in the areas of population and development strategies (PDS) and advocacy. As a result of these activities, UNFPA has definitely contributed to the promotion of gender equality and equity in Azerbaijan and has established itself in the country as a strong supporter of these aims. Contributions have been made towards improved national capacity and the integration of gender into national policies.
What’s our mission?
The UNFPA Country Office in Azerbaijan is cooperating with the Ministry
of Labour and Social Protection of Population (MLSPP) to strengthen
the institutional and technical capacity of the Ministry in giving
population and gender dimensions a central role in development and
environment policies. A number of activities have been conducted
to promote women’s rights
and to create awareness on gender issues. Building the capacity of national
officials was an important part of the previous country programme. That
programme provided training to staff from the Ministry of Labour to familiarise
them with the links between population and development and on specific
demographic techniques. Several libraries and training centres were opened.
The programme also supported the National Academy of Sciences in carrying
out research on the socio-cultural aspects of gender. In recent years,
violence against women was recognized as one of the significant problems
in Azerbaijan. As an agency identified within the UN system to lead the
work on the third of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), UNFPA will
provide further support to the promotion of gender equality, women’s
empowerment and gender mainstreaming. Special attention is to be given
to the prevention of gender-based violence (including trafficking) and
the introduction of “gender-sensitive” reproductive health
services.
How is UNFPA doing this?
To create an enabling environment and strengthen national capacity to give
a central role to population dimensions in development and environment policies,
UNFPA will:
- Contribute to the ongoing work of the UN system to help the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of Population, the MDG Secretariat and other relevant stakeholders to develop and define national goals, indicators, targets and benchmarks for the SPPRED and MDGs, focusing on gender equality and maternal health
- Advocate and promote policy dialogue with policy and decision makers, so as to ensure the use of population and development data in policy formulation, planning and implementation processes;
- Conduct in-depth analysis, assessments and research studies on population, sustainable development and reproductive health dynamics. Support will be provided to socio-cultural research to improve understanding of the status of women, women's health, cultural barriers to women's participation in labour force, gender inequality etc.
- Conduct gender sensitized training, advocacy seminars, round-table discussions for mass-media, policy and decision makers, gender focal points, representatives from relevant ministries, etc. These events will be aimed at improving awareness of gender issues and gender imbalances and spreading the results of research.
- Support the development of the first in country Research and Training center in Population and Demography at the MLSPP, assisting with necessary data processing and office equipment.
- Support the development of the “Encyclopaedic Dictionary on Population and Development”, aimed at deep and comprehensive reflection of the scientific knowledge and understanding on population.
- Development and production of a bulletin on population- and development-related issues
- Support the development of a training programme in population dynamics at a reputable national university through development of curricula and structure of the programme
- Development and broadcasting of social clips/film-loops to raise public awareness and draw the attention of the public to the main/key issues of UNFPA concern
- Support and contribute to Azerbaijan's 5-year State Programme, “Confronting Violence in Everyday Life”
- Conduct the international conference on “Demographic aspects of poverty eradication” in the framework of implementation of the SPPRED and ICPD Program of Action with participation of the CIS, Eastern Europe countries and Turkey.
- Facilitate
an international exchange of professional and academic
experience and expertise through the participation
of national experts and their counterparts in international conferences,
workshops and training on population, gender and development,
etc.
Who are our partners?
This UNFPA project will be implemented jointly with the Ministry of Labour
and Social Protection of Population.
Other partners will be:
- The National Parliament of Azerbaijan
- State Programme on Poverty Reduction and Economic Development (SPPRED) Secretariat
- The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
- The Ministry of Health
- The State Committee on Family, Women and Children
- UNICEF
- Other NGOs.
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