What's
the Situation ?
Life
in Azerbaijan has altered considerably
since 1990. The size of the population, where people live, how they earn a
living and their financial stability have all been affected by the sweeping
social and economic changes which followed independence from the
Soviet Union in 1991.
The
disruption of ties with the former Soviet Union and communist
central planning resulted in economic decline and institutional
instability in Azerbaijan.
The situation was exacerbated by the Daglik-Karabakh conflict and by the
displacement of 800,000 people. Currently, internally displaced persons account
for 10 per cent of the country's total population.
Although
per capita GDP has poverty
increased in Azerbaijan,
it is estimated that half of the population lives in poverty, and an additional
17 per cent in extreme poverty.
Because many young people are migrating
to look for work and fertility rates have declined, the population of Azerbaijan is ageing
The Government
of Azerbaijan understands the importance of data in planning policies and programmes
for national development and has already taken steps to improve the coverage
and quality of data.
But more help
is needed, particularly to improve the resources and staff capability
at the organizations which are involved in collecting and analyzing data
about population and development and concerning reproductive health.
For example, a number of independent surveys on
reproductive health in Azerbaijan
differ considerably from official statistics. Although the Azerbaijan's
2003 State
Programme of Poverty Reduction and Economic Development (SPPRED)
included some useful
preliminary analysis, its findings are not divided by sex. Additional sex-disaggregated
data needs to be collected and analyzed to use as a baseline and to monitor
progress
In the current economic circumstances,
the Government needs support from its development partners to strengthen
national capability so as to be able to handle all aspects of collecting, processing,
analyzing and disseminating data.
What's UNFPA
doing to help ?
UNFPA has been
assisting Azerbaijan
since 1994. Its early projects concentrated on meeting emergency reproductive
health and population needs.
Since then,
UNFPA has supported a wide variety of activities in Azerbaijan
to strengthen national capacity in issues relating to population and
development and reproductive health:
-
UNFPA
has been supporting national institutions in analyzing
and disseminating the results of the first post-independence census
in 1999.
- The fund also provided training to staff from the Ministry
of Labor and the national statistical committee on the links
between population and development and on specific demographic
techniques.
- UNFPA helped to open several libraries and training
centers.
- It also supported the National Academy of Sciences in
carrying out research on the socio-cultural aspects of gender.
In its current programme for Azerbaijan, UNFPA plans to increase
the availability of accurate, gender-sensitive information on population,
development and the environment.
In order to achieve this, UNFPA will help through technical assistance,
data collection, specialized surveys and research studies in which the
importance of disaggregated data will be emphasized. It will help to establish
a user-friendly national population databank. UNFPA also plans to support
measures aimed at aligning Azerbaijan's
registration and health statistics systems with the standards of the European
Community and the World Health Organization. UNFPA will also help strengthen
the capacities of selected national research and development institutions to
provide demographic and population data.
UNFPA also aims to strengthening
the national capacity to give population dimensions a prominent role
in development and environment policies. To
do this, UNFPA will develop an advocacy action plan and support the
establishment of a national coordination council on population and development.
The fund will support training and the development of a social mobilization
strategy with NGOs, civil society organizations and the media. UNFPA will also
help to upgrade institutional capacity to analyze research for population and
social policy planning.
Current
UNFPA projects in Azerbaijan:
Teaching Azerbaijan's
Adolescents about Safe and Responsible Sexual and Reproductive Behavior
Helping Azerbaijan
to Integrate Population and Gender factors into its plans and programmes
Expanding Reproductive Health Services to help save Women's Lives
Helping Azerbaijan
to gather Accurate, Gender-sensitive data on Population and Development
Helping Azerbaijan to create a Law on Reproductive Health and
Rights
Training Azerbaijan's
Doctors and Midwives