United Nations in Azerbaijan

Over the last five years, Azerbaijan has demonstrated its firm commitment towards achieving the 2030 Agenda. The President of the Republic of Azerbaijan issued the Decree in 2016, to establish the National Coordination Council for Sustainable Development - a key partner for the United Nations to channel its support to the Government of Azerbaijan since then. Azerbaijan has been one of the first countries to undertake a MAPS mission (Mainstreaming, Acceleration and Policy Support for the 2030 Agenda) which outlined concrete policy and programming steps that could be taken to accelerate the goals nationally, the experience which was presented at the 2018 Baku Forum on Sustainable Development. This regional event also marked the adoption of the Baku Principles which established provisions on the integration of SDGs and acceleration of their implementation. With UN support, the National Information Portal on SDGs was launched, which introduces an interactive dashboard, collects consolidated data, tracks and monitors progress towards the SDGs in real-time. UN provides continuous support to strengthen national statistical capacities to produce quality data while focusing on disaggregation to Leave No One Behind. United Nations also makes special efforts to engage different groups including the private sector, media, parliamentarians, and the public, among others, in promoting the Goals.

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Press Release

01 September 2021

School Reopening: WHO and UNICEF call for schools to remain open with safer measures

As children prepare to return to school with the start of the new academic year, the adoption of measures to minimize transmission becomes more vital than ever. As WHO and UNICEF state, these measures include ensuring vaccination is accessible to teachers and other school staff, improvements to the school environments to meet safety standards such as better classroom ventilation, smaller class size, physical distancing, regular testing of staff and constant sharing of information for parents on safety precautions. Vaccination is one of the best and fastest ways of protection against the virus, including the Delta variant. Vaccination of teachers and other school staff is the advantage we have this year that will make the school safer. “We live with COVID-19 pandemic almost two years and safely reopening schools has become an urgent priority. The long-term costs of closures are too high and hard to justify. We all need to work toward reopening schools safely to protect our children’s future. WHO urges countries, including Azerbaijan to keep school open while putting in place measures to minimize the risk of COVID-19 and the spread of different variants. We are supporting our national partners in the implementation of national vaccination strategy which plays a vital role in the school re-opening,” – Dr. Hande Harmanci, WHO Representative to Azerbaijan stated. “The pandemic has not only showed the devastating consequences school closures have on children but also proved the important role schools play in children`s education, mental health and social skills. Children and youth cannot risk having another year of disrupted learning. UNICEF is working closely with Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan to ensure schools are opened safely on September 15 and children do not miss the opportunities school offers to them” Alex Heikens, UNICEF Representative in Azerbaijan, said. UNICEF Azerbaijan currently partners the Ministry of Education to provide targeted learning recovery support to children in ten selected districts of Azerbaijan. Programme aims to provide additional teaching support for children and mentorship support to teachers to catch up with the new academic year. Mental health and psychosocial support to children and teachers will be one of the continuous priorities for both UNICEF and WHO. UNICEF and WHO in Azerbaijan will jointly support the Ministry of Education, national health agencies for a joint #Back2School campaign with all necessary information suggested to parents, teachers and students for a safe back to schools of all Azerbaijani children.

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Press Release

18 June 2021

UNHCR commends Azerbaijan’s continued support to refugees and Asylum Seekers on the World Refugee Day

While many refugee emergencies are unfortunately becoming protracted, such as that of the Rohingya from Myanmar, new emergencies continue occurring, such as one in Tigray region of Ethiopia, which has displaced hundreds of thousands within Ethiopia and across the border in Sudan. The global fight against the COVID19 pandemic and its consequences, has shown that we can only succeed if we stand together and this year’s World Refugee Day campaign calls for greater inclusion of refugees in host societies, with particular reference to health, education systems and sports with the key messages of “heal”, “learn” and “shine”. Azerbaijan hosts 1,616 refugees in total originating mainly from Afghanistan and other countries in central Asia, the Middle East and eastern Europe. On the World Refugee Day, UNHCR Azerbaijan commends the authorities and people of Azerbaijan for granting access to healthcare and employment rights to refugees and asylum seekers living in the country. As we continue working and collaborating to achieve integration and inclusion of refugees, we also sincerely express our gratitude to the Government of Azerbaijan for the successful legal amendment on employment of refugees and access to healthcare insurance. With growing forced displacement world-wide, it is important more than ever that refugees and asylum seekers receive our solidarity, compassion and support. They want nothing more than protection and the opportunity to make a decent living away from home to support themselves, their families and be part of their host communities. In that regard, UNHCR continues advocating for securing legal status for refugees and asylum seekers living in Azerbaijan, as well as ensuring durable solutions prospects in the form of voluntary return in safety and dignity for Internally Displaced Persons. “Some of the refugees were born or arrived as small children in Azerbaijan and have a lot of potential to contribute to the development of Azerbaijani society if they are given the opportunity to integrate and therefore to secure a durable solution,” said Guido Ambroso, UNHCR Representative to Azerbaijan. “While progress has been made, more needs to be done to ensure legal status. I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate the people of Azerbaijan as, after nearly three decades, hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons finally have the possibility to achieve a durable solution by returning to their lands. World Refugee Day is the day to celebrate refugees’ contributions to communities, their unique experience, resilience and bravery in overcoming the toughest hardships the wars and conflicts can bring.

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02 February 2021

UN releases USD 2 million to support emergency humanitarian response in conflict-affected areas of Azerbaijan

The United Nations has released USD 2 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to support the UN’s ongoing humanitarian response to temporarily displaced people in the conflict-affected areas of Azerbaijan. Following the 9 November 2020 trilateral statement, UN resident agencies in Azerbaijan have been providing initial support in the areas of food, shelter, hygiene, preparation for winter, mine risk awareness, access to healthcare, psychosocial support, and education, “The CERF funding will scale up UN agencies’ ongoing activities to help the conflict-affected people return to normal life ,” said Ghulam Isaczai, UN Resident Coordinator in Azerbaijan. “We will continue working closely with the Government of Azerbaijan, civil society, and other stakeholders to meet the urgent needs of the highly vulnerable population, especially women and children.” The CERF allocation builds on the results of a rapid inter-agency assessment that the UN Country Team conducted in the conflict-affected areas with the support of the Government of Azerbaijan. The funding will help to provide shelter and non-food items to the affected population; assist in the coordination of demining activities; and deliver essential medicines and medical equipment, as well as mental health and psychosocial services. The UN Country Team in Azerbaijan in partnership with government agencies carried out several preliminary needs assessment missions in conflict-affected areas and has been providing its assistance in the following areas: Health: WHO and UNFPA have delivered personal protective equipment and emergency kits to families in conflict-affected areas, as well as supported the continuation of primary healthcare services despite the COVID-19 and conflict-induced strains on 60 medical facilities. Shelter and core relief items: UNHCR mobilized USD 1.5 million to secure non-food items, including tents, blankets and mattresses, and is currently mobilizing USD400 thousand to provide as cash-based interventions. Psychosocial support: Most of the 40,000 temporarily displaced people have suffered immense stress and anxiety, especially children. Given the severe shortage of medical staff and absence of psychology professionals in the conflict-hit areas, both WHO and UNICEF are training psychology counsellors to support mental health services at hospitals and schools. Mine risk action: A joint UNDP-UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) assessment mission was undertaken recently in close coordination with ANAMA, the national mine action agency, to assess mines and unexploded ordinance contaminations in several of the conflict-affected districts. UNDP, UNMAS, and UNICEF are currently working with the government to improve awareness of mine risk; support the Government’s demining strategy; and strengthen ANAMA’s capacity. CERF – managed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator on behalf of the UN Secretary-General - is one of the fastest and most effective ways to help people affected by crises. Since its creation, it has assisted hundreds of millions of people with more than $6.5 billion across 104 countries and territories. This would have not been possible without generous and consistent donor support.

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24 September 2021

Fruits and vegetables: the secret weapons of these Azerbaijani’s food heroes

A year before the country was faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, Tahmina Isayeva from Zaqatala district in the northwest of Azerbaijan started a small business of drying fruits in her kitchen. “In the beginning it was my hobby to preserve fruits by drying them. We arranged fruits on the drying tray with spaces between for good air circulation and then set the tray in the sun for some days. It is a traditional method, but it is a long process,”says Tahmina. “It started quite well and my acquaintances became my first consumers. For a year, I produced almost 300 kilograms of dry fruits. It was not easy as I did all the processing myself – harvested apples, plums and figs from our garden or bought fruits from the bazaar,” she said. However, in 2019, the Women’s Resource Centre in Zaqatala, awarded Tahmina a fruit dry processing machine to enhance her business. Although the pandemic challenged her business’s profibility, she used this time as an opportunity to study and bring her production to the next level. Now she is the first commercial producer of dried fruits in her village. “The pandemic was a big challenge for my business as people’s capacity to pay decreased. I was not disappointed. Instead, I was searching tips to improve my business and started setting up the production process with the involvement of other women. Also I plan to get a quality certificate for my products to increase selling at the market,” Tahmina said. Fruit and vegetable culture Fruits are a big part of the culture and economy of Azerbaijan. The country’s varied climate ensures that fresh fruit can be picked all year round. Some fruits and vegetables are celebrated with local harvest festivals, highlighting their importance for the community and national economy. According to Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee, exports of fruits and vegetables in 2020 amounted to USD 607.7 million and provided a third of the country’s total non-oil exports last year. Fruits are also as part of traditional Azerbaijani tea culture. Visitors to someone’s home, whatever the time of day, are always offered tea alongside bowls of dried fruits and nuts as well as various homemade jams. In fact, people in Azerbaijan joke that jam can be made from everything if you just add sugar. Fruits and vegetables are also particularly important to another young Azerbaijani farmer, Jalal Alakbarov from the Samukh region in northwestern Azerbaijan. Jalal’s family has been in the business for many years, mostly relying on traditional methods of production. As part of the new generation, however, Jalal is regularly looking to innovate with new techniques and technologies to better their business. While vegetable crops are mainly produced in open fields, Jalal and the younger generation have been using greenhouses to protect cultivation. Greenhouses better control production than in an open field and consequently leads to higher yields, better quality and better use of inputs. In the last 10 years, Jalal has managed to expand his farming, producing tomatoes and strawberries in greenhouses. “I’ve gained new experiences from growing crops to pest control. Through these gains I achieved an increase in the yeild and profitability of my farm,” says Jalal, noting that he now shares this knowledge, gained in part through FAO’s field training, with other farmers. “No man is an island; we support each other, especially during the recent pandemic situation.” Like with Tahmina and farmers around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic created many challenges for Jalal. Quarantine measures created a shortage in labour. Decreases in income, meant decreased consumption and market prices of fruits and vegetables went down. Restrictions on market access also affected sales. “During the pandemic period food security became critical, especially when doctors recommended to eat healthy food and include fruits and vegetables on the daily menu. We, farmers, were like a regiment fighting against COVID-19, and I think we are winners in this war,” Jalal concludes. Isa Aliyev, also from the Zaqatala district, is another successful fruit producer, specializing in homemade jams extracted from strawberry, pear, cherry and even tearose petals. But it is his green walnut jam that customers fervently seek out. It may just be a coincidence that the shell of a walnut looks like a tiny brain, but research suggests that this nut may indeed be good for your mind. Walnuts provide healthy fats, fibre, vitamins and minerals — and there are plenty of ways to use them in dishes, including the Azerbaijani preserve that Isa has perfected. “This is our main business,” describes Isa. “It is quite profitable, but at the same time it is a really time-consuming complex process, which takes up to 15 days to get a product ready for sale.” To make the jam, walnuts need to be harvested before the hard inner shell develops, when the inside is still light green and easily cut. For preserving, the size of green walnuts should be between a very large olive and a very small egg. Peeled walnuts are soaked in lime water for 10 days, rinsing frequently to wash away the naturally bitter taste of unripe walnuts. Walnuts are then cooked four times in the sugar syrup, adding cloves or cardamom to the pot. The green nuts turn into a dark mahogany brown and have a rich maple or date flavour. “Although during the pandemic we had to reduce production by five times as consumers’ purchasing power went down, we did not give up,” says Isa. “Tea in Azerbaijan is traditionally served with jams so our products will be in demand again.” With the desire to improve their practices and businesses, Tahmina, Jalal and Isa have all been in touch with FAO, participating in various projects throughout the country. One FAO project supported by the European Union is helping communities to promote farmers’ products globally, creating agriturism opportunities for foreign tourists. In Azerbaijan and countries worldwide, FAO focuses on providing family farmers with training and techniques to improve their production, reach more markets and ensure their food and nutrition security. Behind all of our food, there is always someone who produced, planted, harvested, fished or transported it. In the run up to World Food Day on October 16, we thank these #FoodHeroes who, no matter the circumstances, continue to provide food for their communities and beyond. There are countless ways to be a food hero in your community and now is a great time to start. Our actions are our future.

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16 July 2021

Secretary-General appoints Vladanka Andreeva of North Macedonia United Nations Resident Coordinator in Azerbaijan

Ms. Andreeva brings 21 years of experience in international development, humanitarian coordination, advocacy, and partnership building, which she has acquired within the United Nations and externally through multiple assignments across Europe and Asia. At the United Nations, she most recently held the position of Country Director for the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in Cambodia and led the United Nations Country Team Task Force for COVID-19 preparedness and response. Before that she led efforts, as Strategic Intervention Adviser for the UNAIDS Regional Office for Asia-Pacific, to strengthen implementation of evidence-informed, human rights-based and gender-sensitive country programmes. She served as Monitoring and Evaluation Team Lead for UNAIDS Viet Nam prior to that. Ms. Andreeva also worked with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as Policy Advisor for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States and was Advisor to the United Nations Resident Coordinator in North Macedonia. She took this position after serving with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Office for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) also in North Macedonia. Prior to joining the United Nations, Ms. Andreeva worked with the non-profit organization Pharmaciens Sans Frontières and coordinated humanitarian relief for refugees. She holds a bachelor’s degree in dental medicine and a master’s degree in public health, from the University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Skopje, North Macedonia.

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02 May 2021

A school teacher turns her hobby into dry fruit business

Tahmina Isayeva from Zaqatala district in the northwest of Azerbaijan started a small business of drying fruits some months before the COVİD-19 pandemic. Although the pandemic challenged her business, she used this as an opportunity to bring the production to a new level. Tahmina works as a teacher a village school and the rest of the time she is busy with home and yard. In 2019, she attended a series of training on business establishment and development, including business management and accounting, computer and English language sessions. “At the beginning, it was my hobby to preserve fruits by drying them. We arranged fruits on the drying tray with spaces between them for good air circulation and then set the tray in the sun for several days. It is a traditional method, but it is a long process,”- recalled Tahmina, who is now the first producer of dry fruits in Mukhakh village of Zaqatala district. One day, she decided to dry fruits for sale. In 2019, the Women’s Resource Center in Zaqatala awarded her a fruit drying machine to launch the business. “It started quite well and people in my circle became first customers of my products. For a year, I produced almost 300 kg of dry fruits. It was not easy as I was dealing with all process myself – harvested apple, plum, cornels, fig and other fruits at our garden or bought exotic fruits like banana, kiwi and orange from a bazaar in wintertime,”- she said. The dry fruits business was not popular in Zaqatala in past. Usually, people in Azerbaijan bought some dry fruits for Novruz Bayram, a special celebration of spring’s beginning. Just a few years ago people’s interest to healthy food has increased and they started to buy this delicious snack rich in vitamins and minerals. “After the COVID-19 pandemic, my sales plunged, as people’s capacity to pay decreased. But, I did not get disappointed. Instead, I was searching on the internet for tips to improve my business. Now I am setting up the production process at the yard and going to involve other women to work as a team,” – Tahmina noted by adding about her plans to apply for the national food safety registration to the Food Safety Agency in order to get access to the wider market and expand the business. To develop the business, Tahmina also applied to the “Development of sustainable and inclusive local food systems in the northwest region of Azerbaijan” project implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) with the financial support of the European Union. The project is mainly focused on creating local inclusive and efficient models of agriculture and the food system for selected local agri-food products, as well as facilitating access to markets by strengthening ties between producers and buyers and expanding the potential of agritourism in the region. It also allows small farmers and processors to acquire the skills and knowledge they need to create profitable and sustainable agricultural enterprises. “This kind of project is very useful and has positive impacts on us. Usually, women in villages and especially in farming are perceived as an invisible workforce and their role in rural communities are hardly recognized. The project creates not only income-generating opportunities for rural women but also makes them feel strong and confident; increases socializing improves their status in family and society,”- Tahmina concluded.

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20 April 2021

Successful national development strategy should be founded on sustainability principles

My arrival in Azerbaijan as United Nations Resident Coordinator in April 2016 coincided with significant socio-economic and geopolitical challenges in the country, some triggered by global events of unprecedented magnitude. First came the declining oil prices resulting in two rounds of currency devaluation in 2015 and 2016 and a double-digit inflation affecting the poor. Then came the escalation of the conflict with Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh region culminating in a full-blown war in September 2020, which resulted in significant civilian and military casualties and served as a stark reminder to the international community that this conflict was not, contrary to accepted opinion, “frozen”. Finally, the COVID-19 pandemic was another severe shock that negatively affected all segments of the population, particularly the poorest and the most vulnerable. The Government responded well to mitigate these short-term effects, though the challenge of long-term recovery is yet to be tackled. A common thread running through these events was the extraordinary resilience that Azerbaijani people displayed in the midst of severe challenges. Thousands of hardworking frontline workers, volunteers, and private businesses inspired hope as they took selfless actions to support their communities. Businesses and philanthropists donated millions, while young volunteers were mobilized in various ways, offering for instance medication and grocery shopping to older men and women and persons with disabilities who could not leave their homes. Looking back at my five-year tenure, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the people of Azerbaijan for demonstrating incredible perseverance in the face of adversity. As we now look to the future, it is important to draw the needed lessons from these experiences and ensure the country is well-equipped to recover better and stronger. As the country is preparing to tackle the above challenges, the UNCT is poised to leverage the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework signed this year to help Azerbaijan align its Vision-2030, national development and recovery strategies with the Sustainable Development Goals. The SDGs provide a roadmap for inclusive and resilient recovery from COVID19 and the conflict. With less than a decade left to fulfill the promise of leaving no one behind, aligning national development and recovery strategies with the SDGs is more critical than ever. Coherence between national policies and Azerbaijan’s commitment to global agreements, including Paris Agreement on Climate Change, is also critical to ensure socio-economic development is fully integrated with environmental objectives. The recent launch of Azerbaijan 2030: National Priorities for socio-economic development Strategy document is a promising start to this ten-year project. The vision comprises ambitious goals and aspirations to turn Azerbaijan into an advanced economy with a high welfare society over the next decade. It is particularly encouraging that the Strategy makes an explicit reference to complementarities between national policy priorities and Azerbaijan’s commitments arising from the 2030 Agenda. As the Government develops its five-year strategy for implementation of the plan over the next few months, a number of key considerations should guide its thinking to ensure the change on people and the planet is transformational. First, actively engage and build durable partnerships with diverse stakeholders in the planning, implementation, and monitoring stages. The most successful visioning plans are founded on the inclusive participation of actors including representatives of civil society, private sector, academia, youth movements, social media influencers and other groups. Second, harness the lessons learnt from the pandemic and the conflict to prioritize interventions that reduce likelihood of future shocks and improve resilience if they materialize. For instance, efforts need to be accelerated to ensure universal health access and reduce the digital divide in schools and universities. Recovery planning should also give impetus to climate action, recognizing and addressing long-term damage to the environment and natural resources. Third, develop a solid financial framework which sets out the broad investment direction to finance the Strategy. Costing exercise should be complemented by the assessment of financial landscape and identification of resource mobilization requirements. Against a fiscally constrained environment, alternative financing sources, including innovative financing tools should be explored. Lastly, integrating the SDG indicators as performance indicators for the strategy document, as well as performance budget evaluation system is another important avenue to consider. This, along with improving the efficiency of spending, would reflect Azerbaijan’s commitment to achieve the SDGs. As Azerbaijan re-imagines its future, I would like to take this opportunity to reaffirm the UN’s commitment to supporting Azerbaijan on its path to sustainable development. A wide range of expertise across many UN agencies could be drawn upon to accompany Government efforts in putting this ambitious plan into practice, and to ensure adequate costing of the strategy document with complementary analysis of the financing landscape. Our organization can provide a platform for effective engagement of various stakeholders in the implementation of this Strategy at national and local levels. Moreover, the UN in close partnership with the European Union and the World Bank is ready to assist Azerbaijan in its conflict recovery and peace building efforts by undertaking a Recovery and Peace Building Assessment (RPBA) exercise that would enable the large number of internally displaced population to return to their homes in safety and dignity. I hope to come back to a country that has reached new heights in its path to success. It will be a challenging journey, but a journey worth taking.

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09 April 2021

Female farmers need a stronger voice for equality

Olga Babayeva, a 52-year-old farmer from the Samukh region, North-West of Azerbaijan, is a well-recognized businesswoman in her community. Apart from being the biggest producer of vegetable seeds for onions, coriander, dill, radishes, parsley, and others, she is also known for her strong support of women’s engagement in farming. A farm life attracted her as a young child, as she used to spend her summer holidays helping her parents in planting vegetables. It was in the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when Olga, in her nineteens, started renting a 10-hectare plot to grow beetroot, and become the first young female farmer in Fuzuli village. “But it was not that easy,“ says Olga with a smile, who cultivates 14 hectares of land already. For more than 30 years she has been engaged in agriculture which includes managing the vegetable seed cooperative “Barakat” translated as “Blessing” from Azeri, with 1 400 villagers as members, as well as establishing the Samukh Seed and Vegetable Corporation that ensures laboratory testing for sorting and drying. Today, the corporation is selling seeds at both national and foreign markets. “In the beginning, I faced situations when a tractor driver who was usually a man refused to cultivate my land just because I was a woman or officials at local government body neglected my requests as they did not accept the fact that woman can be engaged in farming professionally”, tells Olga. “‘Your place is in the kitchen – this is what women hear very often, ‘not in the land’.” Empowering rural women through agriculture has great potential in Azerbaijan, as according to the State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan, 77 percent of women reside in rural areas, and the percentage of female entrepreneurs engaged in agriculture, forestry, and fishing, is higher than of men (32 percent and 24 percent subsequently). However, women face a number of challenges such as the gender pay gap, the informality of jobs, triple work burden (housework, working on household production, and wage work), and poor access to social services, hindering them from leveraging their full potential. In total, women do an average of six hours of unpaid work, while men spend two hours on the same. “As I was divorced with a little son and daughter in my hands, I had no other option, as to earn our living to survive. I had to work much harder than any other male fellow as I bared triple responsibilities: working on the farm, at home, and engaging in village initiatives. Today, my children are adults, but perceptions, challenges are still there,” adds Olga. Olga knows very well the challenges women face in agriculture as she had to go through many of them. This is why FAO considered her as a future mentor for female farmers. To this end, Olga received several trainings on farming and business management and will soon participate in a training for trainers’ workshop. Since 2020, FAO, in cooperation with the Government of Azerbaijan, is focusing on providing support to rural women for improving their knowledge and farming practices through innovative technologies in cultivating fruit trees, vegetables, cattle breeding, poultry raising and other areas. “Women are engaged in agricultural production, however, they are less educated in sales and marketing, and have little information about micro-credits and non-financial services, says Flora Poladova, FAO gender specialist in Azerbaijan. “With the improved farming techniques, they will be able to do commercial farming. Increasing their income through essential business, marketing, and leadership skills will, in fact, raise women's self-confidence and make their voice heard.” “FAO plays an intermediary role between female farmers, state, and private service providers. We are working on stakeholder mapping now to bridge this that will help women to learn about free advisory services, soft loans, and other services,” Poladova added. To keep up the momentum, the project mobilizes rural women’s groups and already succeeded in connecting over 100 female farmers from 20 regions of Azerbaijan. Olga is part of this network and communicates with other members and shares farming knowledge via a mobile messaging application. “I am so happy to be part of the big changes ahead! Grateful women are not alone and support is there. Women and girls deserve fair opportunities and treatment and once financially stable, they will have a stronger voice to be equally recognized,” says Olga. More: http://www.fao.org/fao-stories/article/en/c/1393464/

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Press Release

24 September 2021

UNDP Resident Representative in Azerbaijan visits Ganja, Barda and Tartar

As part of the visit, he met with the Deputy Resident Director of the State Agency for Vocational Education Jeyhun Karamov and Director of the Ganja State Vocational Education Centre on Industry and Technologies Shahin Maharramov. Together they visited two workshops of the Ganja VE Centre and discussed the ongoing activities, as well as the previous vocational education project and the results achieved. With the support of UNDP, 6 new curricula, 27 training modules, and 10 courses on various specialties have been developed and the infrastructure has been upgraded. In total, about 500 teachers and students benefited from the previous project in modernisation of vocational education. With the new “VET for the Future: Development of VET Providers’ Excellence in Azerbaijan” project — funded by the EU and implemented by UNDP in partnership with the State Agency on Vocational Education, over 3,000 students of VET centres across the country will directly benefit from the modernisation of their institutions. Later the Resident Representative together with USAID Mission Director in Azerbaijan Jaidev Singh and his delegation, visited the PROGRO Center located in Ganja Technological University. They met with young participants of PROGRO training sessions and awarded them the certificates of accomplishment. “Professional Growth and Innovations Platform – PROGRO” was established in 2019 as part of the “Promoting Innovation and Employment in Azerbaijan” Project funded by USAID and implemented by UNDP and the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Population. To date, the project has provided training on career planning, professional skills and entrepreneurial thinking to 408 young people from Ganja, Zagatala, Masalli and Sumgayit. During COVID-19, more than 1,000 young people benefited from long-term and short-term professional development training. Mr. Fracassetti also met with the Head of Barda Executive Committee Vidadi Isayev. He was joined by Sadagat Gahramanova, Deputy Chairperson of the State Committee for Family, Women, and Children Affairs. They discussed the future project on women empowerment to kick off this year in Barda. UNDP Resident Representative and Deputy Chairperson also visited Tartar where they met with the Head of Tartar Executive Committee Mustagim Mammadov. They discussed the fruitful cooperation within the ‘Early Recovery and Community Resilience for the Most Vulnerable in the Fuzuli-Horadiz, Aghjabadi and Tartar regions of Azerbaijan’ project co-funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and implemented in partnership with the State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs. The project focuses on supporting local development through a series of measures, including enterprise development, vocational training, green jobs and quick impact projects designed to help rehabilitate key local infrastructure based on community priorities. The regional visit concluded in Tartar Community Resource Hub, with the awarding ceremony of the young executive committee representatives who successfully completed the project’s training series. ------ Media contact: For media inquiries, please contact Dilara Umudova, Communications Officer for UNDP in Azerbaijan at dilara.umudova@undp.org Leyla Gurbanova, Communications and Visibility Specialist for UNDP in Azerbaijan at leyla.gurbanova@undp.org UNDP is the leading United Nations organization fighting to end the injustice of poverty, inequality, and climate change. Working with our broad network of experts and partners in 170 countries, we help nations to build integrated, lasting solutions for people and planet. Learn more at undp.org or follow at @UNDP.

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Press Release

23 September 2021

WHO handed over medical masks to the State Customs Committee

The delivery is part of Germany's donation of 121 million masks to the World Health Organization for distribution to the countries affected by COVID-19. 926,000 medical masks were sent to Azerbaijan from these medical supplies. In a statement made at the handover event, Dr. Hande Harmanci stated, “Ensuring the safety and well-being of the health care workers and humanitarians, as well as government partners and stakeholders involved in the COVID-19 response has been a high priority for WHO since the onset of the pandemic. This generous donation facilitated by Germany will help to expand the current public health and social measures and play a role in enhancing preparedness to address health emergencies. We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the Government of Germany for partnering with WHO and Azerbaijan to prevent the spread of COVID-19”. Chairman of the State Customs Committee, Colonel-General of the Customs Service Safar Mehdiyev thanked the German government and the World Health Organization for the support, noting that Azerbaijan has been in close collaboration with the World Health Organization since the beginning of the pandemic. The chairman of the committee noted that in the first stage of the pandemic, under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, timely measures were taken to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the country. From the first days of the pandemic, all customs and border checkpoints in the country have started to operate in an intensified mode of operation, and now sanitary-preventive and disinfection measures are being continued in a special mode. He also noted that the Central Customs Hospital of the State Customs Committee has completely restructured its work in the fight against coronavirus and started accepting only coronavirus patients in June last year. The Central Customs Hospital, which currently operates as a pandemic hospital, has all the necessary conditions for the treatment of coronavirus and is staffed by professional healthcare workers. The German Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Dr Wolfgang Manig, underlined the importance of multilateral cooperation in the fight against COVID-19. “Germany is deeply committed to ensuring fair, transparent and affordable access to vaccines, diagnostics and medical aids like masks. Germany does not tie this access to political conditions in contrast to bilateral pledges of some states. The German Federal Government wants to secure regional healthcare in the long term. With a view to making use of the experience that has been gained in the future, Germany is calling for the WHO to be strengthened”, the Ambassador said. The German government is supporting the global efforts to fight the pandemic to the tune of 2.2 billion euro, including the distribution of 100 million vaccine doses worldwide. The face masks will be distributed among the national partners, including NGOs as part of COVID-19 response activities, to be used by the healthcare workers, as well as frontline workers involved in managing public services amid the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak in the country.

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Press Release

20 September 2021

IOM Azerbaijan builds capacities to local lawyers to better assist victims of human trafficking and forced labour

A four-day training covers the subjects on trafficking in person, forced labor, and assistance to people at risk of trafficking and exploitation, as well as potential victims of trafficking. Speaking at the launch of the training, Vladimir Gjorgjiev, the Chief of IOM Mission to Azerbaijan highlighted the importance of cooperation with the Azerbaijani Bar Association in capacity-building initiatives aimed at sensitizing lawyers to the human rights dimension of human trafficking and to increase their capacity to counter the crime and to protect victims. "We hope this capacity-building training will contribute to the exchange of best practices and methodologies to combat the serious challenges posed by human trafficking in the country," says Vladimir Gjorgjiev. The Chairman of Azerbaijani Bar Association Mr. Anar Baghirov stressed the importance of cooperation with the IOM for their organization and the successful implementation of joint projects. Noting that the training for lawyers is important for the protection of victims of human trafficking, Bagirov also said that changes are needed in the legislation. “We are concerned about the fact that the law does not provide for legal assistance to victims of human trafficking at public expense. Given that most victims are people in need of free legal assistance, then we must work to resolve this issue," said Bagirov. During the training, lawyers are provided training from Izabela Hartman, expert and trainer with extensive experience in law, both theory and practice, and in the training of lawyers on a relevant subject. The participants will have the opportunity to discuss and exchange experiences, approaches, and broaden their knowledge on trafficking, the challenges, the achievements, and protection of victims of trafficking, build a stronger partnership, improve prosecution and learn more about preventive measures in the area of human trafficking and forced labour. The IOM Azerbaijan’s project “Counter-Trafficking in Persons (C-TIP) Activity” funded by USAID is supporting the Government of Azerbaijan with several other activities to further improve the country’s effectiveness in preventing and combating human trafficking and forced labour through raising public awareness on TIP and providing technical and financial support to the civil society organization operating shelters for assisting potential and actual victims of trafficking and forced labour.

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