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.

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.

  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/

The United Nations Country Team and the Government of Azerbaijan have recently signed a five-year partnership framework for sustainable development, the fifth since Azerbaijan joined the United Nations in 1992.   The new framework has been designed in a complex and unusual context, with the country facing the combined challenge of COVID19 pandemic and recovery from the recent conflict. It required a lengthy and inclusive process of consultation with the government, civil society, the private sector and other stakeholders to establish areas for cooperation in the period 2021-2025. These consultations showed that a move away from business-as-usual and toward transformational results is necessary for Azerbaijan to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. While Azerbaijanis have shown tremendous resilience at this critical juncture for the country, various sections of society were exposed to the threat of leaving employment, dropping out of school, and losing access to essential public and social services. The two crises have also increased pressure on natural resources and put to the test Azerbaijan’s important past efforts on climate action. The immense strain caused by these events has exacerbated the risk of violence against women and girls, including at home.   To overcome these challenges and to support Azerbaijan’s socio-economic priorities outlined under the new Vision 2030, the United Nations and the Government of Azerbaijan  agreed on four main priorities for joint action: inclusive growth that reduces vulnerability and builds resilience; stronger institutions for better public and social services delivery; protecting the environment and addressing climate change; and achieving a gender-equitable society that empowers women and girls. In the first priority area we will advance equitable opportunities for economic participation and the realization of the right to work. We will work with Azerbaijan to ensure that labour markets embrace business-driven innovation and make the most of the country’s strong human capital, especially among youth. By 2025 we will have created an environment in which the country’s economy is steered by innovators, vulnerability is reduced and livelihoods are protected. We will have developed joint actions with the government to ensure economic growth is sustainable, diversified and that it maintains the country on track for the achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Priority area two aims to support the Government in building stronger institutions for public and social services delivery, with a focus on education, health, and access to information and justice. To do so, we will support frontline service delivery in a manner that allows vulnerable groups to access social protection and withstand the long-term socioeconomic effects of the recent crises. We will also invest in expanding knowledge of and access to the ICT infrastructure, promoting e-governance and ensuring that public and social services are available and accessible online.  Priority area three aims at achieving an environmentally conscious economic recovery. It recognizes that long-term recovery that can help the country attain the SDGs must ensure a balance between energy security and environmental protection. The UN will support the transition towards a circular economy, one that preserves and extends the useful lifetime of goods, utilizes waste streams as a source of secondary resources, and tracks and optimizes resource use.  Priority area four targets a gender-equitable society that empowers women and girls across political, economic and social spheres. Although a gender equality lens applies to all priority areas, the partnership suggests that concrete changes must be sought in policy and in practice to address the root causes of inequality and promote the full participation of women and girls in decisions affecting their lives. Further efforts will also be undertaken to ensure that women and girls, especially those in marginalized communities and those impacted by conflict, acquire new skills empowering them to aspire to leadership positions in the economic and political spheres. While these are ambitious targets, accelerated actions and mobilization of resources at all levels of society are needed to meet the challenge set in the Decade of Action to deliver the Goals by 2030.  This would mean meaningful changes in policies, budgets, institutions and regulatory frameworks of governments, cities and local authorities as well as action by people, including by youth, civil society, the media, the private sector and academia to generate an unstoppable movement pushing for the required transformations. We will continue to pursue a strategy that  invests in people, in durable solutions, and in institutions that are responsive to the needs of the most vulnerable in society. Reflecting our joint commitment to the SDGs and to an agenda that is fundamentally grounded in developing human capital, leaving no one behind and pursuing a rights-based approach to development are key tenets of this Cooperation Framework. The new framework will accompany Azerbaijan in its efforts to build back a stronger, more equitable and more prosperous society. The challenge of long-term recovery from the conflict and the pandemic is immense, but the seeds of success have been sown in this joint programming exercise.