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Joint UN Mission Optimistic About Azerbaijan's Future
Members of the Executive Boards of UNDP/UNFPA, UNICEF and WFP visited Azerbaijan on 9-15 May 2005
How effectively do the UN Agencies cooperate in contributing to Azerbaijan's achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)? A 23-member mission of representatives of the Executive Boards (EB) of World Food Programme (WFP), United Nations Childrens' Fund (UNICEF) and UN Development Programme/United Nations Population Fund (UNDP/UNFPA) from 19 countries was tasked to find a response to this question during their visit to the country on May 9-15, 2005.
 The head of the mission, Ambassador Harold Forsyth Mejia initially responded to this question on behalf of the mission at the close of the visit: "We have a great personal impression about Azerbaijan's future".
Azerbaijan was the fourth country in the world and the first country in Europe and the CIS selected for the visit of the EB members following visits in previous years to Vietnam, Mozambique and Guatemala. Such joint EB missions to countries are a relatively new practice within the UN reform process. It aims to improve coordination of the UN system's support to the achievement of the development priorities of countries and the MDGs.
One full week of the mission's work in Azerbaijan included the meetings with H.E. President Ilham Aliyev, high-ranking government officials, representatives of multilateral institutions, bilateral donors and civil society, field visits to UN projects and a wrap-up press conference. The Permanent Representative of Azerbaijan to the UN in New York, Ambassador Yashar Aliyev accompanied the mission during its visit.
 On May 10, the mission members were received by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan H.E. Ilham Aliyev. The President emphasized that Azerbaijan attaches great importance to cooperation with the UN and noted that the joint projects carried out with the UN agencies were helping to improve the living conditions of vulnerable groups of the population, including children, the poor, refugees and IDPs.
Azerbaijan's development challenges in the global context and the participation of the country in various UN bodies were discussed at the mission's meeting with Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Mr. Elmar Mammadyarov. The meeting took place in the Ministry's computerized training center established as part of the UNDP/UNITAR joint project to strengthen the capacity of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The challenges in Azerbaijan's achieving the first MDG of halving the poverty level by 2015 were the focus of discussion at the meeting with Minister of Economic Development Mr. Farhad Aliyev. The parties dwelled on the UN's role in the formulation and implementation of the State Programme for Poverty Reduction and Economic Development (2003-2005) and its participation in the forthcoming 10-year programme on the country's sustainable development. Both sides stressed the importance of proper management of the growing oil revenues for the future development of the country.
In the meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Ali Hassanov, a wide range of issues related to refugees and IDPs were touched upon. Mr. Hassanov noted that for the moment Azerbaijan has 250,000 refugees from Armenia, 660,000 IDPs from the occupied territories and 100,000 IDPs from the region along the border with Armenia. That makes a total of over 1 million IDPs and refugees. According to him, the government can take over the caseload of humanitarian assistance eventually but not fully yet. WFP Representative in Azerbaijan Rahman Chowdhury , who accompanied the mission, stressed that "the assessment of the mission is crucial to the UN's continued assistance to Azerbaijan." Meanwhile, the Deputy Prime Minister pointed out that the government was looking into microfinance projects that could ensure jobs for the IDPs.
On the same day, the mission discussed the challenges of Azerbaijan in education and health sectors at the meeting with Deputy Prime Minister EIchin Efendiyev. Minister of Youth, Sport and Tourism Abulfaz Qarayev, Deputy Minister of Education Iskender Iskenderov and Deputy Minister of Health Abbas Velibeyov, also participating in the meeting, briefed the mission on their work and cooperation with UN agencies.
The HIV/AIDS situation in Azerbaijan and the work with the religious community to tackle the problem was the theme of the mission's discussions with religious leaders on May 12. "At first thought the idea of bringing together in one project religious leaders of different faiths was a "risky" venture", said Ludmila Mamedova, National Coordinator of the UNAIDS/UNDP joint project aimed at strengthening of civil society in response to HIV/AIDS. But the result has been very positive. "Their love for human beings was the root for our work. They were united around the same issue." The religious group representatives spoke on how they were raising awareness about the HIV/AIDS.
In the mission's meeting with the donor community and NGOs, the parties discussed the challenges of Azerbaijan in area of good governance including public administration reform, human rights and transparency in managing oil revenues.
On 11 May, the mission split into two groups to travel to the regions. In Imishly, the mission visited sites of WFP's food assistance to IDPs. Another project visited in Imishly was Food for Education project jointly implemented with UNICEF. The latter aims to improve school attendance, especially to prevent girls from dropping out by providing dry take home rations for children with good attendance. In Salyan, the mission visited UNFPA-established reproductive health center, one of the 30 such centers serving to address the needs of local population for maternal care, family planning, use of modern contraception and HIV/AIDS prevention. "These centers have helped to promote the use of contraceptives resulting in diminishing abortion rates. Only 3 cases of maternal mortality in the past 5 years have been observed in the pilot areas of UNFPA assistance", said UNFPA Country Director, Mrs. Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen.The mission also got familiarized with the results of UNICEF-supported Primary Health Care Reform project both at the district hospital level and village level. This project, completed in January 2005, was aimed at transforming the hospital-based health services to a more a rational, cost-effective system emphasising prevention.
On 13 May, Executive Boards members visited the Mine Action Programme supported by UNDP and UNICEF in the south-western district of Fizuly. Director of Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) Mr. Nazim Ismaylov briefed the mission on his agency's activities and achievements in mine action. He emphasized that with UNDP assistance a mechanical demining capacity was put in place from 2004. The mission also saw mine detection dogs in action. "We went to Fizuli and to be quite frank we were really impressed. The project was initiated by UNDP and after a very short period the Government of Azerbaijan succeeded in building its own capacity to deal with mine clearance", said Ms. Torill Wanvik, the mission member from Norway. She also welcomed UNICEF's efforts in raising children's awareness on mine risks: "And how the project was able to draw IDP resource persons. It was also encouraging to see how the mine action awareness was integrated into the education system. And here the contribution of UNICEF was also important. And we were invited into a class-room. And the pupils showed us their knowledge. And we want to see this applied to other schools. Because it is a very important initiative."
On the same day, the rest of the mission members visited UNICEF-assisted projects in Guba district. They visited Guba City School #2 where UNICEF supported the active learning and school leadership project. The objective of the project was to improve the quality of education and raise learning achievements by upgrading skills of educators and introduce educational innovations in teaching and school leadership. Another site visited in Guba was the Youth Resource Centre involved in several activities, including peer education on HIV/AIDS.
At a wrap-up meeting with the mission, the UN Resident Coordinator Marco Borsotti brought attention to the issue of coordination of UN agencies' work in the country. According to him, the UN in Azerbaijan was a team of colleagues "who know we only win when we work together". Reminding about the focus of the mission on the functioning and effectiveness of the United Nations system as a whole, Mr. Borsotti said: "Our own branding (that of separate UN agencies) cannot come in front of the UN," he said. As for the UN role in Azerbaijan, Mr Borsotti said: "There are many different realities in Azerbaijan but there is the problem of transition. In each problem the UN has a role. "We the UN are important because of the vision we have. This is ultimately the strength of the UN. We managed to push for the MDGs and I hope you will help us to continue our work."
At a final press conference on the last working day of the mission, the EB members praised the government's efforts aimed at achieving MDGs, in particular, its poverty reduction activities. The mission welcomed the fact of aligning goals set in the country's poverty reduction programme with the MDGs and the Government's close partnership with the UN in the poverty reduction field . The misson signaled that more needs to be done to achieve the health-related MDGs. However, it did not tarnish the overall impression of the mission: "Not only Azerbaijani authorities but also staff of the UN agencies are performing a great job here in Azerbaijan", said Ambassador Harold Forsyth.
Upon completion of the visit, Mr. Rahman Chowdhury, WFP Representative in Azerbaijan, who coordinated efforts for the mission preparation, said that "the visit has been a great success". "This has been due to the extraordinary hard work of the UN Country Team."
The report of the EB mission to Azerbaijan will be on the agenda of the EB meetings of their respective UN agencies in June. The EBs of the four UN agencies are the inter-governmental bodies governing these agencies.
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