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Not Personal Ambitions but Common Goal: Main Condition for Success
At a recent meeting of the UNIFEM-supported Azerbaijani "Coalition 1325", members congratulated Ms. Hijran Huseynova, an active member of the Coalition, on her appointment as Chair of the new governmental body on gender.
With the Presidential Decree of 7th February 2006, Ms. Huseynova was appointed Chair of the State Committee on Family, Women and Children Issues for the Republic of Azerbaijan.
"It's just another in the chain of achievements that our Coalition can be proud of, - said women at the meeting took place in the UN House in Baku.
In the result of national parliamentary elections in November 2005, two members of Coalition 1325, which closely partners with UNIFEM on peace-building and gender equality work, were elected.
Among the 14 women elected, were Ms. Havva Mammadova, representing National Network of IDP Women within the Coalition, and Ms. Bahar Muradova, was re-elected and appointed as Vice-Speaker of the Parliament.
In addition, another founding member of the Coalition, Ms. Tamam Jafarova, was appointed to be a member of the Central Election Committee (CEC) of Azerbaijan. Ms. Jafarova's appointment, representing opposition minority at the Parliament, was approved by parliamentarians. Of the thirteen new members appointed to the CEC, only three were women.
"All these achievements became possible because we united in our efforts, our experience and join our voices in pushing for gender equality, and in particular, the promotion of women in decision making and peace processes, - said members of the Coalition 1325 in the recent meeting.
The fragile situation of "no-war-no-peace" in Southern Caucasus, and the impact this has on women and girls is complicated by the fact there are only few women in high political position who are advocates for the cause of gender equality, with the number of women in leadership positions throughout the region is actually declining.
Since 2001, the UNIFEM regional project "Women for Conflict Prevention and Peace Building in the Southern Caucasus" has worked in partnership with government and "women for peace" networks in the three countries to support the advancement of gender equality, increased participation of women in decision-making and the creation of an enabling environment in support of conflict prevention and peace-building.
One of the successful strategies applied by the project to empower women in the region was expanding alliances and dialogue among the women's movement in the 3 countries.
Created in September 2002 under the UNIFEM project support the Azerbaijani Coalition 1325 is comprised of 22 women representing all strata of society - Parliament, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, political parties, mass media and academia.
For more than three years the Coalition has significantly contributed to the promotion of gender equality - with particular focus on women's participation in decision making - conflict prevention and peace building in Azerbaijan.
"Not personal ambitions but common goal joints people and allow them to achieve successes", - said Ms. Hijran Huseynova. "We all represent different parties and organizations and often do not intersect in day to day life. However under the flag of the Coalition we managed to move towards its main principles and unite our voices for common values", - she said.
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