As the world community prepares for the development agenda set to succeed the MDG framework beyond 2015, the Office of the Resident Coordinator and the UNO Baku - Department of Public Information (UN DPI) teamed up with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and International Eurasia Press Fund (IEPF) to conduct a consultation in Tartar on 24 May.

Taking into consideration the tense geographical position and current social situation of the town, the new migration trends and the issue of human trafficking were at the forefront of the consultation. More than fifty representatives were brought together from regional executive authorities, as well as from offices dealing with security, legal matters, education, youth, and sports.

Ms. Irada Ahmedova, a representative of the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office, informed the participants about the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which have provided an important motivational force and measuring rod for progress in poverty reduction and increased access to basic health, a competitive education, clean water, and other essential services by the target date of 2015.  “The consultation process will be aligned with the Azerbaijan: Vision 2020 national strategy. The ideas and recommendations generated through the consultations, suggesting a post-2015 development framework, with both local and global dimensions, will feed into the UN report due by the end of June,” said Ms. Ahmedova.

Mr. Sarhan Aktoprak, Acting Head of the IOM, also affirmed the importance of migration as part of the ongoing discussions on the post-2015 development agenda. “What we have observed throughout our work,” explained Mr. Aktoprak, “is that migration can make a very important contribution to social and economic development if governed fairly.”

Expressing his eagerness to partner with UN agencies in the process of consultations, the IEPF Chairman, Umud Rahimoglu, stated that, “The outcome today has shown that the Azerbaijani government is open to dialogues and that local authorities are willing to join in the process of developing better national policies. I hope the IEPF, with its partners, can continue to facilitate meetings of this kind.”

Many countries, including Azerbaijan, are on track to achieve a significant number of the goals which have been transforming the quality of life for hundreds of millions of people. The UN is working with governments, civil society, and other partners to build on the momentum generated by the MDGs, and to move forward with an ambitious post-2015 development agenda. Azerbaijan is one of the 87 countries in the world which launched post-2015 national consultations.

The UNO Baku - Department of Public Information (UN DPI) team, together with the representative of the Office of the Resident Coordinator and experts from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), travelled to Barda, a small town about a five-hour drive from Baku, to conduct a discussion on migration and human trafficking on 24 May.

 “The town of Barda, which is situated very close to the ceasefire line, and hosts a large number of the internally displaced persons, was purposely suggested by the UNDPI representative. We were also eager to hear actual voices from the field,” said Nick Nwolisa from the International Eurasia Press Fund, which hosted the event along with the Barda city representatives. The meeting drew nearly 100 participants representing various segments of society including representatives from local authorities, civil society organizations, and youth.

Mr. Serhan Aktoprak, IOM Acting Head, who facilitated the consultation, highlighted the global and national migration trends and challenges at a warm-up session. He underlined that “migration can make a very important contribution to social and economic development if governed fairly.” 

In her presentation about the MDGs, Ms. Irada Ahmedova from the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office reiterated the vital role played by the MDGs in shaping a broad developmental vision, raising awareness and generating real development gains. 

“The MDGs served as an important motivational force and measuring rod for progress in poverty reduction and increased access to basic health, a competitive education, clean water, and other essential services by the target date of 2015”, Ms. Ahmedova said.

The participants addressed such issues as labour migration, trafficking and forced migration. The discussions focused on the migration-development nexus that incorporates two elements: ways in which migrants can be a resource for the development of their home communities and can reduce pressures for migration, particularly irregular movements of people.

The post-MDG agenda should be transformative; it should respond to complex development challenges and embrace intertwined connections with poverty reduction, human rights promotion, job creation, and inclusive growth, participants suggested. They also gladly shared their suggestions for a new set of the sustainable development goals, and proposed that migration and human trafficking should be integrated into the development framework beyond 2015.

Azerbaijan is one of the 88 countries in the world that launched post-2015 national consultations to prepare for the development agenda to succeed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) framework beyond 2015.

The national consultation process will be aligned with the Azerbaijan: Vision 2020 national strategy. The ideas and recommendations generated through the consultations, suggesting a post-2015 development framework, with both local and global dimensions, will feed into the UN report due by early July.

UNO Baku-Department of Public Information (UNDPI), in close partnership with the UN Resident Coordinator's (RC) Office and Azerbaijani NGO Women's Association for Rational Development (WARD), hosted a consultation on the broader sustainable development framework beyond 2015. The consultation participants gathered in Baku on 14 May, to discuss in particular the existing challenges in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), with a specific focus on MDG 3, which calls for empowering women as an indispensable tool for advancing development and reducing poverty.

Keeping the 2015 deadline of the MDGs in sight, doubled efforts should be made in order to achieve the goals that are most essential for gender equality, says Ms. Irada Ahmedova, RC’s Office. She also highlighted the UN’s support to promote sustainable development, and the global efforts for making progress in achieving the MDGs and the UN global initiative ‘The World We Want’. Launched in partnership with the Government, donors, international development partners, private sector, academia, NGOs, and media, the post-2015 national consultations engage youth and researchers, entrepreneurs and business associations, rural women and IDP communities to identify potential areas for the sustainable development beyond 2015. The consultation process is aligned with national priorities articulated in Azerbaijan: Vision 2020 national strategy.

“Focusing efforts on the empowerment of girls and women seeks to balance the scales, not to exclude one gender over the other and with that in mind we should do our best to, jointly with our media friends, influence all strata of Azerbaijani society to work further on women empowerment,” said Ms. Envera Selimovic, UNDPI Representative, in her introductory speech. She underscored the principal role of media in raising public awareness about the issues of discrimination against women. “While inequalities and gender stereotypes still exist in social structures and the minds of people, media have the potential to propagate and perpetuate or to ameliorate these,” Ms. Selimovic said.

“Adolescent girls are among the most excluded group of young people in many parts of the world. They lack access to services and livelihoods and face harmful cultural practices such as child marriages. Our main aim is to address these disparities through our media partners,” said Shahla Ismayil, Head of the WARD. “I am grateful to the UN office in Azerbaijan for the continuous keeping this issue in a spotlight. Although there is no official statistics on women harassment in Azerbaijan, the fragmented surveys show that the situation is not good at all,” said Nigar Allahverdiyeva, from Palitra newspaper.  “Education is the only key to unlock the girls’ destitute life and we, journalists, should play our vital part to help them out”, said Khanim Javadova from BBC Azeri Service.

Every child in the world has the right to a quality education and no child has a chance of realizing that right without an effective teacher. The Global Campaign for Education (GCE) runs a Global Action Week every year, and since its inception in 2001, this campaign has brought together tens of millions of people and raised awareness on these issues. This year the campaign was co-organized by the National Coalition for Education (NCE), UNESCO India, the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) for India and Bhutan and CARE.
 
Several Members of Parliament presented strong messages in support of education-related initiatives such as these. UNESCO Director and Representative for India Shigeru Aoyagi also pledged the ongoing support of his office to this very effective campaign.
 
The event was attended by teachers and students from government schools, many of whom had created placards carrying messages in English and Hindi. UNIC Director, Mrs. Kiran Mehra-Kerpelman congratulated them on their efforts. “Education is the basic building block of every society”, she said. “It is a fundamental human right, not a privilege of the few”. She pointed out that education is the critical thread tying together all our hopes for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the six internationally agreed Education for All Goals (EFA). She reminded the audience that on 26 September 2012, during the UN General Assembly in New York, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched a five-year initiative to bolster global action on education and it sought to generate a renewed push to reach the education goals set for 2015 – the Global Education First Initiative, GEFI. He urged governments to spare no effort to achieve the MDGs by 2015. “We have three years and three months. We must intensify our work. This is our collective responsibility”, he said.
 
UNIC National Information Officer Rajiv Chandran moderated a riveting media interaction, together with UNESCO National Programme Officer Huma Masood.