Azerbaijan - DHA: 1-31.Oct.97
Azerbaijan - DHA: 1-31.Oct.97
Azerbaijan
DHA Coordinator
1-31 October 1997
HIGHLIGHTS
- The ex-President of Azerbaijan returned to Baku after four years,
- Azerbaijan intensified AIDS control drive,
- International Humanitarian Agencies (IHA) are intensifying their
activities linking humanitarian needs to development strategies in
Azerbaijan,
- UN Disaster Management Training Programme (DMTP) has established its
office in Azerbaijan.
SITUATION OVERVIEW
On 30 October, the ex-President of Azerbaijan, Abulfaz Elchibey returned
to Baku after having been living in Nakchivan for the past four years.
His party's (Popular Front Party) spokesman informed that strengthening
the opposition parties by consolidating them is going to be one of his
important priority in near future. The other priorities are Nagorno
Kharabak conflict resolution, country's economy and forthcoming
municipal elections.
Azerbaijan Centre on AIDS Control and Prevention did a survey on the
knowledge of AIDS, in general, the ways this fatal disease spreads and
methods of its prevention, in particular, among the pupils of Baku
Schools. The survey displayed extremely poor knowledge on AIDS among the
senior pupils of Baku schools and revealed that about 40 percent of the
pupils hadn't even heard about this fatal disease. The government,
UNAIDS and a local NGO IHLAS have already begun their campaign to
improve the knowledge of AIDS among the general population, and the
IDPS, in particular. They are also getting ready to celebrate the World
AIDS Day on 30 November, 1997. A government report revealed that as of
31 October, 1997, 18 HIV cases were officially registered in Azerbaijan
of which five had already died.
All the IHA are conscientiously linking their humanitarian assistance
programme with micro-developmental activities. Their focus on
longer-term economic reintegration and development has become more
prominent. All the IHAs are, one way or other, involved in local NGO
development, trainer's training programme, small-micro enterprise
development and food security initiatives. Donor agencies, like World
Bank, TACIS, USAID, EBRD, UN and others, have also begun numerous
initiatives towards this goal. Through these initiatives, the working
relationships between the humanitarian NGOs and donors have developed
further. The officials of the republic have also expressed their
satisfaction to this linking initiative of the international agencies
with a request to attend the continued needs of the IDPs and refugees.
The IHAs do not see any problem with it.
The newly arrived Project Officer Country (CPO) of UNDMTP has
established his office in Azerbaijan. Their office is now located inside
the Government's Civil Defense office. UNDMTP is presently working to
establish a Focal Point Group (FPG) consisting various relevant
government officials. This FPG, with the help of the CPO/UNDMTP, will
eventually prepare a Country Strategy Paper to cope with disasters in
the republic and various methods to prevent them.
The GDP growth of Azerbaijan during the past 10 months has been 5
percent and remained unchanged during 1997. During 1996, for the same
period the GDP growth was only 0.9 percent. About 85 percent of the GDP
falls on the material sector and the rest on non-material sector and
taxes. Also, from January till September 1997, direct investments of
foreign companies totaled USD 460 million, amounting to the 66.3 percent
of the total investments made during this period. Also, during the same
period, Azerbaijan has exported USD 300 million worth of oil products,
amounting to 52 percent of the total goods exported during the same
period. Azerbaijan recorded a positive trade balance during 1997 by
about 4 percent as reported by the head World Bank representative.
SECTORAL INFORMATION
Food
WFP received 1,500 MTs of wheat flour donated by the Government of Japan
for distribution among IDPs in Azerbaijan. WFP distributed 125 MTs of
different commodities to IDPs in six ECHO settlements. In the meantime,
CARE announced that their food distribution programme for about 90,000
IDPs in 13 central districts will stop with effect from 1 January 1998.
This is due to funding cut by their major donor USDA. CARE and the
Government of Azerbaijan are now negotiating with other donors to take
over the USDA-funded beneficiaries at least for another six months, so
to help IDPs through the winter.
Coordination
DHA-Azerbaijan continues to facilitate the coordination and
collaboration amongst the humanitarian, UN and donor agencies. DHA
organised and chaired the monthly inter-agency and non-food meetings
held on 06 and 31 October respectively. These meetings were attended by
all relevant UN, NGOs, donor and government agencies. DHA attended the
monthly food, medical and donor meetings as well.
Social Protection
At the initiative of the World Bank Institute of Economic Development,
the 4th seminar on -Reforms in Azerbaijan's Social Sector in Transition
Period- within the framework of World Bank's SPRITE (Social Policy
Reforms in Transition Economy) project was held in October in Baku. The
seminar was organised jointly by the Ministry of Economy and the
Ministry of Education of the Republic. In 1993, the WB Institute of
Economic Development started implementation of the SPRITE education
programme with the objective at strengthening the institutional base for
the analysis of social problems and using the experience made in other
countries to promote effective and stable reforms in social assistance,
social security, employment, health and education systems.
Agriculture
Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) Family Green House (FGH)
projects in Nakhichevan and Ganja areas are progressing very well. They
will soon finish distribution of 650 FGH and 35 Market Garden
Enterprises (MGE) in Nakhchiven. In the Norht-West areas, 100 MGEs will
be created soon. These projects are being funded by USAID and UNHCR
respectively. ADRA has begun their tree nurseries project in Ganja
(Norht-West region) as well. Also, ADRA, with funding from UNDP, has
begun a Micro Enterprise Credit and Loan Project in Nakhichevan, mainly
aimed at assisting local farmers who recently got their land privatised.
This project also makes provision to help local traders and artisans.
ADRA also provides regular food assistance, with funding from USDA, to
approximately 19,600 and 22,000 families in Nakhichevan and Norht-West
regions respectively.
GTZ has begun its -Support of Private Initiatives in Agriculture- to
assist the agrarian reform process in one of the northern districts of
Azerbaijan. Individual farm holdings have been established and division
of assets of former Kolkhoz farms is about to be completed. The project
began with a -Trainers Training Programme- with topics ranging from
farms analysis and planning to marketing, banking, insurance and
taxation. GTZ hopes to replicate this new initiative in other parts of
the country.
Besides ADRA and Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit
(GTZ), there are at least six other international humanitarian agencies
involved in various kinds of subsistence to medium level farm management
programme in Azerbaijan.
This report is available on the internet through RELIEFWEB:
http://www.reliefweb.int
United Nations Office in Baku, Azerbaijan
Mr. Ercan Murat, UN and UNDHA Resident Coordinator
Tel.: (0099412) 93 83 26 or 92 24 91 - Fax: (0099412) 98 32 35
Inter-Agency Support Branch (IASB) - Geneva
Mr. David Bassiouni - Chief
Ms. Sylvia Ferazzi
Tel.: (41 22) 788.1402 - Fax: (41 22) 788.6386
Registry E-Mail: Rosemary.Addo-Yirenkyi@dha.unicc.org
Complex Emergency Division (CED) - New York
Mr. David McLachlan-Karr
Tel.: (1 212) 963.0226 - Fax: (1 212) 963.1388
E-Mail: mclachlan-karr@un.org
Press to contact (DHA-Geneva)
Ms. Madeleine Moulin-Acevedo
Tel.: (41 22) 917.2856 - Fax: (41 22) 917.0023
Telex: 414242 DHA CH - E-Mail: Moulin-Acevedo@dha.unicc.org
distributed by
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Volunteers in Technical Assistance
Disaster Information Center lists: listproc@vita.org
sitreps nat-dsr
appeal fireline
web: www.vita.org glrgn dprk
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
comments/suggestions/requests to incident@vita.org