 |
A training workshop for UN Country team participants on "Teambuilding and Common Country Assessment" was convened on 12-14 September 2000 at Bor (conference center) in the Moscow region.
In 1997 the UN Secretary General launched a programme for UN reform, which included a number of actions aimed at enhancing the organization's capacity to implement its development mandate, particularly at the country level, in close consultation with governments. Among the key elements of this reform agenda are the Common Country Assessment (CCA) and the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF). The CCA is a country-based process for reviewing and analyzing the national development situation and identifying key issues as a basis for advocacy, policy dialogue and preparation of the UNDAF. As in other countries of the region, the UN Country Team in the Russian Federation has launched the CCA preparation process.
The meeting was opened with an introduction of workshop facilitators appointed by the Turin-based United Nations Staff College and a welcoming address by the Resident Coordinator a.i. Mr. Jean-Victor Gruat. 40 participants from the UN Country team representing 14 UN and Bretton Woods institutions took part in this very informative and thought provoking workshop. The CCA is underway and the expected completion date is 31 December 2000. Eight UN Theme groups have already been established in Russia, covering the following areas: HIV/AIDS, Environment, Democracy-Governance-Participation, from Humanitarian Relief to Development, Poverty, Youth, Migration, and Health.
|
A lovely piano accompaniment to the outstanding soprano Galina Chernoba, leading soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre and emeritus artist of Russia, began the musical evening at the Russian Cultural Foundation on October 24, 2000, in commemoration of the United Nations' 55th anniversary. The warm and cozy atmosphere of an old Moscow mansion, the classical repertoire of old Russian romances and a string quartet performance provided a festive mood throughout the evening.
Staff of the UN agencies in Moscow gathered together at the Russian Cultural Foundation to meet with colleagues from Russian and foreign companies, diplomats, journalists, social partners, all those with whom they work to fulfill the United Nation's goals - strengthen world peace, friendship and cooperation between peoples.
Addressing the audience, the UN Resident Coordinator
a.i. Mr.Jean-Victor Gruat thanked everyone for their support to the
UN activities in the fight against unfair
ness and inequity. "The United Nations is not only a
bureaucratic machine. The UN is very much alive and needed in today's world. But
it would be nothing without its staff of 52.000, present and active in
the 189 member States", he stressed addressing the UN staff in Moscow.
In Russia, "the `UN approach' to societal, social and economic
developments is all the more needed, where transition has left
painful scars to vast segments of the population". Mr. Jean-Victor
Gruat noted that indeed, UN Day is an occasion for recollection,
evaluation and renewed commitment; this is also a time when progress
made should be praised.
The UN family in Russia grows and strengthens every day, as does the number of those who see in the UN an ally and reliable partner. Congratulations and best wishes of success and prosperity for the whole of the UN Family at the Russian Cultural Foundation were exchanged to celebrate the United Nations' achievements in the Russian Federation.
|
 |
United
Nations Development Programme |
A meeting in Friazino held October, 6 to sum up the results of the first semester 2000 of the SYSLAB courses turned into a relaxed get-together with tea and traditional Russian stuffed pies.
The event had been anxiously awaited in this suburban Moscow town, where its first employment centre was opened last December with assistance from UNDP and the Norwegian Government. The reason is not hard to find. SYSLAB helped many highly trained professionals, who had been redundant for a time, to begin new working lives. The encounter with Mr. Oyvind Nordsletten, Norway's Ambassador to Russia, management of UNDP in Russia, the Moscow regional authorities, and Mr. Nikolay Pashin, head of the Federal Employment Service of the Moscow Region, Mr. Jan Johannesson, the President of the Norwegian Company HIB/SYSLAB, who had arrived from Norway for the occasion,brought SYSLAB students, businesspeople, and even former laboratory trainees.
Olga Kushtal, a former mathematics teacher who was unable to find a job a year ago in her home town, a major science centre in the region, where unemployment was rampant because of the breakdown in economic structures, was among the first of SYSLAB graduates. Olga has been employed as a leading promotion manager with the Maharishi Products which launched a bakery using Italian technologies. On savouring Olga's baked products Ambassador of Norway joked: "Now I can claim that I have tasted the fruits of our joint efforts, literally and figuratively."
The project is unique, because the months of training remould
the students' mind-sets, release their creative abilities, and develop
business knack. SYSLAB technology is more than a differentiated
approach to people without a job. It is also a determined search by the
trainees for a place on the labour market, contacts with entrepreneurs,
and work with psychologists, consultants, and managers. After only
a few weeks of training, the former unemployed come up with
fresh
ideas, which they back up with sound arguments and numbers.
Not surprisingly, many of them want to start up their own businesses at
the end of training.
The meeting was the right place to ask the question of how the graduates are getting on. After an animated discussion of the subject, the participants and stakeholders were as one in suggesting supplementing the project with a mini-lending system for the benefit of people wishing to take up private business. For the time being, all agreed on sustaining the results of the project, consolidate the gains made, and diffuse it to other cities and towns in the Moscow Region and Russia's Northwest.
Participants agreed on keeping up the project and diffuse it to other towns in the Moscow Region
|
It was the fourth regional seminar organized this year by the UNDP Country Office in Russia.
The roundtable in Rostov on Don was attended by Mr. Jean-Victor Gruat, UN Resident Coordinator a.i. in the Russian Federation, Mr. Bruno Dato, Representative of the UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, Mr. Leonid Ivanchenko, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for the Federation and Regional Policy, representatives of the executive and legislative bodies of the Stavropol, Krasnodar and Rostov regions, and the Adygeya, Daghestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Kalmyk, Karachaevo-Cherkessia and North Ossetia-Alania republics.
In his opening speech, Mr. Leonid Ivanchenko stressed the importance of such meetings in the Russian regions, where experts and politicians can express their opinions and exchange views on the issues relating to socio-economic development, and share their experiences in dealing with social problems during the transition period. The parliamentarian emphasised that human development should be a priority for government's policy, and urged the representatives of the southern regions to act in favour of human development.
The roundtable in Rostov on Don proves yet again the importance of open discussions
on human development in the Russian regions, for the country's future depends
on it.
Poverty, unemployment, and social and gender inequality in Russian regions were
issues discussed at a roundtable on Human Development problems in the North
Caucasus and south of Russia, in Rostov on Don on September 26_27.
UNDP publications were a success at the roundtable
Famous scholars, politicians, businessmen, journalists, and representatives from international organizations gathered together to discuss the extremely important and urgent topic, “Social-economic policy and the overcoming of poverty in Russia”. The meeting transmitted directly on-line through the Internet was organized by the UNDP Country Office in the Russian Federation and the Russian Government Department of Information to mark the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
The UNDP Resident Representative in Russia Mr. Philippe Elghouayel stated that the slogan of this year’s Day for the Eradication of Poverty is “Breaking the Silence Around HIV/AIDS”. This incurable disease is the extreme manifestation of the social ailments of the community; and the eradication of these ailments is part of UNDP’s mandate. Russia records today the fastest growing rate of infected people in the world. As of October 1, 61,240 cases of HIV-infection have been registered in Russia. The majority of those infected are under 25, and each year the disease strikes an increasing number of women. 975 of the HIV-infected are children. Mr. Philippe Elghouayel informed that UNDP and other UN agencies in Russia intend to make every effort in the fight against the HIV-epidemic in Russia, an epidemic that is taking on pandemic proportions.
The participants in the Internet event underlined that poverty is a topical issue in each country, regardless of the level of economic development. Nonetheless, it has been particularly painful for the countries in transition. In Russia, already one third of the population is considered, "new poor". According to Ms. Natalya Rimashevskaya, the Director of the Institute for Socio-Economic Studies of the Population, "poverty in Russia is becoming increasingly widespread." Ten percent of the urban population belongs to the "social bottom". Poverty affects the physical, intellectual and cultural conditions of society; it is even threatening to a country's national security.
The president of the Nikitsky club of scientists and businessmen, Mr. Sergei Kapitsa, claimed that the real danger is the blatant gap between the rich and the poor, a threat so critical to the social fabric. Among the questions asked by the Internauts to the participants was: "Are not people themselves responsible for their own poverty?" Mr.Valery Elizarov from the Moscow State University pointed out that, based on the financial situation of the average Russian family, the birth of a second child will automatically lower a family's standard of living, very often rendering them poor. The General Director of the Central Institute of Public Opinion, Ms. Lyudmila Khokhunila, underlined that in Russia, poverty very often afflicts the working population because the Government is unable to guarantee a decent salary. Herein lies the paradox of poverty in Russia where the young Famous scholars, politicians, businessmen, journalists, and representatives from international organizations gathered together to discuss the extremely important and urgent topic, "Social-economic policy and the overcoming of poverty in Russia". The meeting transmitted directly on-line through the Internet was organized by the UNDP Country Office in the Russian Federation and the Russian Government Department of Information to mark the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
The UNDP Resident Representative in Russia Mr. Philippe Elghouayel stated that the slogan of this year's Day for the Eradication of Poverty is "Breaking the Silence Around HIV/AIDS". This incurable disease is the extreme manifestation of the social ailments of the community; and the eradication of these ailments is part of UNDP's mandate. Russia records today the fastest growing rate of infected people in the world. As of October 1, 61,240 cases of HIV-infection have been registered in Russia. The majority of those infected are under 25, and each year the disease strikes an increasing number of women. 975 of the HIV-infected are children. Mr. Philippe Elghouayel informed that UNDP and other UN agencies in Russia intend to make every effort in the fight against the HIV-epidemic in Russia, an epidemic that is taking on pandemic proportions.
The participants in the Internet event underlined that poverty is a topical issue in each country, reworking age segment of the population is at the greatest risk of falling into poverty.
Mr. Philippe Elghouayel opened discussion on the
problem of poverty
The Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Development, Ms. Galina Karelova acknowledged that despite every possible program for the defense of the population "Russia is only beginning its fight against poverty". However, she underlined that one of the main governmental weapons in this fight is the increase of salaries for budget workers and of the minimum wage, to ensure a fair and acceptable compensation to the workers. The most efficient and widely implemented tool in the fight against poverty is job creation. Unfortunately, this was not mentioned at the meeting.
|
In October, UNDP completed one of its major programmes in the Russian Federation
in support of Democracy, Governance and Participation coordinated and executed
by the Presidential Administration. The review of the project in June 2000 emphasised
the catalytic role of this programme and its contribution to the development
of the DGP subprojects. Such projects as Moscow Partnership Centre, "Support
for the federal human rights" concept, and promotion of the Ombudsman concept,
Women Resource Centres in the Republic of Komi and Irkutsk were specifical
ly emphasised. Many activities under the project could only be undertaken with
the financial support by the governments of Canada, Finland, France, and the
Netherlands, and with the close cooperation of several NGOs and universities
in the USA and Germany, as well as UNESCO, ILO and other international organisations.
The implementation of the project, said Alexander Avanesov, Senior Regional
Advizer, was closely coordinat ed with the UNDP regional DGP programmes. The
DGP programme laid the ground for more initiatives in the area of
DGP in the next programme cycle in Russia within the framework of the CCF for
2000-2003. Some of these initiatives were launched during the visit of UNDP
Administrator Mark Malloch Brown in June 2000. Among them are advisory services
and capacity building in the area of decentralisation plan on the basis of the
Memorandum of Understanding between UNDP and Egor Stroev, the Governor of Orel
Region, as well as policy advice and technical support to the Government in
promoting investments, employment generation and public-private partnership.