| Regional Cooperation | |
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UNDP United Nations Development Programme |
Protecting the Black Sea from Pollution |
| Problems concerning the development and
strengthening of cooperation to protect the Black Sea from environmental pollution were
central to the fourth meeting of the Black Sea commission held in Moscow at the end of
April. It was attended by representatives of Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Bulgaria, the World
Bank, UNDP/GEF, UNEP, the European Commission and the International Centre for Water
Research (the Netherlands - TACIS). Over the past few years all ecological activity in the region was regulated by the Black Sea Environmental Protection Program launched by UNDP/UNEP/GEF in 1992. It provided a good basis for the development of close ties between countries of the Black Sea rim and served as a connecting link with another environmental project - the Danube Ecological Program. Although in 1997 the UNDP/GEF stopped funding the Black Sea Environmental Protection Program, the work was pursued in 1998 with the help of the international TACIS program. UNDP Assistant Executive Coordinator Emma Torres, speaking on behalf of UNDP/GEF, informed the participants about UNDP’s activity in the region. Through GEF it helps coastal countries to work out national plans of action as elements of a strategic international plan to protect and clean up the marine environment of the Black Sea. The World Bank, UNEP and European Commission took a keen interest in the program and emphasized the need for joint efforts. The participants discussed financial issues, approved the budget and agreed to convene a ministerial conference initally scheduled for September 1999. Work is now under way to set the stage for the implementaion of the UNDP project aimed at reducing a biogenic nutrient supply to the Black Sea. On behalf of Russia this work was approved by Environmental Protection Minister Victor Danilov-Danilian. Each of the member-states will hold seminars shortly, involving representatives of all sides concerned, ministries, departments and regional administrations included, to sort out priorities and discuss new options.
Preserving Caspian SeaRegulating the environmental processs in the Caspian Sea, preserving its unique biodiversity and protecting it from pollution are the main aspects of the Caspian Sea Ecological Program launched in April 1995 by the Caspian Sea countries in cooperation with the World Bank, UNDP, GEF, UNEP and several other organizations. It receives considerable help and technical assistance from the European Commission through TACIS. On May 21-22 experts of the Moscow-based Centre for Legal and Economic Mechanisms, one of the regional centres set up under the CEP, met in Moscow to discuss important issues related to the Caspian Sea. For one, they prepared a preliminary survey of corresponding international agreements and national laws, and evaluated the general state of and current trends in ecological legislations. By the end of 1999 the Centre is due to sumbit proposals for the draft of a framework covenant on the protection of the Caspian Sea. It will also make a survey of the practical application of international environmental treaties dealing with the Caspian problem. Participants in the May 1999 meeting in Baku of national coordinators for the Caspian Sea noted that the CEP had helped boost regular contacts between the five Caspian countries allowing them to adjust their environmental policies. The meeting approved a plan of structural changes stipulating a redistribution of functions inside the CEP Executive Agency. UNDP was put in charge of the bureau responsible for data collecting, biodiversity, complex planning in coastal areas and reaction to emergencies. UNEP will supervise the drafting of the framework covenant and the creation of adequate legal, economic and control mechanisms. The World Bank was charged with investment and the search for small grants. During the coming months efforts will be stepped up in the following avenues: preparing a technical assignment for the second stage of TACIS support; a UNDP/GEF project and a joint UNEP/GEF project, both designed for a three-year period; also the World Bank is planning to begin ecotoxicological research in cooperation with GEF, and to start work on a plan of action to deal with oil spillages. For more information please contact:National Coordinator (Russian Federation) Amirkhan AMIRKHANOV, Deputy Chairman The State Committee of the Russian Federation for Environmental Protection Russia, Moscow, GSP 123812, B. Gruzinskaya, 4/6 tel: 7(095) 254-67-33 fax: 7(095) 254-82-83 email: cip@mepnr.msk.ru |
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UNDP United Nations Development Programme |
SISLAB (System for Highly Qualified Professionals Seeking Employment): Getting Jobs for Unemployed Citizens |
 Getting jobs for high-skilled Russan
specialists currently unemployed is a serious challenge. A pilot projet launched by UNDP,
the Russian Ministry of Labour and Social Development and the Norwegian governemnt will
facilitate the task, for one, through bringing modern Western technologies to Russian
employment agencies, and the use of basic professional education and personal experience
of high-skilled job-seekers. The towns of Pushkino and Friazino near Moscow will serve an
experimenal ground for the two-year project co-financed by the Norwegian governemnt and
the Moscow Region Department of Russia’s Federal State Employment Service. At the
initial stage 20 selected job-seekers with a higher or specialized secondary education,
registered with local employment agencies, will attend a six-month training course at a
SISLAB* professional training laboratory. All students will receive stipends during their
study. Upon graduation, most of them will be given permanent jobs.As Russia continues to struggle through the economic crisis, this project will help alleviate social tension, create new employment mechanisms based on modern technologies, and raise job opportunities for high-skilled professionals – potential SISLAB* employees. |
Gender Training for Russian Specialist |
| Issues concerning the gender equality and the
training of gender sociologists dominated the agenda of a seminar for senior staff members
of federal and regional departments, which took place in Moscow from the 21-st to 25-th of
June as part of the UNDP project «The Development of Women’s Management Centres»
assisted by the Russian Ministry of Labour and Social Development. The seminar was
attended by state officials from Moscow, St.-Petersburg, Briansk, Irkutsk, the republic of
Bashkortostan, and the Komi republic, as well as employment officials and the leaders of
women’s public organizations.
The aim of the seminar was to get state officials interested in gender sociology, and persuade them that all state projects, programs and decisions should be gender-balanced. The seminar was a test-ground for new social cooperation technologies. Other tasks included improving professional skills of state officials and activists of women’s organizations, and promoting interaction between them. The participants received state-approved certificates attesting to the improvement of their professional level. They supported the idea of a similar course for state officials of the upper and medium eshelons, and agreed that gender-balancing political and economic life could be one of the crucial elements in combatting the current social and economic crisis. |
The fact that the four-day seminar was held at the Academy of State Service
under the Russian President was supposed to add weight to the gender issue and to fix the
attention of prominent scientsts and experts on these problems. Earlier gender issues were
largely ignored, both in the theoretical and practical aspects, by all existing training
programs, and are still erroneously held by many to be the prerogative of women’s
organizations.