Issue: 34
It was the launch of the project “Women in Local Politics and Decision Making” of UNDP, funded by the Swedish International Cooperation and Development Agency (SIDA). The project aims at increasing the number of women elected for the upcoming local elections in Turkey previewed for the end of March 2009. The project is a joint effort with a Swedish NGO, Kvinnoforum (Women’s Forum) and involves capacity building activities for relevant stakeholders, including the present and potential women candidates, male and female representatives of local institutional structures that are crucial for increased women participation in local politics and decision-making processes. The project activities will be carried out in five selected provinces; Adana, Eskisehir, İzmir, Trabzon, and Van. The project will promote the engagement and leadership of women towards the upcoming local elections by giving particular importance to young women’s participation, as well as holding media awareness raising campaigns during the whole pre-electoral process at local and national level.
The roundtable discussion and targeted workshops organised during the launch brought together for the first time, different stakeholders, both men and women, to discuss challenges and lessons learned on how women can be supported to participate in politics. Participants reaffirmed the common responsibility of both men and women in increasing the number of women in local politics, taking as the basis the current low ratio of women in local politics where only 0,6% are mayors (18 out of 3225), 1,81% are members of the provincial councils (58 out of 3208) and 2,42% are members of the municipal councils (834 out of 34.477). They all agreed that important challenges still remain for women in Turkey at the local level.
High emphasis was made on the responsibility of media as the key opinion maker and where the participants would like to see media representatives as “Goodwill Ambassadors” of the cause of women’s equal participation in politics. Speaking at the launch UNDP Deputy Resident Representative Ulrika Richardson-Golinski stated that participating in politics is a human right and should therefore be promoted and protected by governments as well as claimed by all citizens (please click here to read Ulrika Richardson-Golinski's speech).
The 2006 Women in Politics public perception survey, conducted by the Konsensus Research and Consultancy, presented during the event showed that 82% of the population in Turkey “wants to see more women in politics”. As for the primary reason behind women’s under representation in politics 77% said that “women are not given a chance”. The women “muhktars” were mentioned as successful examples of local level women leaders, who could be elected if there were no political party barriers to get into the electoral list. This limitation was highlighted during the discussions as an important impediment for women’s participation in local politics.
Moreover, the results of a recent survey, which had collected responses from 20% of the intended recipients, were shared with women parliamentarians present at the event. The survey, which had been prepared by UNDP Turkey, aimed at determining the women parliamentarians' views on how to enhance women's involvement in local politics in Turkey. Based on the outcomes of the survey, one of the reasons for the very low representation of women in local politics is the underestimated role of women for local administration. The emphasis of the discussions at the project launch was "women can also bring votes and get elected for local administrations and can even bring better services for the society".
Among the participants were two experts from UNDP’s Regional Bureau as well. In order to contribute to Turkey’s efforts towards increasing women’s participation in politics, these experts are preparing a regional report on women and governance. The Report entitled “Participation in Political Processes and Women’s Leadership” has selected Turkey among six countries in the region for analysing the trends, sharing best practices and proposing solutions for increasing women’s participation in politics. This was also discussed during the roundtable discussion in which experiences, challenges and threats for promoting women’s participation in politics in Turkey were exchanged. The report and the sharing of best practices will be presented during an international conference in Istanbul in December 2008, with participants from all over the world.
As referred to in the Millennium Development Goals Report of 2005, the Government of Turkey sets the target for women’s representation as 17 percent in parliament by 2015. Even though Turkey’s recent advancement in women’s participation in politics with the 2007 General Elections, the increase from 4.4% to 9.1%, is far from the target, it is still a positive incentive to move towards equality between men and women.
To read UNDP Turkey Resident Representative Mahmood Ayub's speech, please click here.
To view powerpoint presentation on "Turkey's Perspective on Women's Involvement in Politics", please click here.
To view powerpoint presentation on "Needs Assessment on women's Participation in Local Politics by Women Parliamentarians in Turkey", please click here.
To view powerpoint presentation on "LA-21 Womens' Councils and National Youth Parliament", please click here.
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This new project named “Innovations for Women’s Empowerment in the GAP Region” is a follow-up to the UNDP-GAP joint project, “Strengthening Regional Development and Reduction of Socio-Economic Disparities in the GAP Region, Phase II”, which was concluded in November 2007.
The new project is a women’s empowerment initiative as well as an institutional capacity intervention that builds on policy analysis conducted by the national and international civil society, as well as local level programming experience. As 2004 National Human Development Report for Turkey states, the gender-based human development ranking of Diyarbakır, Batman, Mardin, Siirt, Gaziantep and Kilis are worse than their human development indicators. It is also known that Southeastern Anatolia Region suffers from a set of market integration challenges that further constrain the opportunities for women’s advancement. In such an environment, this project pinpoints the Region’s needs and aims at women’s empowerment in Southeast Anatolia in social and economic life through innovative production-marketing related strategies and re-branding. In order to achieve this, it is planned to pursue a multi-dimensional approach focusing on enhancing institutional capacities and women’s labour market participation, branding of the Southeast Anatolia and developing new sales and marketing opportunities.
Fashionably assisting women in nine cities
“Nine Designers for Nine Cities” sub-project occurs as an exciting example of this multi-dimensional approach, where Fashion Designers Society join hands with disadvantaged women in the Region to provide technical assistance and training support in fashion design. This partnership brings nine prominent fashion designers to nine cities in the Region to work closely with women and develop products to be sold in major fashion outlets.
For more information on the sub-project, please click here.
A significant result of this joint venture shows itself in the 2008 summer collection of renowned fashion designer Arzu Kaprol. Kaprol worked closely with women in Mardin and searched through a wide range of traditional handicrafts, embroidery art and local fabrics. This inspiring and productive experience with women in Mardin led her to design a unique pattern by recreating and modernizing the traditional embroideries, which later became the main figure of her summer collection.
“Innovations for Women’s Empowerment in the GAP Region” is executed by GAP Regional Development Administration with financial support of Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) and technical assistance provided by UNDP Turkey.
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The training which was also participated by the Saray Municipality officials was given by Prof. Dr. Kemal Sönmez from Ankara University Faculty of Agriculture. The training aims to raise awareness on increasing local people’s access to safe drinking water, conscious and effective management and usage of water and water resources and protection of water resources. Promotion materials such as booklets and stationary were also provided during the training. Following the training provided to school teachers, the campaign will continue with trainings that will be given to women and students. Regarding the campaign, Saray Mayor Hasan Coşkun stated that this training campaign aims to inform the locals on conscious water usage and to show the seriousness of the water distress Turkey faces.
Apart from the trainings, the infrastructure of Saray was also improved in the context of the project. Water pipes were renewed and pipes with asbestos – that have cancerogenic impacts - were replaced with ductile steel pipes that are appropriate for today’s health conditions. Through this renovation, possible explosions and water loss were prevented and access to safe and healthy drinking water was provided for 15 thousand people.
“Water Supply and Usage Improvement in Saray” project is a sub-project of a broader project titled “Every Drop Matters” implemented by UNDP’s Bratislava Regional Office and Coca-Cola Eurasia. The regional water project that is implemented in 21 countries aims to increase safe drinking water resources, support environment-friendly technologies, increase global awareness on water consumption and to replace used water. The project that was initiated in 2007 is expected to last five years.
The PCDC website will bring together individuals and organizations from developed and developing countries, governments, the private sector, civil society groups and educational institutions and will act as a forum in which all parties can exchange information on procurement capacity development research, analysis, approaches, tools and lessons from experience. This broad network will contribute to efforts of spending resources effectively and achieving targeted development goals.
The website has been categorized as to reflect certain focus areas of which are capacity assessments, anti-corruption, e-Government procurement, education and training, legislative and regulatory frameworks, performance management, procurement practices, public financial management and public private partnerships. Searching according to regions and/or countries is also possible in the website. One can find a broad variety of search materials including methodologies, toolkits, country specific documents, publications, international declarations and agreements and links to other useful resources.
The PCDC is part of UNDP’s Capacity Development Group and was established in partnership with Danish International Development Assistance (DANIDA) in January 2008. The PCDC aims to support national capacity development through engagement with national partners, UN agencies and other development partners. Moreover it provides field-based advocacy and advisory support services, disseminates knowledge and contributes to the achievement of the goals of the Paris Declaration.
Since 2002, rising prices for minerals and agricultural raw materials have contributed to the remarkable run of economic growth in all developing regions, according to the UN’s Millennium Development Goals Report 2008. However, many developing countries are now facing higher import bills for food and fuel, jeopardizing their growth.
Improved estimates of poverty from the World Bank show that the number of poor in the developing world is larger than previously thought, at 1.4 billion people. But the new estimates confirm that between 1990 and 2005, the number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen – from 1.8 to 1.4 billion – and that the 1990 global poverty rate is likely to be halved by 2015. However, these aggregates mask large disparities among regions. Most of the decline occurred in Eastern Asia, particularly China. Other regions have seen much smaller decreases in the poverty rate and only modest falls in the number of poor. In sub-Saharan Africa and the Commonwealth of Independent States, the number of poor increased between 1990 and 2005.
In a reversal of this previous global downward trend, the prevailing higher food prices are expected to push many people into poverty, the report says, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia, already the regions with the largest numbers of people living in extreme poverty.
“The largely benign development environment that has prevailed since the early years of this decade, and that has contributed to the successes to date, is now threatened,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon declares in the foreword of the report. “The economic slowdown will diminish the incomes of the poor; the food crisis will raise the number of hungry people in the world and push millions more into poverty; climate change will have a disproportionate impact on the poor,” the Secretary-General said. “The need to address these concerns, pressing as they are, must not be allowed to detract from our long-term efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. On the contrary, our strategy must be to keep the focus on the MDGs as we confront these new challenges.”
“Looking ahead to 2015 and beyond, there is no question that we can achieve the overarching goal: we can put an end to poverty,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon states in the foreword of the report. “But it requires an unswerving, collective, long-term effort.”
Among the MDG gains noted in the report are:
But many of the eight Millennium Development Goals and linked targets are in danger of going unmet by the deadline year of 2015 without redoubled efforts in developing countries, a sustained favourable international environment for development and increased donor support. Among the remaining challenges:
Achieving the Goals is feasible, the report says, but it will require a greater financial commitment, including delivery by the developed countries of the increased foreign aid that they have promised in the past few years.
Action on the UN agenda
Given the nexus between poverty, climate change and food and fuel costs, these issues were taken up as a group as the General Assembly re-convened at the UN this month.
Secretary-General Ban called for a special high-level event to boost global action to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, on 25 September. Nearly 100 Heads of State and Government participated, as well as many leaders from the private sector, foundations and civil society organizations. They announced a number of new initiatives and broaden coalitions to address health, poverty, food and climate change issues, at the meeting.
On 22 September, the Assembly held a high-level meeting on the development needs of Africa, a region facing severe challenges in terms of climate change, agriculture and poverty reduction.
First agreed at the UN Millennium Summit in September 2000, the MDGs set worldwide objectives for reducing extreme poverty and deprivation, empowering women and ensuring environmental sustainability by 2015. The Millennium Development Goals Report, now in its fourth year, assembles statistics from 25 UN and international agencies, and is produced by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA).
“While there has been progress on many fronts, the delivery on commitments has been deficient and has fallen behind schedule. It is therefore essential that all partners accelerate their efforts to deliver on the promises they have made” says UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon in the preface of a recently published report. “Delivering on the Global Partnership for Achieving the Millennium Development Goals” prepared by the MDG Gap Task Force was launched on 4 September 2008 by Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon in New York.
In the Millennium Summit in 2000, leaders of 191 nations came together and pledged to respond to the world’s challenges and set the 8 Millennium Development Goals that included eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empowering women, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability and finally developing global partnerships for development. This report focuses on Goal 8 of the Millennium Development Goals: developing global partnerships for development.
The report is a call to improve the monitoring of progress on the global partnership for development as embodied in Goal 8 of the MDGs. The main message is that while there has been progress on several counts, delivery on commitments made by Member States has fallen behind schedule. The report thus highlights the gaps in the area of Official Development Assistance (ODA), trade, debt relief, access to essential medicines and transfer of new technologies. These gaps show that a shift in both quantity and quality is needed to fulfill the promise of halving extreme poverty, achieving universal primary education and gender parity and improving the health and living conditions of millions of people.
“Delivering on the Global Partnership for Achieving the Millennium Development Goals” states that “the weakening of the world economy and the steep rises in food and energy prices threaten to reverse some of the progress made in the various dimensions of human development. Strengthened global partnerships are needed to avoid any reversal of progress made thus far. In the countdown to 2015, urgent responses are needed to bridge the existing implementation gaps and deliver on the promises to achieve the MDGs”.
Official development assistance
Regarding official development assistance, the report states that efforts to step up ODA have suffered a setback. In 2007, the only countries to reach or exceed the United Nations target of 0.7% of their gross national income (GNI) were Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. Current implementation gaps in the delivery of aid flows and slow progress in improving the quality of ODA are early warnings of the risk of not meeting global targets within the time frame set by the MDGs. The report states that accelerated progress requires the following explicit actions:
Regarding ODA, the report also evaluates how to increase effectiveness of ODA to landlocked developing countries and small island developing states and asseses the allocation of aid to basic social services and provides abundant graphs and indicators.
Market access (Trade)
The main trade target in MDG 8 is to develop further an open, rule-based, predictable and non-discriminatory trading and financial system and providing tariff- and quota-free access for the least developed countries’ exports; however, only slow progress has been made regarding this issue. The report reminds that one of the objectives of the Doha Round of trade negotiations initiated in 2001 was to address the needs of developing countries according to a “development agenda” but states that the failure to conclude the Doha Round constitutes the largest implementation gap in the area of trade. The report however also provides certain recommendations:
Debt sustainability
Important progress has been made in meeting the MDG target of dealing comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries but it still hasn’t been fully achieved. Despite the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs) Initiative and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative, a large number of developing countries still spend more on debt servicing than on public education or health. As of June 2008, 23 of 41 heavily indebted countries had reached their completion point under the enhanced HIPC Initiative. The report stresses that additional efforts are needed to make progress sustainable and that actions are needed to reduce the debt burden of countries that have not yet benefited from current debt-relief initiatives. The report provides recommendations for making additional resources available to vulnerable countries and to improve the external debt sustainability of countries such as:
Access to affordable essential medicines
Information available in a number of countries suggests the existance of large gaps in the availability of medicines in both the public and private sectors as well as a wide variation in prices – much higher than the international reference prices (IRPs) – which render essential medicines unaffordable to poor people. However the fact that some developing countries have better availability and lower prices shows that access to quality, assured, affordable essential medicines can be improved through stronger partnership among governments, pharmaceutical companies and civil society. The report provides recommendations that can be applied at the national level and at the global level.
At the national level:
At the global level:
Access to new technologies
The report focuses on the coverage of mobile phones and the digital divide in internet use among countries and states that there are large gaps in improving access to technology that is essential to increasing productivity, sustaining economic growth and improving service delivery in areas such as health and education. The report stresses that part of the difficulty in assessing progress in this area is the lack of numerical targets regarding delivery. The digital divide in the access to modern technology is widening between developed and developing countries. Deficits in infrastructure such as limited coverage of electricity supply in low-income developing countries are preventing faster penetration of information and communication technologies (ICT). Moreover the recent food crisis and the challenges of climate change facing developing countries also require accelerating the transfer of technology especially in the fields of agricultural development and adaptation to climate change. Some of the actions listed by the report for expanding access to technology for development include:
The report represents a unique and collaborative effort by over 20 UN agencies making up the Task Force. All relevant agencies have joined efforts to step up statistical data collection and to identify policy gaps that need to be bridged in order to achieve results.
The MDG Gap Task Force was created by the Secretary-General following the discussion of the Policy Committee on 1 May 2007 to improve monitoring of the global commitments contained in the MDGs. The Task Force integrates more than 20 UN agencies including participation from the World Bank, IMF as well as OECD and World Trade Organization. UNDP and the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN/DESA) are lead agencies in coordinating the work of the Task Force.