Issue: 33
Studies on existing sanitation conditions have been completed in fourteen villages of Diyarbakır, Siirt and Batman provinces, and the sewage systems have been completed in three of them (Ünsaldı and Beyçayırı in Batman and Doluharman in Siirt). Sanitation sewer works are still continuing in the İkizbağlar and Beykent villages of Siirt. By the end of 2009, all fourteen villages (seven villages in Diyarbakır, four in Batman and three in Siirt) will have new sewage systems, including sewer pipelines, manholes, septic tanks and natural treatment plants.
Within the Diyarbakır-Batman-Siirt Development Project, there will be other small-scale works for irrigation and sewerage improvement as well as the implementation of safe drinking sources for animals in the selected fourteen villages. Studies will be conducted in order to diversify agriculture and raise overall levels of economic activity. Village meetings and seminars will also be organized to increase sensibility towards sanitation and hygiene at the local level. Based on the results of the supply chain analyses, Strategic Investment Plans will be developed and grants will be provided to support small-scale individual enterprises and large enterprises.
The Diyarbakır-Batman-Siirt Development Project led by the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs aims to increase agricultural productivity and income levels in the less-developed regions of Diyarbakır, Batman and Siirt in southeastern Anatolia, develop innovative strategies with real impact on the ground in these three provinces, expand rural employment opportunities and encourage individual and group initiatives of smallholders. The project also aims to improve social infrastructure, build and strengthen self-sustaining institutions and in general improve the living conditions of the rural men and women.
The project aims to achieve its goals through three integrated components:
· Village Improvement Programme: aiming at mitigating poverty at the village level. In this context awareness raising activities, farmer education and trainings and investments in small-scale social and economic village infrastructure initiatives will be realized.
· Rural Economic Growth: aims to create a transparent, efficient and sustainable market economy in the project area. This component does not only cover participating villages but all rural areas in Diyarbakır, Batman and Siirt. In this context, services will be provided on rural supply chain management, business intermediation and staff capacity building. Rural finance and contributory grants will also be provided.
· Capacity Building for Employment: will ensure access to better-paid employment in the emerging local economy.
UNDP is a key partner to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in the implementation of the Diyarbakır-Batman-Siirt Development Project. It facilitates project administration in terms of flow of funds, programming, accounting and audit, procurement of goods and services and quality assurance. UNDP also provides strategic development policy advice to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs based on best practices and lessons learned during the implementation at the field level. The project that started in December 2007 will be completed by the end of 2012.
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“The development community is recognizing that strengthening capacity – at the grassroot level, at the community level, and at the national level – is at the centre of the development challenge. And this is why empowering people and institutions through capacity development is also at the centre of UNDP’s activities” says UNDP Administrator Kemal Derviş in the foreword of UNDP’s recently published 2008 annual report on “Capacity Development: Empowering People and Institutions”.
UNDP’s recently published 2008 annual report gives a particular emphasis on capacity development as a means for strengthening and maintaining individuals’, organizations’ and socities’ capabilities and to set and achieve their own development objectives and says “if human development is the what of the UNDP mandate, capacity development is the how”.
The report sets off by evaluating the progress achieved in the Millennium Development Goals for various countries in 2007 and the challenges developed and developing countries faced such as the financial sector-induced economic slowdown in the second half of 2007 and the threats that climate change poses.
The report provides a brief summary of how UNDP has expanded its range of partnerships especially with the private sector and how it has managed to strengthen national implementation capacities in the management of programmes, projects, procurement and human resources and UNDP’s role in the UN development system.
Capacity Development: Empowering People and Institutions stresses that the development community has come to realize that it is impossible to work on policies without at the same time working on the capacities of people, organizations and the larger community and says “without an enabling environment, efficient organization and a dynamic human resource base, countries lack the foundation to plan, implement and review their national and local development strategies”. UNDP therefore places priority on strategies that create opportunities to develop and sustain capacity at national and local levels and these include institutional reform incentives, scaling up leadership capacities, promoting education and enhancing accountability.
The report also presents examples of UNDP’s work in its four focus areas: poverty reduction and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, democratic governance, crisis prevention and recovery and finally environment and sustainable development, shares UNDP’s international experiences from several countries it works with and provides data on 2007 expenditures for each focus area.
Regarding poverty reduction efforts, the report stresses that while economic growth is essential to lifting people out of poverty, this alone is not enough and that “strengthening institutions to empower the citizens they serve is the bedrock of inclusive growth”. In this context UNDP takes the challenge of reducing poverty as an opportunity to innovate and build on models that have proven successful elsewhere while making creative use of existing local resources.
The report notes that UNDP allocates the biggest share of its resources, - 40% of its programme expenditure - to democratic governance. In this regard, UNDP aims to contribute to the building of effective states, supported and sustained by responsive institutions that make democracy deliver for the poor. In this context UNDP supports electoral processes, parliaments and decentralized local governance while promoting human rights, rule of law and access to justice.
In responding to natural disasters, UNDP works with national partners to strengthen early warning and early recovery systems. The report reminds that whether as a result of armed violence or natural disasters, crises affect women the most, exacerbating the discrimination that exists even under peaceful conditions.
Regarding its efforts to combat climate change, UNDP works to strengthen national capacity to manage the environment in a sustainable manner while ensuring adequate protection for the poor. It shares best practices and policy advice, coordinates adaptation and mitigation and champions innovative strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Capacity Development: Empowering People and Insititutions also emphasizes the importance UNDP gives to accountability, transparency, monitoring and results-based management in service delivery and finally explains UNDP resources including multilateral donors, local and regular resources and other resources. UNDP’s 2008 annual report is a solid presentation of UNDP’s all works including examples of different cases, partnerships and works conducted.
An inception workshop was held on 11-12 August 2008 at the Kastamonu University, in Kastamonu. The project aims to strengthen the national system of protected areas, especially the forests. Forests are among the most significant of Turkey’s ecosystems in terms of biodiversity and about 27% of Turkey’s land area is officially recognized as forest land. However the extent of forest areas in Turkey benefiting from some form of protection is less than 4% of the national forest cover and are therefore under-represented in the “Protected Areas” (PA) system.
The two-day inception workshop on “Enhancing Coverage and Management Effectiveness of the Subsystem of Forest Protected Areas in Turkey’s National System of Protected Areas” was held on 11 August 2008 at Kastamonu University in Kastamonu.
The project details were presented by each Project partner during the inception workshop and potential local support and partnerships were discussed. A project evaluation was made in which workshop participants were asked for their opinions and suggestions regarding the project. Following the workshop, a field visit to the project site was also organized for international experts and stakeholders of the project.
The workshop was attended by UNDP Resident Representative Mahmood Ayub, UNDP Regional Technical Advisor for Biodiversity Adriana Dinu, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry Prof. Dr. Hasan Zuhuri Sarıkaya, Kastamonu Governor Nurullah Çakır, Deputy General Director of Forestry at the Ministry of Environment and Forestry İsmail Belen and Deputy General Director for Nature Conservation and National Parks, who is also the project coordinator, Osman Öztürk as well as other relevant government officials, local stakeholders, NGO representatives and local media.
Speaking at the inception workshop, UNDP Resident Representative Mahmood Ayub stated that nearly half of Turkey’s forests are degraded due to intensive use of resources and that inadequate protected area coverage and management approaches that are not geared to effective threat abatement constitute a barrier to enhancing the management effectiveness of the protected areas system and said “implementation of effective conservation regimes geared to threat mitigation are fundamental to securing long term protection of these areas. Thanks to the Turkish Government, Turkey provided its commitment to addressing the coverage gap. This project and similar initiatives show that we are all part of the solution. We should claim our responsibility to reduce our pressure on biodiversity loss without jeopardizing the needs of the local people living in those areas”.
According to analysis conducted – in order to determine ecological representation of protected habitats and forest areas under-represented in existing national “protected areas” system – the WWF’s Mediterranean Programme Office identified 9 “forest hot spots” in Turkey. The project will initially be implemented for the Küre Mountains National Park that falls in one of the Global 200 Ecoregions and 122 Important Plant Areas identified by WWF. The Küre Mountains National Park was chosen as a pilot area because it represents the most intact example of the deciduous and coniferous forests of North Anatolia as well as the best remaining example of the highly endangered karstic mountain areas of the “Black Sea Humid Forests”. It is also broadly representative of different socio-economic, ecological and institutional conditions (in Turkey people living near forested areas constitute the “poorest” segment of the entire rural population), which means that the management paradigm developed here can easily be adapted for other sites once it has been tried and tested. The Küre Mountains are also already facing threats such as overgrazing, road constructions, wild plant collection, uncontrolled tourism and illegal cutting, which are also common threats for Turkey’s forests. .
In the context of the project, expected outcomes will be designing, piloting and adopting cost-effective conservation management approaches for protected forest areas, demonstrating sustainable natural resource management approaches in buffer zones of protected areas, disseminating lessons learned in which the project can then be replicated to the remaining 8 forest hot spots. The project will thus contribute to the maturation of the Protected Areas system of Turkey.
Global Environment Facility that was established in 1991, helps developing countries fund projects and programmes protecting the global environment. Since 1991, Global Environment Facility has provided $7.4 billion in grants and generated over $28 billion in co-financing from other sources to support over 1,950 projects that produce global environmental benefits in 160 developing countries and countries with economies in transition. UNDP was designated by the Global Environment Facility as one of its three implementing agencies.
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Prepared by UNDP and the EMES European Research Network, this report titled 'Social Enterprise: A New Model for Poverty Reduction and Employment Generation' marks an important step toward raising the regional profile of social enterprise as a tool for community-based development. UNDP’s regional advisor on poverty reduction and civil society, Geoff Prewitt, explains what it’s all about.
What, briefly, is a social enterprise? How does it differ from an NGO?
There are various definitions applied to Social Enterprises. In short, however, they may be defined as private, autonomous, entrepreneurial organizations providing goods or services with an explicit aim to benefit the community. They are often owned by members of the communities in which they operate.
Social Enterprises are – indeed – often registered legally as non-governmental organizations (NGOs). But, while NGOs is a catch-all for a range of organizations, Social Enterprises have a narrow focus that includes engagement in economic activities (although on a non-profit distributing status), employment generation and work integration, and delivery of services. Social Enterprises spend much less time in traditional areas of significance to NGO activity such as advocacy and watch-dog functions. Equally, SEs in many ways resemble private sector organizations aligned with corporate social responsibility practices.
What is the need for such organizations in the countries of CEE/CIS?
While the majority of countries are benefiting from economic growth, this growth has not transformed into progress for all groups of society. Problems specific to this region include: countries facing strong core-periphery disparities; ‘working poor’ and ‘jobless growth’ phenomena; unreformed or weak social services and protection schemes; and problems of old industrialized regions (depressed urban areas) or single-factory towns. This has led to the emergence of visible of ‘losers’ of transition (‘vulnerable groups’) and an increase in inequality.
Social Enterprises can provide employment opportunities and specific services to these vulnerable groups. However, they need the appropriate legal framework and other regulatory benefits as well as support from Government for them to thrive. This means that in recognition of their role in meeting social goals, they benefit from an advantage in their commercial activities (for example, through a lighter tax burden).
How does SE relate to the traditional model whereby governments are responsible for providing such services?
Social Enterprises and Government agencies should complement each other. Governments of the region went through a difficult period of transition following the break-up of the Former Soviet Union. Even in so-called high income countries and well-functioning democracies, the State can not provide services to all, particularly specialized services. For example, while the State may be responsible for providing universal primary education, some populations of society have specialized needs or speak different languages or live in very rural places. Social Enterprises can help fill these gaps, particularly if subsidized by the Government. Regarding the role of the state, SEs work best where there is a supportive legal framework, such as in Belgium and Italy.
What are the main ways in which UNDP contributes to developing SE?
Currently we are focused on building awareness on the contributions that SEs can make to employment generation, supporting vulnerable groups, and contributing to service delivery. A few countries, however, such as Poland and Serbia are quite advanced and UNDP is exploring the establishment of Government funds to support SEs (in Poland) and helping to reform the legal environment (in Serbia).
The report was launched on 9 July 2008 in Barcelona at the international conference, “The Third Sector and Sustainable Social Change: New Frontiers of Research” organized by the International Society for Third Sector Research (ISTR) and EMES. The event gathered 600 academics, Ph.D. students, researchers, and practitioners from 58 countries during four days to discuss some of the most relevant themes pertaining to the third sector and civil society in general.
This article was taken from UNDP – Europe and CIS website.
This year’s World Water Week scrutinized progress and prospects regarding efforts to build a clean and healthy world, with special attention devoted to the sanitation challenge and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal target on sanitation.
In the context of the 2008 World Water Week a seminar titled “Partnering with Business to Find Sanitation Solutions” was co-convened by World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on 20 August 2008 and brought together many leading businesses such as ITT Corporation, The Dow Chemical Company, Unilever, Borealis and Coca-Cola.
In her opening speech, UNDP Turkey Deputy Resident Representative, Ulrika Richardson-Golinski, highlighted UNDP’s cooperation with the private sector in the area of sanitation and water governance issues as a crucial partnership for reaching the Millennium Development Goal target on sanitation and effectively responding to the global urgency today’s world is representing in terms of men, women and children living without access to clean water and basic sanitation. “Every Drop Matters” project (implemented in cooperation between UNDP and Coca-Cola) was then presented by Dr. Boğaçhan Benli, Regional Project Manager as a real case study of business working on sanitation in partnership with a global inter-governmental organization, building on their respective comparative strength and joint commitment to improving quality of life in less advantaged communities.
During the seminar, Coca-Cola shared its experiences gained and lessons learned from working in cooperation with UNDP. Leading companies then came together and discussed what they can do and how they can contribute to UNDP’s and Governments’ works regarding sanitation issues through means of trainings, advocacy and investments.
The seminar also took up issues such as how can businesses contribute in overcoming the enormous gap in access to improved sanitation solutions, can sanitation itself be seen as a new business opportunity, how do company wastewater strategies contribute to sanitation solutions and how can cooperation with the United Nations help reach greater impact. Debates were held on how international companies can take the lead in their operations, products and services regarding water and sanitation issues and how they can more effectively work with the civil society, small and medium scale enterprises, international organisations and governments.
“Every Drop Matters” is a regional water partnership initiative implemented by UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Coca-Cola Eurasia. The project aims to resolve water-related challenges such as access to safe drinking water, water management, depletion of water resources, water pollution and sanitation.
The AIDS Report was recently launched by UNDP Administrator Kemal Derviş, Executive Director of UNAIDS Peter Piot and Executive Director of UNFPA Thoraya Obaid.
“Responding to AIDS is an important Millennium Development Goal which also has a direct impact on meeting the other Goals by 2015” said UNDP Administrator Kemal Derviş during the launch of the report. “The progress we make in addressing AIDS will contribute to our efforts to reducing poverty and child mortality, and to improving nutrition and maternal health. At the same time progress towards the other Goals, such as tackling gender inequality and promoting education, is required if we are to halt and reverse the spread of AIDS”.
The 2008 report on the Global AIDS Epidemic is the most comprehensive ever based on country inputs of unprecedented scope and detail. The report evaluates the current status of the global HIV epidemic, it assesses the progress, identifies obstacles and addresses the societal causes of HIV risk and vulnerability. Moreover the report provides the key for reversing the epidemic and analyses treatment, care and mitigation and provides estimates, data and country indicators for HIV and AIDS.
The report notes that a 6-fold increase in financing for HIV programmes in low and middle-income countries is beginning to bear fruit, with many countries making major progress in lowering AIDS deaths and preventing new infections. But the principal finding of this report is that progress remains uneven and the epidemic’s future is still uncertain. “Today for every two people who start taking antiretroviral drugs, another five become newly infected” says Dr. Peter Piot, UNAIDS Executive Director. In the countries most heavily affected, HIV has reduced life expectancy by more than 20 years, slowed economic growth and deepened household poverty. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, the epidemic orphaned nearly 12 million children aged under 18 years. In Asia, where infection rates are much lower than in Africa, HIV causes a greater loss of productivity than any other disease, and is likely to push an additional 6 million households into poverty by 2015. Therefore the report stresses that achieving national and political commitments made on HIV will require stronger leadership, building on recent successes, increased financial resources and improved coordination of efforts and reminds that since the beginning of the epidemic, 25 million people have died of HIV-related causes and says “collectively these deaths represent an incalculable loss of human potential”.
The report provides striking figures and data as well. Accordingly, globally there were an estimated 33 million people living with HIV in 2007. The annual number of new HIV infections declined from 3 million in 2001 to 2.7 million in 2007 but overall 2 million people died due to AIDS in 2007. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 67% of all people living with HIV and for 75% of AIDS deaths in 2007. The percentage of women among people living with HIV on the other hand has remained stable at 50%. On the other hand an estimated 370 thousand children younger than 15 years became infected with HIV in 2007. While children below the age 15 living with HIV were 1.6 million in 2001, this rate increased to 2 million in 2007 and almost 90% live in sub-Saharan Africa. The report also provides a detailed analysis on the modes of transmission in every continent.
The report stresses that combatting HIV and AIDS will require a rights-based approach. Sustained progress will be needed in addressing human rights violations, gender inequality, stigma and discrimination. The report asserts that significant investment in girls’ education in particular primary and secondary education would substantially reduce HIV risk and vulnerability of women and girls. The report also states that governments and international donors need to prioritize strategies that aim to increase women’s economic independence and that all countries should ensure rigorous enforcement of anti-discrimination measures to protect people living with HIV. Accordingly, countries that lack legal protections against HIV-based discrimination should immediately enact such laws. The report also points out the need to include public awareness and “know your rights” campaigns. School and community-based programmes, use of mass media and providing youth services would be effective strategies for reaching young people in particular. Governments should provide legal services for people living with HIV and should expand access to antiretroviral drugs. Much stronger financial and technical support is needed for capacity building for people living with HIV and for groups most at risk of HIV infection.
Regarding the treatment of HIV, the report notes that the number of people receiving antiretroviral drugs in low and middle-income countries has increased 10-fold in only 6 years, reaching almost 3 million people by the end of 2007 but that intensified action is needed to ensure timely delivery of HIV treatment especially to children who are less likely than adults to receive antiretroviral drugs. The report emphasizes the need to improve the weaknesses in health-care systems as they slow the scale-up of HIV treatment programmes. Social protection programmes that provide cash assistance to HIV-affected households have proven to alleviate the epidemic’s impact and should immediately be increased, especially in the most heavily affected countries. In brief, as Piot says “AIDS is a supremely complex issue that demands an unparalleled response from all sectors of society, worldwide. But given the will and given the resources we can do it”.
In general, the 362-paged report provides the most comprehensive global assessment ever. It is based on reports from 147 countries on national progress and even includes real-life stories. An unprecedented number of civil society groups have joined their government counterparts and participated in the reporting process. The report is also important because it marks the halfway point of the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the 2015 target for Millennium Development Goal 6. It assesses progress made since 2001, and what can be done until 2015.