Executive Boards of six UN agencies visit Kyrgyzstan
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In Kyrgyzstan on 9 May, representatives of the Executive Boards of UN Women, UNDP, UNFPA, UNOPS, UNICEF and WFP completed a week-long Joint Field Visit to analyse how United Nations’ organizations contribute to national development priorities.
The ambassadorial-level delegation, composed of 21 members of the four Executive Boards representing 18 countries, discussed strategies for cooperation between the UN system and national authorities, including the Parliament, Government and key ministries, development partners and civil society organizations.
"I am pleased to give high marks to the work of UN Women in Kyrgyzstan" said Chynybai Tursunbekov, Speaker of the Parliament of Kyrgyzstan, at the delegation’s meeting with the parliament. Altynai Omurbekova, Vice-Speaker of the Parliament also acknowledged UN Women’s work in the country: "I would like to congratulate UN Women for its excellent work especially on youth and on rural women and providing technical assistance on our normative work."
The Delegates examined UN results in the regions of Batken, Jalal-Abad, Naryn and Osh. They discussed local priorities with farmers, entrepreneurs, women and youth. Special focus was given to joint projects and delivering results together, since the UN in Kyrgyzstan is a self-nominated UN “Delivering as One” country since 2009.
Executive Board members had an opportunity to assess the impact of UN joint work by supporting communities in tackling development issues. In Naryn, they visited the project site of UN Women, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and World Food Programme (WFP) joint initiative on economically empowering rural women, which increased their income opportunities through self-employment and enhanced their active participation in solving local development issues.
“I have witnessed the active participation of local community members in the projects visited today in Naryn province. They do so many things themselves! It is great to see such a positive impact of the joint UN efforts on the lives of people, but even more valuable is community members’ motivation and commitment to lead these initiatives,” said H.E. Mr. Walton Webson, Ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda and Vice-President of UNICEF
The representatives of the Executive Boards also visited Osh and Batken regions, where UN Women is working with 100 schools in total, reaching students from age 15 to 17 to enhance their understanding of gender equality and women’s rights within the project “Building a constituency for peace”, funded by UN Peacebuilding Fund. The initiative also involves effectively using scarce land resources to build successful livelihoods and social integration. In particular, UN Women is working with students of various ethnicities in secondary schools to engage them in making state institutions accountable for their commitment to the protection of human rights and achievement of gender equality.
In Batken, they visited several peacebuilding project sites along the Kyrgyz-Tajik border, such as UNDP’s conflict-prevention projects and preventive actions. The project has recently evolved into a new joint initiative with UNDP, UNICEF, WFP, FAO and UN Women.
“The example of the joint work of the UN system in Kyrgyz Republic demonstrates that when working together, UN agencies achieve great results for sustainable development,” said H.E. Mr. Mohamed Khaled Khiari, Ambassador of Tunisia and President of the UN Women Executive Board.
He also stated that it was an interesting mission which helped them understand how the inter-agency collaboration works on the ground. He emphasized that he has been impressed by the commitment and engagement of the beneficiaries and civil society actors.
More details of the results of the Executive Board visit will be published in an official UN Report to be presented at the Second Regular Session of the Executive Boards in September 2016.