A Central Asian and Trans-Caucasus Regional Forum
Baku, Azerbaijan, October 26-28, 1999


     Delegates at the Central Asian and Trans-Caucasus Regional Forum on Social Development produced the following recommendations to address constraints and improve implementation of the Copenhagen commitments in priority areas – poverty eradication, employment creation, social integration and social services, governance and the enabling environment.

Common Constraints to Implementing Copenhagen

Social development indicators for the Central Asian and Trans-Caucasus region have either not progressed sufficiently or in some cases have actually regressed since the Copenhagen consensus was arrived at in 1995. One of the most important is the effect of conflict in the region which affects countries both directly and indirectly.

Recommendations to help implement Copenhagen:

1. Governments should develop and support national programmes of action on implementation of the Copenhagen commitments, with sufficient resource allocations budgeted and disseminated. Realistic targets should also be set for these programmes.

2. Governments should develop and support a social benefits and services system for the most vulnerable populations, including the unemployed, children, women, the aged, etc.

3. Governments and international agencies should hold an annual regional conference on the Copenhagen follow-up, inviting the participation of national civil society organizations (CSOs).

4. Governments should identify national mechanisms to implement the Copenhagen commitments. Advocacy groups should be established, including CSOs, media, government and international organizations, to organize training for further advocacy, as well as implementation, of the Copenhagen conference commitments.

5. There is a lack of attention to the specific problems of each country in the programmes of international agencies. Applying a standard model, and not using existing resources leads to inefficiency or outright failure of programmes. In order to take these specific problems into account, they need to work closely with national CSOs.

Improving the Enabling Environment:

6. While laws may exist, in many cases they are not implemented. Governments should make stronger efforts to achieve real implementation of their positive legislation. Equally, governments should make stronger efforts to implement the international agreements they have ratified, such as the Convention on the Right of the Child, and the Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

7. Good governance and better accountability in governments will lead to improved economic and social conditions in the region. CSOs have an important part to play in encouraging good governance and accountability in governments, and combating corruption, and should be invited to play this role. Governments should ensure that consultation mechanisms should be effective and that CSOs have sufficient resources to participate in a meaningful way. CSOs also need to be open and transparent, and governments can encourage this through positive legislation and support.

8. The media should be encouraged to highlight social issues, to monitor progress and promote social justice, democracy, pluralism, tolerance, non-violence and the rule of law. The media should include the views of CSOs in their reports in order to ensure a balanced presentation of issues discussed.

Employment

9. The characteristics of unemployment in the region are special, in that the sudden collapse of the economic systems exposed weaknesses in productivity but also left many productive people, including educated people, without work. The need for accurate statistics on unemployment is necessary in order to produce realistic new employment programmes which respond to this crisis. The emerging role of women as bread-winners has social consequences and warrants further investigation.

10. Training people is necessary, but not sufficient to ensure alleviation of unemployment. Governments should ensure that job markets are linked to training.

11. There should be special programmes for migrants, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees. These should focus on job creation in the areas where such groups are located. For example, the design and implementation of the Social Investment Fund in Azerbaijan (for assistance to refugees and IDPs), in which the World Bank and the Government of Azerbaijan invited the active participation of CSOs in all stages of the programme, may prove highly successful and could be a model for other projects in the region.

12. CSOs have a positive role to play in reducing unemployment through such mechanisms as training, micro-credit, advocacy, confidence-building, income-generation and community development.

13. Information on employment opportunities, social services and entitlements can be provided by CSOs in collaboration with government.

Poverty alleviation

14. It has been difficult to identify the impact of current poverty alleviation strategies where they exist. Governments need to develop, in consultation with CSOs, concrete and adequately funded strategies for poverty alleviation. This process should be participatory and involve the communities affected by poverty. They should include the coordination, planning, implementation and evaluation of poverty eradication programmes. Any programme of action on poverty alleviation should comply with the ten commitments from Copenhagen.

15. Governments should ensure that all relevant ministries should work together to ensure a coordinated approach to poverty alleviation.

16. Employment does not always relieve poverty. Underemployment, inadequate or sporadic renumeration, and lack of access to basic social services such as education, health, and social safety net benefits, all contribute to high levels of poverty in the region. These issues should be taken into account in any definition of poverty, and in the formulation of adequate poverty alleviation programmes.

17. In particular, the region is facing a severe increase in child poverty, and governments should attend to this as a matter of urgent priority.

18. Because of the difficult economic situation, free education is increasingly undermined. This situation will lead to a vicious cycle for the poor, in that they will be unable to educate their children, who will themselves remain poor. Governments must ensure free basic education.

Social Integration

19. Poverty is one of the main root causes of social exclusion, and poverty is exacerbating social strains in the region. Governments should be engaged with CSOs not only in researching and monitoring poverty alleviation, but specifically in identifying those most impacted, including the socially excluded and vulnerable, such as children.

20. Children are not just another interest group, and what happens to them is a fundamental determinant of society. Poverty, combined with a lack of access to basic services, has led to the rise of new phenomena in the region: street and working children, illiterate children, children suffering from drug abuse and sexually transmitted diseases and sexual exploitation. Governments should work closely with children’s organizations and others to address this urgent situation.

21. Refugees and internally displaced persons are another vulnerable group as victims of civil and ethnic conflicts. Governments must provide not only specific assistance to ensure the improvement in their living conditions, but should also undertake more active conflict resolution and prevention measures to improve social cohesion and enable the voluntary return of refugees and IDPs.

22. Government policies contributing to greater participation and inclusion of minorities will contribute to the country’s development and stability, and prevent braindrain.

23. Lower levels of human development particularly impact women. Governments should pay particular attention to improving income-earning opportunities for women, particularly as so many are now the prime bread-winners. Equity has not yet been achieved between men and women. Women should be actively involved in decision-making processes as well.

Further recommendations concerning Civil Society Organisations

Civil society organizations (CSOs), including non-government organizations, are important actors playing a crucial role in the development process. Many are community-based groups that can respond effectively and efficiently to social needs and concerns. People-centred development is the most sustainable development. Given this:

24. National CSOs must be recognized as, and encouraged to be, partners of governments and the United Nations.

25. As CSOs often work at the local level, and so are better equipped to identify vulnerable groups or communities in need and promote their interests, they should provide surveys for the identification of such groups, as well as their urgent and long-term social needs.

26. CSOs should also participate in the development and implementation of community- orientated policies and programmes which improve the social condition, status and opportunities of the socially excluded, in order to bring them fully into the development process.

27. CSOs are not political parties or proto-political and therefore should not be distrusted by governments as opposition parties. Being community-based organizations, they have a particular role in the social process which differs from the political process. They represent and work with groups of people who are often excluded from society, and differ from political parties.

28. There is a need for clear and helpful legal and fiscal frameworks for CSOs in order for them to provide effective support for vulnerable groups. This should not be constraining, and should be effectively implemented at all levels (including local and rural) and supported in courts of law.

29. Bureaucratic and centralized handling of funding leading to poorly implemented projects. Funding should be efficiently and effectively channelled to CSOs, assuring the quick release of agreed funding.

30. Insufficient inclusion of CSOs in strategic planning, project development, execution and evaluation. CSOs have a right to monitor government social policies. Governments should make a greater effort to involve CSOs in all levels - rural, local, national and international – in policy-making processes and implementation of projects relating to the communities that CSOs work with. The UN family, including UNDP, should closely cooperate with national CSOs. International organizations, while preparing and evaluating their projects, should invite national NGOs to participate in this process.

31. CSOs need ongoing financial resources to support their work, and governments, international organizations and foundations should help CSOs develop their funding base.

32. Insufficient coordination among CSOs and between CSOs and governments, and CSOs and international organizations. Better support for and coordination of CSOs would lead to more accountability and a reduction of wasted resources. A stronger CSO voice will ensure that governments are provided with widely represented views on the communities and groups affected.