As prepared for delivery

Dear Hijran khanim Huseynova, Chairperson of the State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs

Dear Members of Parliament,

Dear Guests,

Esteemed Women,

For us at the UN, 8^th of March, International Women’s Day is a time to celebrate and honor acts of courage and determination by millions of women like you who change the world around us for the better every day.

This year’s global theme highlights that Time is Now to ensure that rural women have equal opportunities.

43% of the global agricultural workers are women, and rural women comprise the majority of these workers.  They need equal access to resources, information, and decision-making. Despite their vital roles in growing food, and critically in adapting and building resilience to climate change, rural women fare worse than rural men or urban women on almost every measure of development.

As the United Nations Development Programme, we take special pride in promoting women’s economic rights. In Azerbaijan, UNDP is working closely with both the Government of Azerbaijan and a number of international donors, including the EU, USAID, Coca-Cola Foundation and the Swiss Cooperation Office, to provide new opportunities to women in rural communities and help them gain access to resource, which were unavailable to them before.

Up to the present, UNDP in partnership with the State Committee for Family, Women and Children’s Affairs has been implementing three projects across 5 regions of Azerbaijan. Together, we built mechanisms to boost women’s participation in local development processes and make their voice and their decisions matter.

As a result, in 2017 50 women in several regions of Azerbaijan have established small businesses of their own and became financially independent. We now have 5 Women Resource Centres that operate across 5 regions of the country. At these centres, women and girls come together to discuss and take action on issues of societal importance as well as to expose themselves to a variety of learning platforms that the Centres have to offer.

I will tell you the story of three classmates from the village of Massalli who I had the pleasure to meet personally as part of my planned meetings with our project beneficiaries.  Ever since completing their training, the three have gone on to make a success of their skills and new business know-how.

One of them –Rashada –had an idea of restaringt and expanding her sewing business by solving the problem of lack of workspace. With the training and help provided by the project, Rashada was able to convert an abandoned old shed in the yard of her apartment building into a workshop.

Guler, another Massalli resident, got new computers, a printer and office furniture, while the skills she acquired have helped her identify potential customers and prepare a sound budget proposal. As well as running educational courses to make a living, Guler provides free classes for schoolchildren and teachers in the village school.

The project also helped Leyla, another woman activist to buy cows and connected her to other dairy farmers for advice and mentorship.

Overall, through our joint programmes just in 2017 some 900 women obtained practical, very hands-on training on business development and management that further help women like Rashada, Guler and Layla grow professionally and contribute to the overall economic wellbeing of the communities where they live.

Today, as we celebrate social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, I am particularly delighted to note that in recent decades Azerbaijan has made tremendous progress on the advancement of women’s rights and gender equality. The country has good records in terms of equal access to primary education between girls and boys. Government promotes gender equality through key policies, including the Law on Gender Equality between Women and Men and the Law on the Protection of Victims of Domestic Violence, to name a few.

Providing women and girls with equal access to education, health care, decent work, and representation in political and economic decision-making processes are fundamental for achieving Sustainable Development Goals.

These 17 goals—which range from ending poverty, to boosting equitable growth and achieving quality education for all—are strongly interconnected, and gender equality is pivotal to achieving all of them.

That means that all of us have a role to play in supporting women’s empowerment, at home, in our communities—and in the workplace.

Together, by achieving women’s equality and the 2030 Agenda, we can ensure that no woman is left behind.

As former Secretary-General of UN Mr. Ban Ki-Moon once put it, ‘Investing in women is not only the right thing to do; It is the smart thing to do'.

Dear Esteemed ladies,

In concluding my speech, I want to once again wholeheartedly congratulate you with this wonderful occasion and wish you all endless opportunities and unforgettable experiences in you. Wherever you are in the world and whatever you do in life – never stop wondering, growing, moving forward and expanding your horizons. You are the inspiration to the millions of young girls out there who look to you as coaches and life mentors. Once again –a very Happy Women’s Day to all of you!

EZİZ KHANİMLAR! BAYRAMINIZ MUBAREK!

CHOX SAG OLUN!