As prepared for delivery

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear Sadagat Gahramanova, Deputy Chairperson of the State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs,

Dear Niyazi Safarov, Deputy Minister of Economy,

Dear Sevindik Hatamov, Head of Executive Authority of Salyan Region,

Dear Eser Sevinc Manav, General Manager for Caucasus & Central Asia Region, Coca-Cola Company

Distinguished guests and esteemed delegates,

I am delighted to be joined with all of you here in the beautiful city of Salyan, the “Gateway to the South”, –as we call it, and the prominent transport and communication artery of the southern region linking Azerbaijan with the rest of the world. I am very honoured to participate at today’s conference together with so many esteemed stakeholders and partners from the Government of Azerbaijan, representatives of the international community and civil society. Today we will want to tackle some of the challenges facing women in rural Azerbaijan and come up with innovative solutions to address the problems women encounter in their daily life and work.

Achieving women’s economic empowerment is a multifaceted process and –if implemented holistically –can have far-reaching benefits across multiple spheres. We at UNDP always say that ‘Empowering women economically is not only the “right thing” to do to honour the world’s commitments to human rights. It is also the “smart thing” to do for development, economic growth and business’. Gender inequality is not just a human rights issue; it is a tremendous waste of the world’s human potential; and by denying women equal rights, we deny half the population a chance to live life at its fullest.

Gender equality is also at the heart of all our development work across more than 170 countries around the globe and is pivotal to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as set in the new Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development. Importantly, the wording of various SDG targets recognises the need to have women and men benefitting equally from access to financial services and other resources to support their inclusion in the national economy. Specifically, Global Goal 5 stands for achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls, including through financial autonomy and entrepreneurial maturity.

As UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner once said, ‘The potential is immense. Women today own only 30% of formal SMEs and, of those, 70% do not have access to the capital they need to grow. There is an annual credit deficit of almost $300 billion. Everyone stands to win in such a scenario.’

Looking at the Azerbaijani context, rural women constitute 77% of the total women population in this country. When we started our collaboration with the State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs back in 2011, rural women were the biggest demographic group marginalised in many areas of economic and social life. While being the backbone of rural life in Azerbaijan, they lacked proper access to learning, capital, economic services, or entrepreneurial initiatives. They also lacked support for public participation due to traditional gender roles and stereotypes, which limited their choices of jobs, household duties, and creative aspirations. Yet they always carried on their hard labour with commitment to their families and children.

In building and nurturing our collaboration with a wide range of partners, both at the Government side, international agencies and the private sector alike, we wanted to support rural women’s strong spirit and give them the power to become active in economic and social life of their communities. Together with the State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs, we started with one pilot project in Sabirabad in 2011 and quickly expanded to Neftchala, Masalli, Bilasuvar and Salyan. In these regions we have established Women Resource Centres, which have become the platform for rural women’s networking, the safe place for their learning and social engagement, and the building ground for entrepreneurial and community initiatives.

During past few years, jointly with the State Committee, UNDP has organised trainings in financial literacy, NGO management, job searching, community development, gender awareness, business development and other areas for over 1,500 women. We administered Job Fairs in 3 regions to help rural women’s employment. We worked with banks, credit unions, local authorities and other agencies who have direct or indirect impact on rural women’s lives. We put together vocational courses in Neftchala, Masalli and Salyan, helping more than 150 women to improve their skills in accounting, computer literacy, tailoring, hair-styling, pastry-making and other vocations. We have provided in-kind support to 91 rural women to start and improve their businesses who in turn have employed additional 50 women. Today we will award 5 more women winners from Salyan, and later in the year 25 more women will receive in-kind assistance for their business development.

None of these accomplishments would have been possible without our partners. In fact, partnership for development is a cornerstone of the Global Agenda for Sustainable Development. The SDGs can only be realised with a strong commitment to global partnership and cooperation.

In this regard, I would like to specifically thank Ms. Sadagat Gahramanova personally and the entire team of SCFWCA headed by Ms. Hijran Huseynova for their unwavering support to UNDP’s ongoing projects and activities in the realm of the women empowerment agenda. Not only the Committee plays an unprecedented role in building partnerships and bridging the Government support for the rural women of Azerbaijan with international development practices. We are honoured and at the same time humbled by the friendship we enjoy with the State Committee that has been the Mother to all mothers, the Family to all families, and the Guardian to all children in Azerbaijan. Dear Sadagat Khanum, on behalf of UNDP and all the women present here, thank you for your excellent work and for your kind spirit!

Our cooperation with Government of Azerbaijan does not start or finish with the State Committee – without the guidance of Regional Executive Authorities of Salyan, Sabirabad, Neftchala, Masalli and Bilasuvar, we could not have ensured proper services being delivered to proper audiences in proper manner. I would like to thank the Heads of Regional Executive Authorities of these regions for their partnership and assistance to our endeavours!

Last but not least, our sincere appreciation goes to the donors – the Coca-Cola Foundation, the USAID and the EU Delegation, – who believed in the urgency of our mission and kindly agreed to support the rural women of Azerbaijan. I would like to particularly thank Ms. Eser Sevinc Manav and Ms. Alexandra Akkirman, the representatives of Coca-Cola Company, for actively engaging in our efforts and being rather the moral force than simply donors. The Coca-Cola Foundation has funded our project activities in Neftchala and Salyan since 2015, and this Conference is organised within the framework of this ongoing partnership.

Coca-Cola’s commitment to supporting gender equality and rural women’s economic empowerment is indeed a great example showing that the private sector matters for development. The importance of private sector engagement in advancing gender equality cannot be overstated. At UNDP, we often refer to our former Administrator Helen Clark who once said: ‘How business does business, and to what degree it ensures that men and women can contribute and benefit equally, will have a huge impact on whether sustainable development is achieved or not’.

In development, any and all accomplishments should be the foundation for bigger, better and more lasting results. While we have been working region by region and focusing on issue by issue until now, we think it is time to consolidate our efforts and start thinking about how these efforts tie in together. We have to think innovatively about the overall empowerment of rural women in the context of human development and economic growth in Azerbaijan. Sustainable development is a futile exercise without women’s participation, so let’s discuss rural women’s perspectives through their prospective.

We hope this conference will yield many new ideas and recommendations for promoting women’s economic participation, vocational education, and leadership initiatives that can be of practical interest not only to the Government of Azerbaijan, but also to international partners and civil society organisations. We hope this Conference will ensure that the ultimate winners in this process are the rural women.

Thank you for your attention!