December 2000	United Nations Office in Turkmenistan
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Inside this issue:

UNICEF in Turkmenistan

Common Country Assessment

UNFPA Activities

Inter-Ministerial Meeting

UN Association in Turkmenistan

Various News and Contact Information

The basic agreement between UNICEF and the Government of Turkmenistan was signed on February 11, 1995.

1995 – 1999 programme of cooperation The 1995-1999 Maternal and Child Health Programme had three major projects: Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), Control of Diarrhoeal Diseases (CDD) and Control of Acute Respiratory Infectious (ARI). The central elements of the EPI continue in the current Safe and Sustainable Immunization Services sub-project, with an emphasis on the Vaccine Independence Initiative.There were three projects under the Child and Maternal Nutrition Programme: breastfeeding promotion (BF), elimination of iodine deficiency disorders (IDD), and control and prevention of iron-deficiency anemia (APC). The past activities within the UNICEF-supported education programme have been directed mainly to the provision of school supplies. It addressed the most pressing and immediate problems of basic education, such as supply shortages in primary schools and the worsening of the water and sanitation situation of schools in Dashoguz. Project activities included also provision of papers for printing textbooks, improvement of water and sanitation facilities, advocacy for the inclusion of health and hygiene education and hygiene promotion. 2000 – 2004 programme of cooperation The new programme is based on the collaboration between the Government of Turkmenistan and UNICEF taking in consideration the National Plan of Action of Turkmenistan priorities for the years 2000-2010. It aims to empower families and communities to act more effectively towards child health, development, protection and participation by enhancing responsibility, knowledge and initiative. It aims also to ensure that the social sector reform processes currently underway in Turkmenistan, takes into account the obligations of the Government within the context of CRC and CEDAW. The Mother and Child Survival and Protection Programme covers the first life cycle from pregnancy up to 6 years. This programme responds to the physical, psychosocial, and intellectual development needs of children in this very early stage of the life cycle, and the specific needs of mothers. This programme seeks to reduce maternal and infant mortality, and reduce the prevalence of iron deficiency anemia and iodine deficiency disorder. UNICEF will promote the survival and protection of women and new-borne through universal access to safe immunization services, and the training of professionals in neonatal care services. The Child Enrichment Programme, life cycle (6-12 years), will respond to the growth and the development needs of children. It will aim at maintaining the high enrolment rate as well as the low dropout rate and at improving the quality of education through interactive methods in teaching and learning. The programme will introduce the teaching of life skills in health and nutrition, hygiene and sanitation, and CRC. An overall priority will be the assistance in the establishment of national education information and management systems, which will help to facilitate the follow up to EFA 2000. Attention will be given to mobilization of teachers, parents and local authorities to work together to improve the maintenance of school facilities and relevance of teaching programmes. The Young People Wellbeing Programme, aimed at the youth life cycle from 13 to18 years, aims at promotion and development of adolescent health, youth development and life skills in preparation for adulthood.

Special points of interest: Attention will be given to mobilization of teachers, parents and local authorities to work together to improve the maintenance of school facilities and relevan×e of tea×hing programmes. UNFPA supports the right of individuals and couples to decide freely the number and spacing of their children and to have the information and means to do so. All UNFPA funded proje×ts are undertaken in accordance with the principles and objectives of the ICPD Programme of Action, which declares that coercion in any form is unacceptable. Common Country Assesment is a UN system process.

First Common Country Assessment (CCA) for the United Nations in Turkmenistan

Assessing the status of development in Turkmenistan This is what the UN agencies in Turkmenistan have been working on over the last year. Soon the first Common Country Assessment (CCA) document will be published. It provides an assessment of the development situation of the country covering a wide range of sectors and cross-cutting themes. The draft was prepared by an international consultant who worked in close collaboration with the CCA Working Group consisting of representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and programme staff of all UN agencies working in Turkmenistan. What is Common in the Common Country Assessment? The CCA involves a process of consultation and consensus building among the members of the UN System and its partners, more in particular the Government of Turkmenistan, leading to a common understanding of the development situation and issues in the country. Common therefore refers to the partnership between the UN system and the government of Turkmenistan. In the CCA, the national priorities and needs, as formulated in the "National strategy of socio-economic development in Turkmenistan for the period up to 2010" and other sector plans prepared by the Government, are taken into account. In addition, the document covers the follow-up to the large international conferences in which Turkmenistan has participated and the various conventions and treaties that the government has signed/ratified. Many of the International conferences have set targets that can be monitored on the basis of clearly defined indicators. How is Turkmenistan progressing towards achieving the goals to which it is committed? (see box 1: example Maternal Mortality). The aim is to work towards common goals. Box 1: Example of Measurement of an International Conference Goal Maternal Mortality: Goal: The rate of maternal mortality should be reduced by three-fourts between 1990 and 2015 (Cairo, International Conference on Population and Development, 1994) and Beying, 4th World conference on Women, 1995) Measures: Maternal Mortality Ratio . Births attended by skilled health personnel Although the CCA document is in principle a UN document not requiring approval from or reflecting an agreement with the Government, in practice involvement of the state authorities is crucial, as is shown in figure 1 which describes the scope of the CCA process. The assessment recently carried The assessment recently carried out by the UN system is the first stage in a process. The second stage is the analysis of key areas emerging from the assessment and this analysis should result in a set of issues for priority attention by the United Nations Organizations that then will form the basis of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF). The UNDAF will be an agreement signed between the UN system as a whole and the Government of Turkmenistan. In the UNDAF concrete programmes and projects for UN system assistance to Turkmenistan will be formulated. It will reflect the common ground between national development priorities and the mandate of the UN organizations working in Turkmenistan. The CCA process in 2001 It will take several years before the UNDAF will be formulated, partly because the best time to start a common UN programme with the Government of Turkmenistan would be when the current country programmes of the individual UN agency be completed at the end of 2003. Furthermore, the CCA process has only reached up to the assessment stage. For 2001 we plan to move gradually into the Level 2 Analytical Stage as portrayed (see figure 1). This analysis will require interpretation of available statistics which the UN has started compiling in the CCA Information Data Base. At present this data base suffers from a variety of shortcomings. Steps will be taken in 2001 to remedy some of those so that the CCA Indicator Database truly becomes a common database .

United Nations Population Fund’s activities in Turkmenistan

UNFPA has three main programs areas:Reproductive health including Family Planning and Sexual Health - UNFPA supports the provision of reproductive health care including wider choice of family planning methods and information. Reproductive health care services include: safe motherhood; counseling and prevention of infertility; preventing and treating reproductive health tract infections and sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS; and dealing with the health consequences of unsafe abortion. Population and Development Strategy- UNFPA helps countries formulate, implement and evaluate comprehensive population policies as a central part of sustainable development strategies. This includes support for data collection and analysis, and research. Advocacy - UNFPA is an advocate for ICPD and ICPD+5 goals which include: reproductive health and rights; improving the status of women; longer life expectancy; lower infant and maternal mortality; closing the gender gap in education; strengthening national capacity to formulate and implement population and development strategies; and increasing awareness and resources for population and development. UNFPA offers assistance only at a country's request. While there is international agreement on population and development goals, each country must decide its own approach. The Freedom to Choose UNFPA supports the right of individuals and couples to decide freely the number and spacing of their children and to have the information and means to do so. All UNFPA-funded projects are undertaken in accordance with the principles and objectives of the ICPD Programme of Action, which declares that coercion in any form is unacceptable. UNFPA Assistance for Turkmenistan UNFPA has existed in Turkmenistan since 1992. The technical support by UNFPA was basically carried out in 1994 -96. In November, 1996 3 projects on reproductive health were signed, within the framework of which the gratuitous delivery of the equipment, contraceptive commodities and instrument set for medical establishments of the country were proceeded. Within the framework of realization of the specified projects the reproductive health service with the trained medical providers (obstetrician- gynecologists, family doctors nurses) has been established in Turkmenistan, so far 34 Master - trainers, 340 ob/gyns, 216 family doctors and 108 nurses have neen trained, assortment of contraceptives has been widened from 4 to 14, the school program on "Family Life Education" for the schoolchildren of 9th forms has been developed, 6 research works have been carried out, the assistance in development of capacities, women and youth civil organizations has been rendered, the connection with mass media and other kinds of activity have been adjusted. The cost of the projects is 1,7 millions US dollars. In 1998 UNFPA together with the national experts prepared the report "The Country Population Assessment" of the country on the following issues: 1)reproductive health, including issues of IEC in this sphere; 2)development and demography strategy; 3)school education on reproductive health issues; 4)non - governmental (civil) organizations working in reproductive health sphere and female movement; 5)women's rights (gender issue) Thus, the following priority directions have been developed: 1) improvement of adolescents' reproductive health; 2)male involvement; 3)use of mass media with the purposes of advocacy of reproductive health issues and gender equality; 4)distribution of IEC materials through the centers of reproductive health;5)improvement of skills of the family doctors, medical assistants, obstetrician, nurses of the primary health care in reproductive health issues; 6) increase of technical support for NGO; 7)conduct Demographic Health Survey; 8)improvement of system of collection, analysis, and distribution of the RH and demographic data; 8)expansion of choice of contraceptive commodities and methods. The specified priorities fell in a basis of the Country Program of UNFPA activity in Turkmenistan for 2000-2004, which includes 3 subprograms: "Reproductive Health", "Advocacy" and "Population and Development Strategy" signed with Turkmenistan Government on September 17, 1999. In 2000 the following main activities were conducted: National RH strategy developed; Pilot mini - census conducted; Data base in RH and Population area reviewed; DHS started

Inter-Ministerial Task Force Meeting on HIV/AIDS/STI prevention Ashgabat, Turkmenistan   In the framework of the TUK/00/005 project "Multisectoral approach towards the implementation of the National AIDS/STI Prevention Programme in Turkmenistan for 1999-2003" UNAIDS in Turkmenistan jointly with IMTF on AIDS/STI under the leadership of the Ministry of Health conducted workshop on National Programme implementation for 1999 and 2000 and development of the work plan for 2001. Three-days workshop took place at the "Aina" restauranton December 20’22, 2000 and actively discussed HIV/AIDS prevention and National Programme implementation issues amongst 25 participants, thus overall highlighting government’s concern on this problem. The workshop aimed to build capacity, interest and develop joint work plan for the next year, and to: Increase knowledge and awareness on HIV/AIDS/STI/Drug abuse; Promote healthy lifestyles; Reach understanding on issues surrounding HIV/AIDS/STI and to inform the community about misconceptions surrounding HIV/AIDS; To develop and reinforce interest in HIV/AIDS/STI/Drug abuse prevention amongst peers; Develop skills in IEC material development; As Mr. Wandel underlined during the opening ceremony, "through multisectoral approach of governmental, civic and international organisations we can more effectively focus on AIDS/STI prevention issues at the national and velayat levels. That is why we work together to build significant partnerships to make this in-country initiative very successful in order to achieve long-term goals. However, the potential risk of HIV/AIDS spread in Turkmenistan is quite real, considering current increase in STIs and injecting drug use, which have the similar epidemic patterns as HIV/AIDS, and combined with unfavourable situation in neighbour countries. And comparing to the others we are in good situation when the threat is still away, but no one can guarantee we might not face it; Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan are just the examples to this." The workshop gave the participants an opportunity to explore their various applications to HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention and a venue to share ideas and experiences. The workshop used lectures, video/media, and plenary discussion as teaching tools and emphasized a participatory learning approach.

United Nations Association of Turkmenistan
The basis for the UNAT has become the 22 October 1999 decree of the President of Turkmenistan. Official launching took place on 16 November 2000 at the building of MFA.
UNAT Goals: Raise International Community’s Awareness on and Activities in Turkmenistan; Support goals and principles of the UN Charter; Increase the participation of the youth; Interact with UNA’s from other countries; UNAT functions to: raise awareness in Turkmenistan including the provincial level about the United Nations; raise awareness about Turkmenistan and its UN policy on WWW; collaborate with civic organizations on projects/grants including on netaid.org; facilitate information sharing among its members; establish and facilitate partnerships with donor community and private sector; Current and Potential Members of the UNAT: educational, cultural and scientific Government institutions; civic organizations partnering with the UN; private companies; Students;	Membership of WFUNA Request for admission was submitted in spring 2000; Reminders sent; reply awaited Planned Activities: Production and distribution of Information materials on specific issues; Contribution to UN Newsletter in Turkmenistan preparation; Provide or facilitate conferences and seminars on the UN issues for students and interested groups; Organize a model UN for students Staff of the UNAT as of December 2000: Chairman of the UNAT; Executive Secretary; Assistant How to contact UNAT: Diplomatic Corps Building, 14 Gerogly Street, Ashgabat 744000, Turkmenistan Phone/fax: (99312) 395743 Email: RN@untuk.org

VARIOUS NEWS Donor Information Sharing Meeting was held on December 19 in UN building where all donor community gathered to discuss various topics. First draft of the 1999 Official Development Assistance Report for Turkmenistan was presentated during the meeting. The three day seminar has been recently held in Gara-Altin hotel, that is located on Berzengee road. The Seminars was conducted by "INTEC" Firm jointly with UN ODCCP. The theme of the seminar was: "New computer technologies and security of information". Several specialist came from abroad representing computer hardware and software companies such as"ORACLE", "Microsoft", "Informzashita", "Hewlett Packard", "ABL Soft", "NCI Projects", "Intel technologies", "Interlab GMBH Austria", "Avicomp". The companies presented their achievements in the sphere of new information technologies. The aim of the seminar was to acknowledge law enforcement officers with new technologies, information capacity building. Presentation of Enabling Activities for Bio-diversity Conservation project was held at the Manuscript Institute on November 27 where scientists, researchers, bioreserve managers, and UNDP project staff gathered to listen to the speakers. At its first day the conference focused at purely descritptive goal. Wheares, the second day was aimed at identifiyng the key areas of future acitivities in the field of protected areas, plants and animals conservation. Lately TPR meetings have been held in Turkmenabat, Bairamali, Turkmenbashi, Balkanabat and Khazar cities of the country where the representatives from UNDP and national counterparts took an active part. The main purpose of the meetings was to assess overall implementation of the Municipality Project for 2000. National counterparts were satisfied with the work of the project and willing to continue its implementation for 2001. However, new priorities were detemined as follows: 1) solving the problem of decreasing the level of underground water in Bairamali; 2) improving road safety in Balkanabat; 3) strengthening Geographic Information System (GIS) component of the project in Turkmenbashi;

CALENDAR of UN Days & Events, 2000 Days and Events of this quarter: 6 October, 2000 – Remembrance Day 15-10 October, 2000 – International scientific conference " Independence Turkmenistan, strategy for 21 century" 27 October, 2000 – Independence Day 9-11 November, 2000 – International conference on Neutrality of Turkmenistan as part of the world experience 25 December, 2000 – Christmas Day 27 December, 2000 – Eid Al-Fitr Day