UNDP Brings Telephones to Adygeya

The first aid station of the district hospital in Adygeisk has become the first customer of a wireless telephone network that UNDP is setting up in the Republic of Adygeya. Philippe Elghouayel, the UNDP Resident Representative in the Russian Federation, gave the first telephone set to the hospital’s medics at a ceremony on April 7. Nikolai Avdienko, Vice-Premier of Adygeya and Minister of Industry and Infrastructure, attended the ceremony, along with Teuchezhsk District administration officials and health workers.

Even though the radio telephone network is yet to be properly adjusted, as engineers of the project implementation group promised, the gift was joyously accepted by the hospital staff. Adygeisk is a small town, with hardly 15,000 residents. And yet, its first aid service has its hands full–up to 60 emergency case, or sometimes more, every day. Without a telephone network to rely on, its efforts are as good as wasted. Adygeisk was laid 30 years ago as a satellite of Krasnodar, the territory’s center, by bringing together residents from a dozen or so villages that were flooded by the Krasnodar lake. The town was built without a proper infrastructure. On top of that, the existing underground cables fail frequently because of the man-made lake’s proximity.

A mere third of Adygeya’s populated areas have telephone services. This explains why the republic’s population are so impatient about the People’s Telephone, the name they have coined for the UNDP project. Once implemented, the project will help improve the reliability of telephone communications between the republic’s administrative centers. By May, some 200 customers are to be signed up. In all, a network of 750 to 800 customers is to be completed at the first stage of the project.

St. Petersburg for Stronger Contacts with UNDP

Projects implemented by UNDP and other UN agencies in Russia’s Northwest will receive targeted state support. These issues were discussed at a special meeting of the St. Petersburg Government late last February.

The discussion was focused on the results of St. Petersburg’s almost two-year cooperation with various UN agencies’ in Russia. Gennady Tkachev, the city’s Vice Governor and chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, pointed out that St. Petersburg and the Northwest "can and must become good grounds for the development of multifarious cooperation with the UN and for creating in the Baltic area a working model for a Europe of the future." The meeting participants resolved to adopt a practice of including in the city budget funds for co-financing the projects and programs of UNDP, UNESCO and other UN agencies for the revival of St. Petersburg as one of the major centers of world culture.

Under one of such joint projects, UNDP is to take part in the forthcoming celebrations of St. Petersburg’s tricentennial. This important landmark in the world’s culture will be highlighted by a broad campaign across the world to attract additional funds for the restoration of the architectural monuments in the city’s historical center featured on the World Heritage list.

Human Development Concept to Be Studied in Ufa

Bashkortostan State University has become Russia`s and the world’s second higher educational institution to include the human development concept in its curricula. Moscow State University was the first to do so, and now the students of its economic department will attend lectures on human development during two semesters.

It was not by chance that Bashkortostan State University was chosen for this purpose out of Russia’s numerous higher educational institutions which had applied for this pilot course. Its faculty members have showed fine results at the train-the-trainers workshop held last spring by Moscow State University for the teaching staff of Russia’s 20 regional universities. Bashkortostan’s representatives showed great interest toward this innovation project, which for the first time transferred the human development concept from pure research to education, and displayed a desire to teach such a subject.

This fall human development will be also included in the curriculum of the Novosibirsk University.

Gender Development Programme in Russia is Underway…

Lively discussion was held in the Russian Academy of Public Services under the President of the Russian Federation for five days on a novell and not very well known among Russians – gender development. In the leading school for government officials the training course "Planning, Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation of the Government Programmes: Gender Perspectives" was conducted 10-14 April 2000. This seminar was organized by UNDP and UNESCO jointly with the World Bank Institute, in coordination with the Ministry of Labor and Social Development in the RF in the framework of the umbrella project to "Support capacity building and human resource development in the areas of Democracy, Governance and Participation"

The training had the status of professional upgrading programme for federal and regional government officials, who are dealing with the issues of women, family and children and working in the areas of women employment. Leaders of non-government organizations also participated in the seminar. As such, the seminar presents the second phase of the programme "Gender Development Strategy and its Implementation in Russia", launched in June 1999, and was held in conjunction with the project "Establishment of Women Management Centers". That is why all the participants from Republic of Komi, Irkutsk and Briansk Oblast, Barnaul, Moscow and Saint-Petersburg were met as old friends and commonly minded persons. The organization of such seminar was motivated by the urgency of gender issues in Russian society. Harmonization of gender relations is among the main prerequisites for implementation of modern democratic reforms.

Both lecturers and participants indicated insufficient attention to women issues on behalf of the government. Possible after-effects are not taken into consideration and long-term prognosis is not provided while formulating government policy. While making analysis and examining the social policy of Russia, lecturers and experts from the Russian Academy of Science, Institute of Macroeconomic Studies, Moscow State University, and the World Bank analized gender aspects of unemployment, privatization, budget allocation, reasons for decrease of living standards, amount of salaries, pension reform, health, education and other important areas. The trainers were interested in the analysis of macroeconomic tendencies in the Russian Federation from gender and social point of view. The participants discussed the issue why Russian economy does not offer a basis for women equality and does not guarantee equal opportunities for men and women for choosing a life strategy.

After concluding the course, the participants received an officially recognized Diploma for short team professional retraining.

Project to Support Insurance Sector in Russia

Improvement of the professional level of the insurance personnel, reliability of insurance services and promotion of investment and development projects in Russia are the main objectives of the preparatory pilot project "Capacity-building and transfer of modern technology and know-how promotion in the insurance sector of the Russian Federation", which UNDP is implementing jointly with Insurance Business School of MGIMO (University) since January 2000. Framework of this project, it is suggested to create MBA programme on insurance in the Moscow State Institute of Foreign Affairs (MGIMO) jointly with interested Canadian Universities.

"Such programme will promote the level of proficiency of the students and first of all from the view of applying international experience and up-to-date insurance technology"– considers Professor Rustem T. Uldashev, Head of Insurance Business School of MGIMO. The project at its preparatory stage is supported by Canadian insurance company "Globe International". This company is well known in Canada, providing wide range of insurance products and covering risks in more then 70 countries of the world.

As it was pointed by Mr. Serge Poitras, Chairman of the Board of “Globe International”, assistance to international cooperation in the field of insurance education between Russia and Canada will help not only to increase the level of insurance culture but to develop practical cooperation among countries. Concrete questions of this interaction will be discussed, in particular, in the course of forthcoming visit to Canada of Mr. Anatoly Torkunov, Rector of MGIMO.

Russian Regions Looking Forward to Make Tourism a Paying Business

Preliminary to the Moscow International Travel and Tourism Exhibition - MITT 2000 a conference "The Regions and the Development of Tourism in the Russian Federation," was held on March 20-22. It was organized by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Country Office in the Russian Federation and UNESCO Moscow Office. The conference was the final stage of a UNDP project initiated at the request of the State Committee for Sports and Tourism of Russia.

It brought together more than 220 delegates from more than 40 regions, representing federal, regional and municipal authorities, private businesses, tourism professionals and experts, as well as foreign officials and international consultants of travel companies. Vladimir Neliubin, Deputy Minister of Sports and Tourism, who took part in the opening ceremony of the conference stressed the importance of this industry in creating jobs, generating new incomes, preserving Russia’s cultural, heritage, and protecting the environment. Sergei Shpilko, President of the Russian Association of Tourist Agencies noted that the conference took place in proper time. For the first time since the 1998 economic crisis favorable conditions were created to develop tourism in Russian regions as a chance for expanding its geography.

The conference was a opportunity to remember the Agenda 21 principles formulated in Rio de Janeiro Summit in 1992, calling for a careful management of the existing cultural and natural heritage for the well-being of future generations. The conference participants emphasized the need for constructive relations of partnership to be established between the public and private sectors, between Russian regions and foreign partners to improve professional management standards. Some important initiatives stated for the years 2000-2001 aim at improving of the quality of tourism in Russia, including the creation of new tourist itineraries, development of a network of small private hotels, and creation of nature refuges.

The conference participants reaffirmed the necessity to adopt legislation that would create favorable conditions for the development of the tourist sector and investment, including antimonopoly laws, and soft investment legislation providing equal treatment and guarantees for Russian and Foreign investors. The Conference worked out recommendations and proposals on promoting sustainable development of the tourist sector that would be sent to the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.

Kofi Annan’s Report Broadcast Live in Moscow

The launch of UN Secretary-General’s report entitled "We the Peoples: the role of the United Nations in the 21st Century" was broadcast worldwide from the UN General Assembly hall on April 3. In Moscow, the live broadcast of Kofi Annan’s statement in real time was arranged by the United Nations Information Center in Moscow and ITAR-TASS at the press center of the internationally renowned news agency. Among those present at the TV link-up with New York were prominent Russian diplomats, experts in international affairs, journalists, teachers and students from the Moscow Institute of International Affairs (MGIMO), the Plekhanov Economy Academy and the Peoples’ Friendship University, as well as seniors from a number of Moscow secondary schools.

Kofi Annan presented delegations from 188 countries with his vision of an agenda for the Millennium Summit and Assembly to be held in the autumn. The report outlines the main challenges facing the UN in the 21st century and sketches out an action plan for addressing them. Essentially, the Secretary-General has unveiled a "21st Century Manifesto," which includes, among other aims, such clearly defined goals as cutting in half by 2015 the proportion of people living in extreme poverty; ensuring that by 2015 all children receive complete primary education; reducing HIV infection rates for persons 15-24 years old by 25 percent within 10 years; and canceling all official debts of the heavily indebted countries in return for those countries making demonstrable commitments to poverty reduction. The Secretary-General is confident that without a strong United Nations it will be much more difficult to address the challenges facing the international community. In this connection, the report spells out a need for adaptation of the UN, notably by way of reforming the Security Council "in a way that enables it to carry out its responsibilities more effectively."

Opening the video-launch of the report in Moscow, Alexander Gorelik, Director of the UN Information Center, noted with satisfaction that many young people were present at the event. “It is exactly young people who are expected to achieve the goals set by the UN and their governments for the 21st century,” he stressed. Elaborating on such a novelty for Russia as the live broadcast from across the Atlantic Ocean, the UNIC Director reaffirmed the importance of this kind of activity. He pointed out that despite some technical problems, such events contribute to a better understanding of global issues by the broad audience and help develop new forms of communications.