Crisis prevention and recovery in UNDP Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States

Melting down small arms Serbia
Melting down small arms in Serbia

Many human development concerns in Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) relate to crisis prevention and recovery, making the risk profile in the countries of the region extremely complex.

Crisis factors are often closely related to political and economic legacies of communism and the Cold War, recent sub-regional conflicts and to complex socio-economic and political problems stemming from post-communist transition.
 

Conflicts in the region

Nearly half of the region’s countries have experienced conflict during the past 15 years: 
  • Territorial conflicts and independence movements: Chechnya (Russia); Cyprus; Kosovo*; Nagorno Karabakh (Armenia, Azerbaijan); Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Adjaria (Georgia); Transdniestria (Moldova);Turkey
  • Ethnic tensions: the Balkans (Albania, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo); Crimea; the Caucasus; Central Asia (Ferghana Valley); Cyprus
  • Transboundary nationalism: the Balkans; the Caucasus
  • Natural resource-based tension: the countries of Central Asia (especially in the Ferghana Valley)
As many countries of the region move out of the immediate conflict and post-conflict phase, the development situation in these countries remains characterized by political, economical and social instabilities.  
 
Imminent possibility of renewed conflict, aftermath of civil war, fragile power sharing between the elites and the need for stronger capacities of the countries of the region to cope with the large-scale political, economical and social transitions consequently constrain the prospects for successful political and economic reforms.
 
 

Natural disasters in the region

Development in the region is also threatened by natural disasters.

Parts of the region are vulnerable to localized floods and landslides, drought and major earthquakes (the Caucasus, Central Asia and parts of Southern Balkans); these are often recurrent or seasonal.

In addition, natural hazards and human-made hazards (such as mine tailings and nuclear plants) constantly interact, with the potential to undermine social and political stability and cause major emergencies including health crises. Inability to cope with significant natural disaster hazards can lead to large-scale crisis and the loss of development gains.

 

 

UNDP’s crisis prevention and recovery work in the region

UNDP in Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States offers the latest approaches to conflict prevention and post-conflict recovery, rule of law, small arms and mine action, disaster risk reduction, and post-crises early recovery.

 

*hereafter referred to in the context of UN Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999)

UNDP capacity to promote crisis prevention and recovery in the region

  • 165 active projects in 19 countries
  • $69,206,946: total budget in 2010
  • $44,750,807: total expenditure in 2010
  • 3 advisers in the UNDP Bratislava Regional Centre
  • 21 crisis prevention and recovery professionals in UNDP country offices
  • 166 crisis prevention and recovery experts and practitioners
  • 45 recommended consultants

 

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