UNDP regional director on development achievements in the region

Cihan Sultanoglu during her visit to Montenegro, from 7 to 9 May, 2013
>> More photo of Cihan Sultanoglu

Vilnius, Lithuania – Interview with Ms. Cihan Sultanoglu, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Regional Director for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independant States, published on “Vilniaus diena’’ (in Lithuanian) on the occasion of her visit to Lithuania on 13-14 May 2013.

Share your ideas and join our social innovation camp for human rights

Winners of Mardamej, social innovation camp in Armenia

Do you want to change the world? If you are from Armenia, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Montenegro and Ukraine, and have an idea for promoting human rights and justice, share it by 20 May.

If your idea is selected, we’ll get you to Yerevan, Armenia, for HuriLab, our social innovation camp happening 28 to 30 June.

Solar powered concert rocks Chisinau

CHISINAU, Moldova – 30 April, 2013 – A solar powered concert in Chisinau this past weekend is just the beginning for rock band FurioSnails.

"In 2014, we would like to organize a larger-scale concert powered by renewable energy," said FurioSnails soloist Lilian Severin.

"We intend to promote alternative energy resources. Our desire is that the Republic of Moldova decreases its dependence on foreign energy resource suppliers, and starts producing its own energy out of solar, wind, water and biomass resources."

Gloomy prospects for carbon markets in the region

John O’Brien

Photo credit: UNFPA

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — 29 April 2013 — In 2012, the value of the global carbon market rose to $176 billion and it was not long earlier that analysts had been predicting a trillion dollar market within the next decade. The carbon market was supposed to turn into the world’s largest commodity market and a high price on carbon was supposed to stimulate large-scale new investment in greenhouse gas emission reduction projects.

Communities take action to address climate change

A resident of Aygehovit, Armenia adapts to climate change by installing a hail net

The village of Aygehovit, Armenia experienced a string of 18 hailstorms in the past five years. Hailstones – some the size of chicken eggs – caused $125,000 in losses in this remote area that relies on its vineyards as a mainstay of its economy.

The local authorities conducted a risk assessment together with UNDP and, for the first time, hail nets were identified as the solution. Some 3,000 square metres of vineyards were covered with hail nets. Many see this as a model for other villages facing changes in climate.

The new thinking is not only apparent in Aygehovit. Communities in two other countries – Moldova and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia – have come to realize that they are being adversely affected by a changing climate. Supported by their governments and by UNDP, they are developing local solutions to deal with the risks.

Возвышение Юга, как это видится из Восточной Европы и Центральной Азии

Халид Малик и Джихан Султаноглу

English version

Мир находится в процессе глубоких изменений, и страны Восточной Европы и Центральной Азии  безусловно являются большой частью этих исторических трансформаций; многие развивающиеся страны на всех континентах становятся двигателем глобального экономического роста и - что более важно – повышают уровень жизни миллиардов людей.

Мы свидетели появления нового огромного глобального среднего класса: люди во всем развивающемся мире становятся все более образованными, они могут уверенно рассчитывать на долгую и продуктивную жизнь, и они становятся более взаимосвязанными между собой посредством торговли, путешествий и новыми средствами связи.

Developing world reshaping the future, says global Human Development Report

ASTANA/VIENNA - 9 April  2013 - “Never in history have the living conditions and prospects of so many people changed so dramatically and so fast,” says the global Human Development Report for 2013, presented this week in Astana and Vienna.

The Report - The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World - says that the leading countries of the developing world, including key countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, are reshaping global power dynamics in a new era of human development progress.

Being your own boss: Supporting entrepreneurs in fYR Macedonia

Senat Demiri, owns his own carwash, called Hadisa Mala

Senat Demiri is Roma and lives in Shuto Orizari, one of the most economically deprived areas of Skopje.

Mr. Demiri had been without a regular formal job for ten years when he first heard of a programme to help people start and run their own businesses.

"The idea of being my own boss was a big attraction," he says.

The Rise of the South, as seen from Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Khalid Malik and Cihan Sultanoglu

Русская версия

The world is in the midst of profound changes, and the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia are very much a part of this historic transformation: many developing countries on all continents are now driving global economic growth and – more importantly – raising living standards for billions of people.

We are witnessing the emergence of a huge new global middle class: People throughout the developing world who are increasingly educated, who can confidently expect long and productive lives, and who are increasingly interconnected globally, through trade, travel, and the latest communications tools.

The Catalan Roma Plan: Lessons for Europe?

Bálint-Ábel Bereményi and Anna Mirga

Visitors at a conference to launch the Virtual Museum of Roma in Catalonia (Miquel Jornet - Xarxa Punt TIC)

BARCELONA, Spain – 4 April 2013 – The successful social inclusion of the Roma of Catalonia is generally viewed as worth emulating in Central and Eastern Europe, where Roma are also a significant minority.

The Catalan Comprehensive Roma Plan (PIPG) is believed to have contributed to the growing employment rates, increasing participation in compulsory education and a significant improvement in housing conditions of the Catalan Roma population – commonly referred to as the Gitano.

Restoring hope in the future for Prespa Lake

"We used to do a lot of things without thinking about the effects on the environment," says Naume Toskovski, an apple farmer in the Prespa Lakes region of fYR Macedonia.

"We didn’t know that dumping apples would pollute the water."

"Perhaps it’s a different story with pesticides and fertilizers – the temptation for farmers is always to over-use these chemicals and we know they are harmful for nature, but we didn’t know just how harmful they were. Until recently we didn’t know of any better alternatives."

The Civil20 Dialogue: shaping discussions in the run-up to the G20 Summit

New York – 21 March, 2013 – For the first time in the history of the G20 Summit, people from around the world are invited to share their views with world leaders.

Launched in mid-January by the G20 Civil Secretariat of Russia and UNDP, a crowdsourcing project called The Civil20 Dialogue is allowing global citizens to influence key policy recommendations that will be presented to the leaders during the G20 Summit, taking place in Saint-Petersburg, Russia, in September 2013.

Roma in the labour market: policy lessons

Roma take part in a vocational training programme in Albania 

Niall O’Higgins

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia – 14 March 2013 –The Roma are arguably both the largest ‘minority’ ethnic group in Central and South-eastern Europe and the one that has suffered most from transition to the market economy. Recent survey data show that, while some progress was made during the 2004-2011 period, Roma continue to experience pronounced labour market disadvantages when compared to majority populations.   

«Юг нуждается в Севере, а Север, во всевозрастающей степени, в Юге», – подчеркивается в «Докладе о человеческом развитии 2013»

Мехико, 14 марта 2013 г.  Страны – лидеры развивающегося мира, в том числе ключевые государства Восточной Европы и Центральной Азии, совместными усилиями меняют глобальную динамику власти в новую эпоху прогресса человеческого развития. Об этом говорится в «Докладе о человеческом развитии 2013», подготовленном Программой развития Организации Объединенных Наций (ПРООН).

Презентация Доклада состоялась сегодня с участием Администратора ПРООН Хелен Кларк и Президента Мексики Энрике Пенья Ньето.

“The South needs the North, and increasingly the North needs the South,” says 2013 UNDP Human Development Report

Mexico City, 14 March 2013—Leading countries of the developing world, including key countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, are together reshaping global power dynamics in a new era of human development progress, according to the United Nation Development Programme’s (UNDP) 2013 Human Development Report.

The Report—The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World— was launched today by UNDP Administrator Helen Clark and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto.

In Moldova, big plans for biomass

Children from the Ermoclia kindergarten are now warmer, and the heating bill has fallen >>See more photos

The kindergarten in the village of Ermoclia has declared its independence. Energy independence, that is. Instead of struggling to keep students warm with expensive imported gas, the kindergarten now heats up with locally produced biomass fuels.

It’s good for the children and the environment too. And the cost of heating the school has fallen by half.

"It is nice to come to the kindergarten," says Mihaita, a smiling four-year-old boy. "It’s warmer than at home. I will tell my mom and dad to heat our house the same way."

The school in Ermoclia was the first public institution in Moldova heated with biomass energy through a UNDP project to increase its use.

"[We are at] the beginning of the large-scale use of biomass fuels," says Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Valeriu Lazar.

"Besides reducing the consumption of imported energy sources, we are introducing agricultural residues into the economic cycle. These will no longer be perceived as waste, but as a new business opportunity and source of income."

Roma housing: separate and unequal

Tatjana Peric

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia – 25 February 2013 – Housing is one of the priority areas of the Decade of Roma Inclusion. The results of the 2011 Regional Roma Survey conducted by UNDP and the World Bank, with co-funding from the European Commission (EC), suggests that this is with good reason. Disproportionate shares of Roma (compared to non-Roma living in close proximity) reside in inadequate housing without access to basic infrastructure, and as such face increased health risks. The right to adequate and secure housing is a key human right and is enshrined in international human rights law.

Belarus HIV programme gets new lease on life

An intravenous drug user receives methadone, a substitution therapy which helps eliminate the risk of contracting HIV

MINSK, Belarus – 19 February, 2013 – Since 2007, Belarus has assisted people living with HIV and those at risk of infection, helping many to return to a normal life. Last week the country took another step forward when a $15 million grant agreement on HIV and AIDS was signed by UNDP and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria together with national partners.

The agreement will ensure that Belarus continues to receive funding to help prevent the spread of HIV and ensure adequate treatment, care and support for people living with HIV. The activities under the agreement are the mainstay of the country’s HIV programme.

Endorsing the agreement was the country coordinating mechanism, a group bringing together representatives of civil society, government bodies and people living with HIV as well as people affected by tuberculosis.

Unequal access: Roma and the health sector

Dotcho Mihailov

Various studies have shown that Roma suffer from poorer health than the general populations in the Central and Southeast European countries in which they are most numerous.

This brief analyzes health data from the 2011 UNDP/World Bank/EC regional Roma survey, which compared the living standards of Roma and non-Roma communities living in close proximity in 12 Central and East European countries. >> More on our Roma work

Designing her way to the top

Jelena Kostovska's clothing design business now has the tools to expand

SKOPJE, fYR Macedonia – 13 February, 2013 – Jelena Kostovska showed a talent for designing clothes at an early age. After attending textile vocational school, she got to work with two leading designers and sold her products in boutique shops.

But then she ran into obstacles that many entrepreneurs face in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. A lack of capital, equipment, and the inability to write a business plan prevented her from expanding.

Now all that has changed. Ms. Kostovska, 38, is one of more than 5,000 people who took part in a nationwide training programme offered by the Government and UNDP that helps put entrepreneurs on a path to success.