STATE PROGRAMME On Poverty Reduction & Economic Development, 2003 – 2005 Azerbaijan Introduction Programme Stages Programme Implementation Programme M&E Introduction Programme Stages Programme Implementation Programme M&E Presented on June 20, 2006, IDEAS Workshop, Prague – Czech Republic

Programme stages Transition stage 1996 – 2002 GDP-1.7 times, Capital Investment-7.8, income of population-3, average monthly wages and pensions-5 times, etc. SPPRED&MDG 2003 – 2005 Joint Declaration, Azerbaijan Government, ADB, EBRD, IMF, UNDP, WB - l ong-term strategy of PR&MDGs SPRRED & MDG PROGRAMME, 2003 – 2005, Azerbaijan

Programme Implementation central and local executive bodies international donor organizations national donor organizations (State Oil Fond) foreign and local NGOs civil society SPRRED & MDG PROGRAMME, 2003 – 2005, Azerbaijan

Programme M&E SECRETARIAT (Ministry of Economic Development) Sectors Working Group PMU Budget Participatory Process

The experts team liaised with the 15 Sector Working Groups: Investment Policy, Economic Development, Poverty Monitoring, Fiscal Policy, Monetary and Rate Policy, Social Protection, Education, Health, IDPs and Refugees, Energy, Juridical Sector, Agriculture, Environment, Tourism&Sports and Culture, Role of Municipalities in PR. This team also visited the regions, in order to do selected on- site monitoring&evaluation of implementation progress. SPRRED & MDG PROGRAMME, 2003 – 2005, Azerbaijan Sectors Working group

SPRRED & MDG PROGRAMME, 2003 – 2005, Azerbaijan PMU A second team, working in the PMU, continued its work on collecting statistical information related to monitoring and evaluation the final poverty impact of the policy measures being implemented under the SPPRED. The PMU experts also liaised with the UN on formulating and updating of the MDG targets and indicators specific for Azerbaijan.

A third team is working on the monitoring and evaluation of budget expenditure, checking that the budget allocations is in line with SPPRED priorities, and that the policy measures envisaged in SPPRED were in fact being financed by either domestic sources, or donor aid. SPRRED & MDG PROGRAMME, 2003 – 2005, Azerbaijan Budget

SPRRED & MDG PROGRAMME, 2003 – 2005, Azerbaijan A fourth team is coordinating work on taking forward the participatory discussion process. This discussion process was carried out within the framework of a series of “Town Hall Meetings” held in various regional centres of the country. SPRRED & MDG PROGRAMME, 2003 – 2005, Azerbaijan Participatory Process

the facilitation of an enabling environment for growth of income-generating opportunities maintenance of macroeconomic stability improvement in the quality of, and equity in access to, basic health and education services improvement of infrastructure (including roads, delivery of utility services, communications, irrigation) reform of the existing system of social protection to give more effective protection to the vulnerable improvement of the living conditions and opportunities of the refugees and IDP population. Strategy SPRRED & MDG PROGRAMME, 2003 – 2005, Azerbaijan

Process Multiple Indicators Cluster Surveys Household Budget Survey (HBS) (TA: UNDP, WB, EU FSP) Labour Force Survey (LFS) to monitor employment in the formal and informal sectors of the economy (International Labour Office (ILO)&UNDP) Annual survey of the refugees and IDPs to monitor changes in their living conditions Survey on gender and poverty (State Committee for Women’s’ Issues) Qualitative/participatory work on population’s perceptions of the definition and reasons for poverty in the country (USAID, UNDP, ADB and German Government)

SPRRED & MDG PROGRAMME, 2003 – 2005, Azerbaijan Challenges Baselines and Indicators Lack of a strong statistical base for setting baselines for targets, and also for defining sensible monitoring indicators. Proposed to take 2001/02 (not 1990) as the baseline year for all country-specific targets. Align the MDG process with that of SPPRED. TA of UNDP and ADB on further developing the monitoring and evaluation system, in order to identify suitable impact and process indicators to monitor achievement of the MDG targets. Costing Linking policy measures to budget possibilities. TA of UNDP and USAID in design of the country’s PIP, Localisation of MDGs No work has yet been attempted in the sphere of localizing MDGs at the regional level, although some discussion has begun within the context of the regional Town Hall Meetings.

SPRRED & MDG PROGRAMME, 2003 – 2005, Azerbaijan Can Azerbaijan Achieve theMDGs? Azerbaijan has the prospect of significant increases in revenue from oil production (Presidential Decree on “The Long-Term Strategy onthe Management of Oil and Gas Revenues” (#128, 27 September 2004). Azerbaijan is also relatively advantaged due to its human resources. The country has high levels of education and almost universal literacy. State Program with the UNDP on “Converting black gold into human gold”, Azerbaijan has gained the trust of the donor community Azerbaijan has demonstrated its determination to improve governance through the recent Law on Combating Corruption The MPR ranks Azerbaijan as one of the countries which can be placed on the “fast track” for achieving the MDGs