As prepared for delivery

Opening Ceremony of the Women’s Resource Centre in the Baku City Khazar District

Shuvalan Youth Center

13 March 2019

Ms. Mirjana Spoljaric Egger: Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States

Ladies and gentlemen,

Dear partners and friends,

I am honoured to be here today with our esteemed partners from the Government of Azerbaijan, the Swiss Confederation, UN Women and UNDP for the inauguration of the Women’s Resource Centre in the Baku Khazar district.

This is the eighth Women’s Resource Centre being set up in Azerbaijan. Like the others before it, the Khazar centre will promote women’s economic engagement, employment and entrepreneurship and their participation in society. It will serve as a hub for information and knowledge about public services and educational and economic opportunities for women, offered by the state, the private sector and development partners.

The establishment of this Centre is part of a wider sub-regional project for Women’s Economic Empowerment in South Caucasus, managed in Azerbaijan by UNDP and in partnership with one of our closest government partners, the State Committee for Family, Women and Children’s Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The project is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and Austrian Development Fund (ADA) and is implemented in partnership with UN Women at the sub-regional level.

Since their launch in 2011, the Women’s Resource Centres have benefitted over 6,000 women through professional development trainings and helped directly close to 150 women launch their own businesses with in-kind grant support. Women exposed to the centres have also learned crucial soft skills of how to write a good resume and interview well and received support in networking and mentorship from UNDP and partners. In the process, the Women’s Resource Centres have given women confidence, capital and connections – three things often easily available to men but which elude most women.

I am glad that the centre in Khazar will continue in this tradition. It will be a crucial resource for women in many ways – to receive training in financial literacy, business management, marketing, record-keeping and financial planning and vocational skills. Selected participants will receive small incentives of in-kind support to start their own small businesses or to expand existing ones.

Local rural communities as well as central and local authorities and the private sector will benefit from capacity-building support by the Women’s Resource Centre.

I am delighted that the State Committee for Family, Women and Children’s Affairs, under the leadership of distinguished Professor Huseynova, will play a key role in the success and impact of the centre. It will ensure national ownership, facilitate access to target areas, and coordinate activities with other government entities. In all these activities, we will work closely with local authorities, who know the most about local realities and are best placed to mobilize communities and select participants.

The Women’s Resource Centre will also help build links and networks with the private sector. In particular, we will work with large and medium-sized private companies to equip them with the tools to develop and implement gender-responsive corporate policies and practices that increase women’s access to decent work. We look forward to partnering closely with UN Women in these initiatives.

Today I am looking forward to hearing some of the results of the work of our valued partners. I would therefore like to take this chance to thank our Government partners, and our donors - the Swiss Confederation, the Regional Office of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Austrian Development Fund, and our sister agency UN Women, and especially the local staff of the Women’s Resource Centre here, for their hard work and commitment to women’s economic empowerment.

I express my gratitude to Mr. Salahov and his team for their generous hospitality and support in ensuring decent premises for the Women’s Resource Centre.

In conclusion, I urge the Government and the donor community to continue supporting these crucial initiatives that have such a transformative impact on people’s lives. The Women’s Resource Centres in Azerbaijan have created an ecosystem for women to learn from and support one another in their quest for personal fulfilment and economic opportunity. They have not only launched women entrepreneurs but helped them gain confidence and equality in the family and grow in stature to become role models in the community. Their experiences offer important lessons to governments, multilateral and donor organizations, the private sector, civil society and other actors working to advance gender equality as part of the Sustainable Development Goals.

To all members of the Centre, I would like to say that I am keen to know you better and to hear about your plans and business ideas and meet the women who have taken up this exciting challenge.

Thank you!