tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64104560308787070892024-03-05T09:47:53.316+04:00"sIDe-tALk" AZERBAIJAN- different perspectives from Azerbaijan. Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger74125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6410456030878707089.post-17796744459179124232023-04-28T22:09:00.000+04:002023-04-28T22:09:08.983+04:00The Baku City Circuit: A Must-See for Racing Enthusiasts, but a Challenge for Locals<p>It's that time of year again in Baku, and racing enthusiasts around the world are excited for the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Baku City Circuit has become a staple of the Formula 1 calendar, known for its challenging track and stunning scenery. However, for locals, the Grand Prix brings its own set of challenges.</p><p>One of the main issues with the Grand Prix is traffic congestion. The Baku City Circuit is a city circuit, which means it is built around existing city roads. When the roads are closed for the race, it creates disruption across the city, and the already limited road network becomes overwhelmed. This can be frustrating for locals who are trying to go about their daily lives.</p><p>The problem of traffic congestion in Baku is not limited to the Grand Prix. As the city continues to grow and attract more business, the government has recognized the need for a better transport infrastructure. Efforts have been made to expand the underground train transport system, but this also requires significant transformation. One of the biggest challenges is the lack of adequate parking spaces, which forces cars to park along the roads, further limiting the passage of other vehicles.</p><p>Despite these challenges, the Grand Prix brings many benefits to the country. Visitors to Azerbaijan are able to experience the best of what the country has to offer, from its rich culture to its stunning natural landscapes. The event also provides numerous economic opportunities, including increased tourism and job creation.</p><p>However, it's important to remember that the benefits of the Grand Prix must not come at the expense of the local community. It's crucial that the event's organizers and stakeholders work to mitigate the impact of the race on the city's infrastructure and the daily lives of its residents.</p><p>All of these does not negate the fact that the Baku City Circuit is a must-see for racing enthusiasts, despite the posing unique challenges for the local community. As the city continues to grow and evolve, it's important that efforts are made to address the issue of traffic congestion and ensure that the benefits of events like the Grand Prix are felt by everyone in the community.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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<br />
There are Nigerians that actually live and work in Azerbaijan. Nigerians have been studying here, and still study here. There are professional Nigerian footballers as well, who are doing well. So, it's a fact that you can find Nigerians in all works of life here! Including the oil and gas sector and in small businesses. Azerbaijan is a peaceful place to live in, and Nigerians don't have a reason not to like the place.<br />
<br />
But what you should also know is that Nigerians are exploited in Azerbaijan. And it is your own brother, parading as agents that are taking advantage of you. To mention a few: One Uche (Hungary), Azerman, et al. These guys have probably visited Azerbaijan, or perhaps passed through. But the truth is, they don't reside in Azerbaijan. So please stop acting naive and gullible to their lures. It is all disguised lies!<br />
<br />
How do I know? Nigeria has a community called NIDO Azerbaijan (Nigeria In Diaspora Organization). We are currently updating our database. And we know who-is-who in Azerbaijan. We keep getting stories of how people fall into horrible encounter working with agents. Trust us, about 98% of Nigerians who come to Azerbaijan nowadays do not meet their expectations.<br />
<br />
So, just to sound out a warning alert. Please, before you make that commitment coming to Azerbaijan, you can always check through the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/nigeriaindiasporaaz" target="_blank">NIDO Azerbaijan Facebook page</a>, or basically google Nigerian - Azerbaijan relationships. Commit 30 minutes of your time before you make that leap and avoid any eventual regret. The truth is even though Baku is a bubbling city, it is nothing like Western Europe or the Americans. It is far from your dream-beautifully-coated idea of how abroad looks or feels like. The struggle here is enormous and most time overwhelming. You can study here, you can also come here on a short visit stay, for tourism or some professional functions. Nice place to experience. But certainly you can't find "that" job.<br />
<br />
Good luck with that ambitions of yours to travel abroad. NIDO Azerbaijan decided that in the interest of saving some uninformed persons, it will be nice to put this out there.<br />
<br />
<b>The Executive Council</b><br />
<b>NIDO Azerbaijan</b><br />
<b>thepresidency.nidoazerbaijan@gmail.com</b><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
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<br />
One of the first blog post I did as an up and coming blogger (writer) was on <a href="http://nickymedia.blogspot.com/2008/07/azerbaijan-hospitality-part-ii.html" target="_blank">"Azerbaijan Hospitality"</a>. I believed then, and I actual still believe that Azerbaijanis are hospitable people. But wow, there are sure crazies here too. I see them when I ride the metro with my kids, I see them on the street. And now, they have started revealing themselves on online forums.<br />
<br />
So, for the <a href="http://musavat.com/news/proje/N%C4%B0GER%C4%B0YALI-BALASIYAM-BAKIDA-QALASIYAM_93732.html" target="_blank">umpteenth time</a>, I put <a href="http://bakuinfo.az/?p=28128" target="_blank">my story</a> out there hoping it can inspire some, generate some positive debate that Azerbaijan society has grown beyond judging people based on their "origin" or "personal decision / choices". But boy, how wrong can I be. People judging my wife for marrying an African?! People who neither know her, nor even know my family talking bad about her?!<br />
<br />
To all the crazies, I got news flash: I'm here to stay in Azerbaijan. For me and Azerbaijan, it's a mutual benefit -Azerbaijan has given me so much and I give and still want to give back too. Biracial / cross-cultural marriages happens in Azerbaijan and will continue to happen. We are just like the thousands of Azerbaijanis who have married with Russians, Ukrainians, Georgians... even Americans, etc.<br />
<br />
So you all get over it.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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is the full speech to undergraduates, faculties and staff of Azerbaijan Diplomatic
Academy during the TalkADA event. The TalkADA is an initiative of ADA students
basically a motivational platform imitating the TEDtalk. Speakers at the TalkADA event were my humble self (Nick Nwolisa) and
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbkUOG5UBhQ" target="_blank">Elnur Eyvazov</a>.</i> </span></b></span></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 150%;">Friday, November 22, 2013</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Migration is not a 21<sup>st</sup> century thing. It’s been practiced
since the beginning of the world. There are tons of documents of events in
history when people had to leave their birth place for other places. It could
be for greener pasture, because of famine, war and disasters. So, migration is not something that
Africans coined, it’s been there and will always be practiced. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">I’m not ashamed to call myself a migrant. I feel like one of those. By
one of those, I mean the legion of people who have left their homeland, to move
inward or outward, to be part of the wonderful discovery that is the world
today. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<a name='more'></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Let me start with a recent experience. There was a campaign on social
media encouraging migrants to post their contributions to their host countries.
I joined the campaign and these were my post:</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">For about 8
years since I have lived in Azerbaijan I have been able to develop projects
that have supported lifting war victims from poverty and provide paths to
decent livelihoods. My record speaks for itself and it’s a legacy I'm very
proud of. Nobody takes that from me. </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/iamamigrant"><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%;">#IAmAMigrant</span></a></span></span></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">First
Azerbaijan non-state Vocational Training Center for war victims, first
Cooperative Farm for war victims, Irrigation for farmers, telling stories of
Azerbaijan war victims on global platforms and forums, supporting Azerbaijan
rural youth development. .. These are my records. </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/iamamigrant"><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%;">#IAmAMigrant</span></a></span></span></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">One of my friends on Facebook who liked the comment also had this to
add:</span></span></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span></span></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">… and of course your professional legacy pales into insignificance
compared to your personal legacy <span style="color: #002060;">#WeAreMigrants </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">What a wonderful way to put
migration into perspective. The personal legacy!</span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">So I went into ADA library to collect some books. The books have to do
with my studies at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy. I find myself on the 3<sup>rd</sup>
floor of ADA library, scanning through books on the shelf. I got the book I
wanted for my EMBA, but, I also needed to get some additional books that would
be informative since I had to take opportunity of having access to such a wide
collection of books. I walk over to the section that has Africa history. After
about 10 minutes of going over the covers and their titles, I settled for a
book –The Gates of Africa by Anthony Sattin.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Reading the book the gates of Africa has opened me up to a new insight
of my continent which by the way I know very little about because it’s so vast,
and diverse. But precisely, the Gates of Africa has helped me add to my
understanding of Nigeria. I now know why Africa is God’s best continent on
Earth. It was fascinating to learn about the fascination as well as ignorance
of the early foreign sojourners to that part of the world. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">What I learned from the book is that there was no time that Africans
were willing to leave their God given land to a foreign land. The British, the
French and all of Europe who went to Africa migrated because of the huge
prospects and the potential that was Africa. They saw how beautiful the land
was, they saw a place with bounties of gold, diversity in botany, numerous
foods and fruits, and above all the splendid beauty of nature. It was the
European dream to take all that is from Africa. And for that reason, they
started moving, embarking on dangerous voyages to first set up trades, and next
explore more of the continent. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Europeans migrated to Africa long before Africans even started moving to
Europe. Actually the early Africans who moved westward where forcefully removed
from their land. Remember the slave trade practices. In chains and in bonds,
Africans were taken to distant plantations in Europe and America where they
plowed and grew huge lands. I should add that the wealth that Europe and
America thrived on then and now, and that has given them the comparative
advantage, all came from forced labor of African slaves.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">So, let us assume that we have forgotten about that slavery period in
history. Let us pretend the unspeakable never happened. Just for
reconciliation, let us take in isolation the migration of Europeans to Africans
simple for greener pasture, for the gold, for the vegetation, for all the
numerous minerals. If Europeans and Americans freely and out of their own
choosing, decided to sojourn in Africa, it is therefore logically that Africans
who are migrating to Europe and America should be allowed to do so freely and
out of their own choosing.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">I’m not here to assign blame, why Africa is what it is today, kind of
like it’s been the white man’s fault. Far from it! After all, Africans are our
own worst enemies. In the African continent, it is true that there are lots of
sufferings; there are lot of mismanagement, especially by the government and
their selected corrupt crones. There is also gross injustice in Africa. The
abundant resources in Africa have not translated into good life for the people
of Africa. Obviously it is not Europe and America that has brought all these to
Africa. I can agree that there are certain policies that undermine Africa
growth, but still that is not a justification for bad governance. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">It is peculiar to Africa that wealth translates into troubles, brothers
rise against brothers to perpetuate wickedness – remember Rwanda, Liberia, DRC,
Uganda, Sudan, and even Nigeria has had its own shares. It is also very true
that most African migrants leave because of the instability that would hinder
proper development, out of frustrations experienced in Africa. Africans aspire
to go settle at places where they can find a fair level playing field where
success is guaranteed.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">As a Nigeria, let me focus on my country. Nigeria is a country that has
passed through a lot of challenges as a Nation. The Biafra war, military coup
after military coup, looting of collective national wealth; Nigeria, the
largest country in Africa by population size, yet we still can’t find a good
leader, stability in government. The consequence is Nigeria is one of the
countries with the highest export of human professionals to foreign countries.
Nigeria has lots of doctors, engineers, scientist, in the UK, USA, and all over
Europe. Nigerian students are excelling in the best Universities abroad. Someone
once told me that in every 3 black men you come across, 1 is a Nigerian. I
can’t confirm that statistics but the point is Nigerians are everywhere, all
over the world.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Azerbaijan was where I chose to come to seek my own greener pasture. And
it is a place where I have chosen to remain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As a 21<sup>st</sup> century migrant, I still see similarity with those
missionary who explored Africa. Their journey helped 19<sup>th</sup> century
geographers understand Africa better and develop the maps of Africa. Prior,
Africa interior was that of blank and ignorant assumptions, this huge unknown.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">I spent four years in a Nigerian University studying applied
biochemistry wherefore I worked for a year as a laboratory assistant.
Attempting to have a life experience in Azerbaijan and then succeeding didn’t
just happen for me. I had to make it happen. I will talk about how I have
become successful and what recognition my achievement has brought, but like the
17 and 18 century European migrants, my choice to travel to Azerbaijan was like
embarking into the unknown. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Frankly, Azerbaijan was unknown to me. My cousin was already here before
me, and he was the reason I made the trip to Azerbaijan. He had told me what to
expect. I’m talking about 8 years ago. I knew I was not going to a typical
Western developed country. My Uncle in the States who was sponsoring my trip,
because he wanted me to study medicine by all means because that will entails
that the sky becomes my limit, he also was aware of what I was going to be
facing. He encouraged me and was ready to take care of my studies and also my
upkeep up to the point when I can relocate to the USA or some better country as
he had planned. So, I left Nigeria without really expecting much from
Azerbaijan. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The truth is that most Nigerians or any Africans traveling for studies
would at least hope to get some odd jobs that can sufficiently take care of
their tuition and basic fees. Most Africans see traveling abroad as the sure
ultimate escape from poverty and sufferings. Who can blame them? Obviously not me. Communities,
families sell precious belongings, properties, take loans, just to facilitate
trip abroad for members of their family. Hence, having this in contest, you
will understand the reason why African migrants, who, even when they have made
the journeys abroad, are faced with the reality that all ends must meet.
They have to fend for themselves as well as repay the huge debt back home. A
huge responsibility if you ask me. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">I landed at Heydar Aliyev airport via Istanbul. The plane landed in the
early hours of March 10, 2006. I came into Azerbaijan with a suitcase. I will
get back to that too later. It was at night that I arrived therefore I didn’t
see much of the city view which means I was still anticipating what lies
outside. But from my plane window I could tell that there was something
different from home, compared to my cities back home. I could see there is a
constant power (electricity). If you never lived in Nigeria, you will never
appreciate electricity. Simply put, electricity is a luxury. I remember my
secondary school and university days when we had to use lanterns and candles to
read and prepare for class works and exams. The proverb “burning the midnight
oil” is still very true in Nigeria. Not sure about today, but it was true some
years back when I was still part of that society. So, it was uplifting to know
that gone are the days of dim lights to study. A good relieve.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">I came into Azerbaijan enrolled to study Medicine and Public Health. We
were 7 Nigerians who made the trip from Lagos to Baku. Within the group was a
lady who was about 20 years old then. Her mum was Azerbaijani and her dad
Nigeria. She is a citizen of Azerbaijan, was born in Baku but traveled back to
Nigeria at a very young age with her dad where she spent the most part of her life.
She too knew little about Azerbaijan but she shared with us the information
that her dad was one of the many Africans who studied in Azerbaijan during the
Soviet Union. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Hearing her stories tells me that Baku would definitely be a city that
prides in diversity. Not exactly what I got.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’m talking about 7 – 8 years ago. Most of you will agree with me that
Baku is not what it used to be some years past. And I say this in a good way.
There has been lots of progress all around. But was it tough then integrating
as a migrant into the society, I will say hell yes. The language barrier was a
problem, and I don’t want to take away the fact that Azerbaijanis are genuinely
hospitable people but there are also lots of ignorant people. But the aspect of
the society that really shocked me, and I would say most foreigners I knew
then, was the intentional staring. The most annoying was the amusement that
follows. In the 21<sup>st</sup> century, people would still laugh when they see
a black man! That, I was never prepared for! Did I contemplate giving up? Let’s
say no, but those were tough times in my life.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Wherever one finds themselves, you have to resolve on how to become part
of the positive change. The question I had asked myself then was: how could I
add to this place where I have found myself? There was no running; no going
back; Nigeria is never an option. There are big cities in Nigeria, and 7-8
years ago, I could compare the extent of development in Abuja and Lagos with
that of Baku. I might even, 7 – 8 years ago, out of solidarity for motherland,
preferred Abuja to Baku. But not with the present states of both cities; Baku
is miles and miles ahead of Nigeria in terms of development. I know so many
Nigerians who were students in Azerbaijan then that gave up because they couldn’t
tolerate the experience. Coupled with dashed expectations, they returned back
to Nigeria, forfeiting their studies here to go try some other places. But I’m
happy I made the choice to stay. As my wife will always say, that “I turned out
to be that guy who came to Azerbaijan with one suitcase, but has now got
numerous suitcases.” Imagine how many suitcases would our belongings -myself,
wife and our 2 kids fit into now. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">I have witnessed Baku, actually the whole of Azerbaijan, transformed in
a short period. A point in case is this world class institution, Azerbaijan
Diplomatic Academy that can stand in par with any top global universities. I
have seen how government policies are helping change orientation of the people.
Remember my biggest problem was the ignorance of the selected people in the
society towards black race. But today lots of Azerbaijanis through government
programs are traveling to other developed countries and have met and interacted
with Africans. They bring positive stories of the great friendship they formed
with Africans. Moreover, the society is also been exposed to better understand
elements of globalization.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">How did I carve a niche for myself in Azerbaijan? Well, 7-8 years ago,
the problem about the occupied Azerbaijan territories was huge. It was a topic
of regular discussion in the society. I hear it everywhere. As a student, I
started researching about the conflict. I learned about the Nagorno-Karabakh
and the reason for the war over the territories. I learned about consequences
of the war that resulted in over 600,000 Azerbaijanis living as internal
displaced persons. I could relate with that story because my family also lived
as displaced persons for 3 years during the Nigeria civil war. I remember my
grandma telling me about the hardship they had to face; how they lived in fear
and in makeshift accommodations; and how hundreds of thousands of kids died
from malnutrition than from bullets of the enemy. I would say it was because of
my background knowledge on the lives of the displaced persons that I decided to
do something, to contribute to solving a problem. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">I am known in Azerbaijan among the media, civil society organization and
NGOs simply because of my role in assisting IDPs. Ok, also in media development
and advocacy; but a lot has to do with supporting integration of war victims
into the society and promoting equal development for rural communities. I’m
probably one of the first African to have traveled to the war torn communities
of Azerbaijan to see firsthand the destruction. I’m certain that I am the first
Nigeria to have traveled to these communities in Azerbaijan, the border
territories between Azerbaijan and Armenia. I have stood before presidents, top
government officials, parliamentarians both in Azerbaijan and outside
Azerbaijan, Ambassadors, diplomats, local authorities and influential men and
women because I have associated with a problem that is dear to the heart of
every Azerbaijani. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">I believe in the principle that: it is a man’s talent that will make him
stand before kings and prince. It is very true about my life. I had the skills
of creative writing; English was almost my first language. Finding myself in a
country where very few spoke perfect English means I have got an advantage of
having an important skill that is in demand. During my early years in
Azerbaijan, very few local NGOs had the capacity to develop projects that would
be financed by International donor. The problem was because of the inability to
write creatively in English, to develop thoughts into meaningful concepts.
Therefore, I identified with an NGO. I started as a volunteer, but grew to head
their programs and coordinate international relations. I was responsible for
writing the project proposals, looking for suitable donors, and also
coordinating the implementation. Let us say, I was able to grow the local NGO
to an International status, expanding the partners and international donors. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Because of my activities in Azerbaijan I stopped pursing a career in
sciences. I took another career path that led me into studying journalism. At
this point in life, my ambition for what I can do for Azerbaijan was what
drives me. I wanted to be equipped professionally to do more. In all honesty,
in as much as I feel like I have added positively to the society, I want to say
that it is Azerbaijan that shaped me. It was Azerbaijan that made me. I became
a better person working in the humanitarian sphere. I realized I could serve
humanity and contribute to a better society. As I made myself better, I also
affected the society positively. I have traveled to lots of countries, I have
sat at the United Nations general assembly’s talking about the situations of
Azerbaijan displaced persons; I have written statements that were adopted into
UN policy statements; I have articles on the situations of Azerbaijan war
victims; I have sat at world congresses full of top editors and journalists; I
even contributed in making it possible for world renowned journalists such as
CNN and National Geography reporters to travel to the border territories of
Azerbaijan and tell stories of communities still existing in these desolate
places. But in all of these, nothing gives me fulfillment other than I could
serve a meaningful purpose. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">I can with pride say that I have been outstanding. But I say this with
humility knowing that there are lots I can still do. I’m not stopping with my
achievements. My experience is a success story of the Nigerian Azerbaijan
Migrant. I believe lots of success stories have not yet been told and there are
lots still to be made. I can look back to the things I have done and feel happy
because these are no more professional legacy but personal legacy. My 2 kids
and my Azerbaijani wife can always hold their head up high and feel proud with
my contribution to this society. And like I say, there is no stopping. I feel
at home. The earth is constantly evolving. It is always on the move, so are
humans too. The world is ours. So irrespective of wherever we find ourselves,
we too can be that positive change. For me it was contributing to serving
humanities, but it could be anything, it could be just finding that solution to
one of the numerous problems in today world. And who knows, the next agent of
positive change might just be you.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span></span></div>
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</script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6410456030878707089.post-8703346026529070172013-11-10T00:14:00.000+04:002013-11-23T15:28:58.174+04:00Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy -first among equals!<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It’s been a wonderful experience as a student of Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy (ADA). I have recently finished my first module of the joint Executive MBA program between ADA and the Maastricht School of Management (MsM) and frankly, so far, it’s been very great!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I had an expectation prior to commencing my EMBA program. While I was applying for the EMBA program, I had already resolved that ADA must have got the ultimate statement of intent with regards to where it expects to be in the nearest future. Bringing an accredited MBA program to Azerbaijan was no small achievement. Nothing could be higher than a partnership with MsM which according to the 2013 <a href="http://www.msm.nl/About-MsM/News-Events/News/MsM-ranked-First-in-Top-Business-School-Rankings-2#.Un5UNftc-So" target="_blank">Eduniversal latest ranking</a>, is the #1 Top Business Schools (4 Palmes) in both the Netherlands and worldwide. That means a lot, and it proves that ADA has made pursuing the best its ambition. Nothing but the top! A good drive if you ask me.</span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In the early weeks of October, I spent intensive 2 weeks having lectures at ADA. Those 2 weeks and the weeks that followed gave me an opportunity to see ADA really up close. The facilities on the campus are world class; the library, supper; the students, the best of the best. I must confess that I haven’t been to a lot of top universities, but from what I observe on ADA campus, in my opinion, it should take a lot of innovations to beat the standard. ADA feels like a community where everyone is familiar with each other and understands a common language which is commitment. Of course English is the dominant language you hear around the campus, but paying close attention, you will get that sense of commitment from everyone you come across. Walking around the campus, it gives the aura of a place that is set aside based on the greenness, the structures, and the cleanliness. ADA is clearly setting a standard with respect to the management, administrators, and members of the faculties because all those I have come across, particularly my lecturers, are the best and authorities in their various fields.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpAyzsKxvahsz8uMWXIRUDFkFeJpmhx8Dxom7t1pz76uqETK102OYYFTTzXe17s9ecUYSYyqhy9vouIYYdlgc5payAYVlMAREYhGf69zxBJ0Wta4D8X1I0hfO33U33MMa7Qlutyrvvbsk/s1600/20131013_170037.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpAyzsKxvahsz8uMWXIRUDFkFeJpmhx8Dxom7t1pz76uqETK102OYYFTTzXe17s9ecUYSYyqhy9vouIYYdlgc5payAYVlMAREYhGf69zxBJ0Wta4D8X1I0hfO33U33MMa7Qlutyrvvbsk/s320/20131013_170037.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhthECI82nwJMV1t71qhBehGOlJSDux_nNtNbdjifLyGJwNWYITpiyNS8LEGBrs9WTR2BHXYRVOeQvQzcX_G5wxHy573ki5Brw6iD8YFW-ilAPUVb03V12g-cC-7B0DdMm0M7b6Gi1m2o/s1600/20131013_170125.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhthECI82nwJMV1t71qhBehGOlJSDux_nNtNbdjifLyGJwNWYITpiyNS8LEGBrs9WTR2BHXYRVOeQvQzcX_G5wxHy573ki5Brw6iD8YFW-ilAPUVb03V12g-cC-7B0DdMm0M7b6Gi1m2o/s320/20131013_170125.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">ADA is still at a very nascent stage of its development, but the pace at which it is pursing excellence should be commended. Located in a very strategic city –Baku that bridges Europe and Asia, that also brings civilizations together, it is therefore wise that there is a platform where students and researchers can advance their knowledge of the region. Azerbaijan offers more because of the peculiar economic development and the role oil and gas plays in today globalization. ADA has recognised the leading role it can play for emerging economies and for that reason it has reached out and supports students from continents of Africa, Asia and Oceania countries. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">With regards to my EMBA class, I couldn’t have asked for better. I’m privileged to be in a class filed with the smartest Azerbaijanis you can find around. As someone who has lived quite some years in Azerbaijan, involved in some capacity with human development, and coupled with my journalistic background, I have always wondered where the young intelligent Azerbaijani men and women could be found. Don’t get me wrong, I knew they were tons of them and it wasn’t that they were lacking. But what is celebrated in the society has always been mediocre especially over-flashiness. I see young people who always rode on the influence of their parents that those who actually had intellectual substance in them were overshadowed. So, it is refreshing to be among the best of the crop. Kudos to the admission committee because from the make-up of the EMBA class of 2015, I would say it was a perfect mix, with rich diverse professional background. Exactly what an ideal EMBA class should feel like.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhegBcrDzDV8kHdu2_rE0qM41_mfDcn01IJX4Mj3NoxxCtynJzPF0ghepH2SpA8xUopwAY06GdNDpOg6_mBFkybPTU-cExpcrIqEmEKhacIbIb3z069Kh1wQ6b-EU1OJpbgIv7oDkkYzME/s1600/20131013_140626.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhegBcrDzDV8kHdu2_rE0qM41_mfDcn01IJX4Mj3NoxxCtynJzPF0ghepH2SpA8xUopwAY06GdNDpOg6_mBFkybPTU-cExpcrIqEmEKhacIbIb3z069Kh1wQ6b-EU1OJpbgIv7oDkkYzME/s640/20131013_140626.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I’m part of ADA and I’m proud to be part of its history. I will be watching keenly to see what ADA becomes in future. I have no doubt it will soon join the very top institutions, not just in the region, but globally. Besides the ADA School of Business that also coordinates the EMBA, BBA, and BSE program, ADA has also got other schools such as the school of International and Public Affairs, school Humanities and Sciences, and school Engineering and Information Technology; all these schools providing a huge potential for improvement. If within a short period ADA could get to this level, first among its equals, for certain in a short while, it will continue to set the pace for others to play catch up. </span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6aBXkQ8tATeLY9dBAmm8dusgr_lvFkIcHsEuqooZtReBR2DOTRgcKIIHcTKGJEauV9E4zeTgfl48jTqgNn4DulAiRyb3NN4jAgPBVOehaaXgFhwYvFt-wnkQLDtc6vmnbVITpy6yYrDA/s1600/IntYouthDay_2013F.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="102" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6aBXkQ8tATeLY9dBAmm8dusgr_lvFkIcHsEuqooZtReBR2DOTRgcKIIHcTKGJEauV9E4zeTgfl48jTqgNn4DulAiRyb3NN4jAgPBVOehaaXgFhwYvFt-wnkQLDtc6vmnbVITpy6yYrDA/s320/IntYouthDay_2013F.png" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">On August 12, 2013, young people from regions where UNICEF and the International Eurasia Press Fund (IEPF) previously implemented the project “Azerbaijan Youth Advocate Program (AYAP),” gathered to celebrate the 2013 International Youth Day. The theme for this year event as stated by the UN was: “Youth Migration: Moving Development Forward.” Over 40 young people took part in the event that was held at the IEPF Vocational Training Center (VTC) in Terter. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Because the theme for the event was migration, the Azerbaijan office of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) participated and provided comprehensive information on the issues to the gathered youth. The event began with opening remarks from the Chairman of IEPF, Umud Mirzayev, who spoke about the day’s significance and UNICEF’s support for development of rural youth and adolescence. A member of the AYAP action group read to the audience the Azeri-translated version of the UN Secretary General’s (Mr. Ban Ki-Moon) statement in commemoration of International Youth Day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ5_duknT7ioMgi67lBQ8SGuin8lsW1nRBMC3t0r02kDRiwXlE9pMl9BIAbxEJK7gO3pw4vhCHX6F7_AQ3iSHAZ5hemtmbVjKNuMJ1bld875Es_J8KVwHSjU_0-5Fe9R1jVKx2jAnT_uU/s1600/DSC02118.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ5_duknT7ioMgi67lBQ8SGuin8lsW1nRBMC3t0r02kDRiwXlE9pMl9BIAbxEJK7gO3pw4vhCHX6F7_AQ3iSHAZ5hemtmbVjKNuMJ1bld875Es_J8KVwHSjU_0-5Fe9R1jVKx2jAnT_uU/s320/DSC02118.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Through power point presentation and a movie depicting the dangers of human trafficking, IOM representative Ms. Saltanat Mammadova was able to enlighten the participants about both positive impacts of global migration, as well as the dangers of falling victim to exploitation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">“Some of the reasons why youth migrate could be because of family, education, or basically to try something new or adventurous. Migrants have contributed enormously to civilization and development, and the trend will always continue because people are constantly on the move,” she said. Ms. Mammadova also informed the group that the IOM office in Azerbaijan regularly produces informative materials in local languages and distributes them to young people throughout the communities of Azerbaijan. She encouraged young people to always consult appropriate channels and mediums before they make an effort to migrate to other parts of the world. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Mr. Mirzayev of IEPF emphasized the need for young people to be responsible first in their immediate society, for only then they can transmit positive values when the opportunity arises which enable them to live in an entirely new environment. “Azerbaijan has a lot that we can offer the world, just as we also benefit a lot from professionals who have migrated and have integrated well into the Azerbaijan society,” he said. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Mr. Mirzayev went on to emphasize that International Organizations like IEPF continue to benefit from the services migrants workers provide, because for any organization to function well, there should be a balance and the willingness to accept the best practices which are often brought in by people from different countries. “You are never too young to make a difference, so start now to think about how you can be a tool for carrying the positive image of Azerbaijan to other parts of the world,” he concluded.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6ZB34AO_oFGf7xe8X1UHriRT0s3jFMyj6V42X1iZA6NBE4oFCwvReQbqGFG9w_kqef9tnY3NATTeDGJo6nFZVL8d2jWN2A7ei5T2M5X1Mkxz4lsUK7QAwzs26ehv_mkn7gi2tg9YQmaU/s1600/DSC02137.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6ZB34AO_oFGf7xe8X1UHriRT0s3jFMyj6V42X1iZA6NBE4oFCwvReQbqGFG9w_kqef9tnY3NATTeDGJo6nFZVL8d2jWN2A7ei5T2M5X1Mkxz4lsUK7QAwzs26ehv_mkn7gi2tg9YQmaU/s320/DSC02137.JPG" width="320" /></a>Nick Nwolisa, IEPF’s Director of Programs and coordinator of the UNICEF/IEPF AYAP project, moderated a dialogue session with the youths. Young people responded to different questions and expressed their views on migration. Most of them were encouraged by the Azerbaijan government’s program to send young Azerbaijanis for higher education to United States, the UK and Europe. However, they feel it will be of more impactful if these government programs were spread evenly across the country so that youths residing in the rural districts can equally benefit from them. The youths gathered also expressed a belief that people who migrate to Azerbaijan bring in positive values, just as Azerbaijanis who migrate out take the positives of the country to the people of the world. In a world which has become smaller and more easily accessible, the migration of young people is an effective tool to move development forward, an echo of times passed when Azerbaijan was able to stabilize and achieve human capacity development because of the great impact migrants played in developing the civil society. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In concluding the dialogue, Mr. Nwolisa reiterated UNICEF’s emphasis in promoting the rights of the child. As stated, it is the right of young people, no matter what their race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, or where they were born or who they were born to, have the special right to grow up and to develop physically and spiritually in a healthy and normal way, free and with dignity; have a name and to be a member of a country; are able to receive special care and protection, good food, housing and medical services; are eligible for special care if handicapped in any way; and to find love and understanding, preferably from parents and family, but from the government where these cannot help. Young people have the right to go to school for free, to play, and to have an equal chance to develop and to learn to be responsible and useful; they should always be among the first to get help; should be protected against cruel acts or exploitation, and should not be obliged to do work which hinders their development either physically or mentally; and parents have special responsibilities for their education and guidance. Furthermore, young people should not work before a minimum age and never when that would hinder their health, moral or physical development, and should be taught peace, understanding, tolerance and friendship among all people. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In addition to the young people from Agdam, Terter, Beylegan, Yevlax and Berda, other participants at the meeting included staff members of IEPF and IOM, staff and volunteers of the Vocational Training Center. Peace Corps volunteers, Ms. Leigh Maddox and Mr. Mathew Nelson, spoke about youth migration in the context of its contribution to global development. Members of the Azerbaijan Mine Victim Association’s Terter branch also observed the event. Overall, the impression from the meeting was very satisfactory, and it is envisaged that members of the AG with the AYAP program will continue to reach out to their peers and communities with the information collected at this event.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBNRi2NcjusMVmLqAoIgp4yIBwelkVlC_r4wpUQGIrmhvYeIH8DeKRFYDxKo_uAmmBiHCaUgZxBwr8XdF7tgLxYKwT78xdxkjigjLgnQL-_lW_snJW1oFx9sEi_atRuop2MKSWROh2ax4/s1600/DSC02178.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBNRi2NcjusMVmLqAoIgp4yIBwelkVlC_r4wpUQGIrmhvYeIH8DeKRFYDxKo_uAmmBiHCaUgZxBwr8XdF7tgLxYKwT78xdxkjigjLgnQL-_lW_snJW1oFx9sEi_atRuop2MKSWROh2ax4/s640/DSC02178.JPG" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<a href="http://news.az/articles/official/81298" target="_blank">Certainly today, lots of Azerbaijani journalists would be singing praises of the Ilham Aliyev and his government because on this day, on the celebration of the 138th National Press Day in Azerbaijan, the president has put smiles on the faces of over 150 journalists by presenting them with houses</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Personally, I think it is not against the law, or outside of due process for
a government to provide accommodation to journalists. After all, who is more
deserving for support if not the hard working men and women of the press who
make sure that the society is held to high standard and there is accountability.
So, even though there is nothing wrong in Azerbaijan government doing
journalists some good favor with this "gift" of houses, irrespective,
some people might consider this act outside the bounds of ethics and conducts
of journalism.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Many of the Azerbaijani journalists who I know that have benefited from the
good will of the government, this benevolence of President Ilham Aliyev, are by
no means able to afford these houses that they have been gifted with. I know
some who perhaps 2 years ago have lived their life in almost abject poverty,
but today would become landlords of houses in a strategic location of
Azerbaijan -overseeing the Caspian Sea and the Flag square. Never in their
wildest dreams would they have thought such a good fortune would come to them. Hence,
I get it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">But guys, let the debate begin, but in good faith. Is it wrong for the
government to support journalists who by no means can afford houses in the very
expensive Baku real estates? Is it wrong for journalists to accept the goodwill
offer from the president? Considering that government most times provides
subsidies and support to farmers and some specific professions, therefore, applying
same logic, what is wrong if same support is extended to journalists?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Debate!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">This is a call to heed for all
Azerbaijanis.</span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I was moved with compassion while
sitting in a bus on my way to work. At about 10:05 hours, on Yusuf Saferov Avenue, you couldn’t but
not notice a body of a man, who by my own guess has been laying there for over
24 hours. It was obvious this man was in pains, and he qualifies as a homeless
person because from his appearance, I don’t think water has touched his body
for a very long time. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I felt pity for him, but yet without
resource to help. Here lies a helpless man, on a very busy Avenue, still no one
was ready to show care. The sad part of the whole incident was that where he lay,
just besides a bus station, rolling in pains, men and women stood, minding
their own businesses. Not so far, about 2 blocks away you can find 2 prominent
hospitals –<i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> Leyla</span></i><span class="st"> Şıxlinski
Klinikası</span> and a General Hospital; but no one, not even staff of
these hospitals on their way to work could show concern.</span><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">People should help people. If citizens
can’t be responsible in ensuring that care is not denied anyone, like this
helpless man, it leaves me to wonder what kind of society “we” have become. There
is much we expect the government to do for us, but as ordinary men and women,
we have to begin taking small responsibilities and it starts with calling for
help when we see a man or a woman in pains on the street, irrespective of the
status, or appearance of that person. Show some love Azerbaijanis! Let us be
our brother’s keeper. </span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUED9wXd093gG647zd9-5CeXIzZXtSeLYbSKbkL7syxALRdKFQ4WuPz9VU2aU15U1mCLdc4GQudXmAsfaxdITvApB7mRwgUochASrAJyQ2xkGOdDL-mGrK4FUTF1rQo3Z71RTUnDMYbI4/s1600/DSC_0915.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUED9wXd093gG647zd9-5CeXIzZXtSeLYbSKbkL7syxALRdKFQ4WuPz9VU2aU15U1mCLdc4GQudXmAsfaxdITvApB7mRwgUochASrAJyQ2xkGOdDL-mGrK4FUTF1rQo3Z71RTUnDMYbI4/s320/DSC_0915.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Dear Participants,<br />Distinguished Guests,</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I welcome you today to our Workshop on Post 2015 and SDGs. As the Chairman of International Eurasia Press Fund, the organizer of this event, I’m pleased to see a diverse representation of Civil Society Organizations from all the countries in Central Asia, and also some from Eastern Europe. I look forward to a fruitful discussion based on the theme for this workshop, which is to develop a regional platform for CSOs in this region to ensure their active participation in global discussions.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The idea to hold this workshop was devised by the Northern Alliance on Sustainability (ANPED). IEPF, as a member of ANPED, offered to facilitate this workshop in Baku. IEPF has been actively participating in the working groups for CSOs during the process that led to the RIO+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainability Development. ANPED and IEPF, together with other global NGOs, were actively participating in the process, but it was obvious that the input from the regions of Central Asia and Eastern Europe were not in par with the other regions both in the online forums and at the conferences. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">IEPF since its inception has been a partner of the UN agencies in Azerbaijan. After IEPF was accorded consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 2007, it became our focus to promote sustainable development, firstly in Azerbaijan, and then in the regions. In most of IEPF’s activity directions, whether in our poverty elimination programs, advocacy, or promoting human rights, the focus has always been on any or all of three sustainable development pillars: Social, Economic and Environmental. It was also in line with this approach that in 2012, the IEPF organized a Side Event, a meeting for donors and partners in sustainable development, which was held at the United Nations in New York during the High Level Segment in July. IEPF was the first NGO from Azerbaijan, or perhaps from the region, to organize such a high profile event. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Azerbaijan’s government has always exemplified how government and civil society can work together to achieve development. The effort of the government was highly evident in the MDGs –Azerbaijan was able to reach the goals on MDGs. Now with global processes in developing the SDGs, the government is effectively working with CSOs, INGOs and United Nation agencies in Azerbaijan to ensure that a comprehensive result is achieved through consultations and dialogues. It was in one such government effort that IEPF, together with the International Migration Organization, the United Nations Residence Coordinator office and the UN Department of Public Information, organized 2 town hall meetings in 2 regions of Azerbaijan –Berda and Terter. IEPF has also participated in several other country level consultation sections on the SDGs. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The process of achieving a sustainable future can never be limited and will never be conclusive. There is still a need to emphasize and in some cases reemphasize the challenges of the region. The Baku workshop provides the opportunity to elaborate more on issues such as Green Economy, Green Governance, and Government and CSO partnerships in achieving sustainable development. I’m certain that the various presentations today, and the dialogues we will have in the panel discussions will highlight some of these issues in the regions and even more. At the end of the workshop, we should have collected enough input to enrich global debates on developing comprehensive Sustainable Development Goals. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Once again, I welcome you all to this event. I personally look forward to a great time with you, particularly with our guests from abroad. And on behalf of International Eurasia Press Fund, I say we are happy to have you all in Baku, Azerbaijan.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Thank you.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">No offense to the military parade, which was the reason for the recent obstruction to normal life, which by the way, I actual love the spectacle and had taken my son to see it last year. And it's a shame he won't be seeing it this time around! I'm sure I carry the sentiment of many others because of the pain it caused us. I have decides to stay far from the city center, and just relax at home as I redeem my lost time trapped in a terrible Baku traffic. I'm sure I carry the sentiment of many others. Can I say a silent revolt until the right thing is done. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I just hope someone is taking note and is actually listening.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Below were my posts. And I actually tweeted these from my car which got overheated severally that I had to find a a spot even in the chaos to park and wait for some while. (Every tweet was sent while the car was not in motion). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3xrNfFGTqtOGaSazx0XUU-tTMIftNk-rgzv2rN4ZK6r50Wgt2_LQPp2Q3oCi586QCafB8k1gRa3G-mDRSBT7E5bVEOdTSvAWV8e7UrkoyT4wXVybJmgNK4Wk72tu9n2phVwHpDsAJu7k/s1600/Untitled+3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="85" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3xrNfFGTqtOGaSazx0XUU-tTMIftNk-rgzv2rN4ZK6r50Wgt2_LQPp2Q3oCi586QCafB8k1gRa3G-mDRSBT7E5bVEOdTSvAWV8e7UrkoyT4wXVybJmgNK4Wk72tu9n2phVwHpDsAJu7k/s320/Untitled+3.png" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzymqFUGSWf1etnkMoOhX6W5ydKV7w1URc5ikObXRrxzLGQ9gKqJ2jgfAa-_x3hcJAD6V-WmFiOBI0f8x8Xxiq36DZcQIdBEwr29j7YQIfoPi3luBayQ4DLj7b5kbBJsrVpvdOG8Ur7_g/s1600/Untitled+4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="70" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzymqFUGSWf1etnkMoOhX6W5ydKV7w1URc5ikObXRrxzLGQ9gKqJ2jgfAa-_x3hcJAD6V-WmFiOBI0f8x8Xxiq36DZcQIdBEwr29j7YQIfoPi3luBayQ4DLj7b5kbBJsrVpvdOG8Ur7_g/s320/Untitled+4.png" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3KQjQL8-pKh74IL5qHcIdzfHT7C-eDuCiRTCLU92AFTqjVeCXjeFo1Hk_NhOj8MqTjlLSRhZqJhl88Po_KsfDYv2VoKlMWESYCd6biSp-4GL1nbEjBJyV-t1sjL1vLuxrv4XnjoVZcso/s1600/Untitled+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3KQjQL8-pKh74IL5qHcIdzfHT7C-eDuCiRTCLU92AFTqjVeCXjeFo1Hk_NhOj8MqTjlLSRhZqJhl88Po_KsfDYv2VoKlMWESYCd6biSp-4GL1nbEjBJyV-t1sjL1vLuxrv4XnjoVZcso/s320/Untitled+2.png" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_w-soYFncYXDY4b-JTlVkPJd_Zit0me78T4JUSXfrx2_TVlUl9pEEiufesxXqBayXxH0luxZo6kynfYGh_oXjCeSErWSn8bvNNqD_CGU4FpMG9hQmKf1u9OMtUOJRlu7ZFeoZ-jBoLSw/s1600/Untitled+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_w-soYFncYXDY4b-JTlVkPJd_Zit0me78T4JUSXfrx2_TVlUl9pEEiufesxXqBayXxH0luxZo6kynfYGh_oXjCeSErWSn8bvNNqD_CGU4FpMG9hQmKf1u9OMtUOJRlu7ZFeoZ-jBoLSw/s320/Untitled+1.png" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVfbAmKU5CcK0HdRglmUrC_fIo4_tVogrM-w3rYllDiT2yH8-T3fieGkuLGeGeUIdUs2saMUG9TydRwPQBFxYiR8ALSVFKMJRWj3YxUKIyYJK7uE3Q_Th_pOf882A2AAmIBn97ZMg5dlY/s1600/Election+Commission.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVfbAmKU5CcK0HdRglmUrC_fIo4_tVogrM-w3rYllDiT2yH8-T3fieGkuLGeGeUIdUs2saMUG9TydRwPQBFxYiR8ALSVFKMJRWj3YxUKIyYJK7uE3Q_Th_pOf882A2AAmIBn97ZMg5dlY/s1600/Election+Commission.jpg" /></a></i></b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><i>My crude analysis</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Elections are most often than not won on the popular votes. So, this 2013 Azerbaijani presidential election coming up in October, it will once more be a test of how popular the current president, Mr. Ilham Aliyev is with 4 million eligible voters out of the 9 million Azerbaijanis. Suffice it to say that in 2008, Iham Aliyev won by a landslide, collecting over 87% of the popular vote. However, a lot has happened since then, internally and globally, that would directly or indirectly affect this election. For instance, just look at Turkey. Who would have predicted that a protest that started with a handful of protesters could grow to thousands and it is still persistent despite Erdogan’s tough handling of the issue.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This 2013 election is predicted to be a different ball game compared to the previous. If the<a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/06/07/uk-azerbaijan-opposition-idUKBRE9560XX20130607" target="_blank"> report </a>is true that the new opposition coalition, the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF), backed by Azerbaijanis based in Russia who felt disenfranchised with this government, would nominate Oscar-winning Rustam Ibragimbekov as its presidential candidate. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Personally, I don’t think Ilham Aliyev should be scared of a good competition. Although there is no scientific poll to back it up, but I think he still remains very popular. In recent years, the Aliyev government has been able to empower a large constituency which is the youth and his policy has gradually built a middle class full of young entrepreneurs. Considering that he has already locked up for himself the population of voters above 40 years old, because by default they have sympathy and respect for what his father Heydar Alyev represents to the whole country, I want to then prematurely call the election for Ilham Aliyev. <i><b>But who knows… it’s still very early.</b></i></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtJLqRpczCrFroM17yEHQ4gAqqU9z7eG3GW1RdOKNJE8fdALttB71JIkB8p5H6EOT5aHkro8dRtf0i-C884tLEdX1sXMj1gBBX3-2phaVGPqrEh8QVRMy4rTJqtl35XXLyLqn7FVr9_2Y/s1600/SDGs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="102" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtJLqRpczCrFroM17yEHQ4gAqqU9z7eG3GW1RdOKNJE8fdALttB71JIkB8p5H6EOT5aHkro8dRtf0i-C884tLEdX1sXMj1gBBX3-2phaVGPqrEh8QVRMy4rTJqtl35XXLyLqn7FVr9_2Y/s320/SDGs.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In line with the global consultations on the post 2015 and the SDGs, last week, I participated in 2 sessions that were held in the hinterlands of Azerbaijan organized by the International Organization for Migration, with its partners –the office of the residence coordinator, UN office Azerbaijan, the UN Department of Public Information, Azerbaijan office, and the International Eurasia Press Fund. In total, 6 Azerbaijani regions -Berda, Agdam, Agjebedi, Terter, Yevlax, and Goranboy were covered in the process.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The theme for this consultation was centered on Migration and Human Trafficking. There are obvious issues on human trafficking, particularly in the regions in focus. Therefore, IOM in the interest of engaging citizens at all levels particular taking the discussion to where it matters most, as well as colleting vital information, it was important to take the sessions outside Baku.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The sessions were held in regions of Azerbaijan of Berda, and Terter. Over 80 participants took part in both sessions combined. Representatives from 3 regions, Berda, Agjebedi, and Yevlax came together in Berda; while Terter, Agdam, and Granboy converged in Terter. All the regional executive authorities sent top local representatives to participate in the dialogue. Also, the offices dealing with security, law and legal matters, education, youths and sports were all represented.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Ms. Irada Ahmedova from the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office informed the participants about the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have provided an important motivational force and measuring rod for the progress in reducing poverty and in increasing access to basic health, education, water, and other essential services by the target date of 2015. Many countries, including Azerbaijan, are on track to achieve a significant number of the goals which have been transforming the quality of life for hundreds of millions of people. The UN is working with governments, civil society and other partners to build on the momentum generated by the MDGs and carry on with an ambitious post-2015 development agenda. Azerbaijan is one of the 87 countries, which launched the post-2015 national consultations. “The consultation process will be aligned with Azerbaijan: Vision 2020 national strategy. The ideas and recommendations generated throughout the consultations, suggesting a post-2015 development framework, with both local and global dimensions, will feed into UN report due by the end of June”, she said.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The meeting in Berda and Terter lasted a combined time of 5 hours and was facilitated by the Officer in Charge of IOM, Mr. Serhan Atropak. During the dialogue, Mr. Atropak took the participants through the state of global trends in migration, the role of Azerbaijan government in the process, and the contributions of migrant workers in the development of Azerbaijan society. In other to get a better understanding of the process, participants in the meeting were providing answers to 9 specific questions concerning migrations. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The chairman of International Eurasia Press Fund who was also at the meeting had this to say: “IEPF is proud to be a partner with the IOM and UN agencies in this process of consultations and it feels good taking the process to the rural areas of Azerbaijan. The outcome today has shown that the Azerbaijani government is open to dialogues and that local authorities are willing to join in the process of developing better national policies. I hope IEPF with its partner can continue to facilitate meeting of this kind.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Ms. Envera Selimovic, representative of the DPI office, Azerbaijan expressed satisfaction in the outcome of the meeting. “It was a good meeting judging from the outcome of the meeting. I will definitely want to see several of these kinds of high level segments taken to the other regions of Azerbaijan. The next meeting at this level can be broadened to cover a broader issue at regional levels like gender, youths, and equal development”. </span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV2aDFOxA1hYhB9OMd7Z5rhIWHR0qD9U7Q7omkJXwohEwWUJfXYVilUx1uNthmvhGAnBKrCYFAPTQm2dBvYwt2Gt7AawC0xUjl3ZmsSQ2UrQCjoO7E6g2-WW2CiQPkF5PCWEn7uTu-k-k/s1600/Beylegan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV2aDFOxA1hYhB9OMd7Z5rhIWHR0qD9U7Q7omkJXwohEwWUJfXYVilUx1uNthmvhGAnBKrCYFAPTQm2dBvYwt2Gt7AawC0xUjl3ZmsSQ2UrQCjoO7E6g2-WW2CiQPkF5PCWEn7uTu-k-k/s320/Beylegan.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Lack of proper education is the cause of youth unemployment! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Lack of adequate education is the cause of early marriage, drug abuse, and unhealthy lifestyle! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">These are the statement I hear from rural youths of Azerbaijan on an assessment tour of 7 regions of Azerbaijan covered within UNICEF and International Eurasia Press Fund (IEPF) implemented project. It is a fact that early marriage still happen in Azerbaijan. It is also a fact that drug abuse is prevalent among young people residing in Yevlax, Agdam and Berda. All these conclusions are based on 2012 assessment carried out by young people in their various communities. </span><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Azerbaijan Youth Advocate Program (AYAP) was launched in the war affected regions of Azerbaijan and other surrounding regions. Young people were trained as leaders and subsequently equipped with knowledge on the various challenges that they have identified, based on the 2012 assessment, challenges that they face in the communities and society at large. These young leaders have engaged other youths through various forms and forums in order to disseminate the information and basic knowledge and device an appropriate way of channeling their challenges to decision makers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So, it was refreshing to once more hear young Azerbaijanis stating unequivocally that until the problem with education system is addressed, rural youths will always face challenges. Young people proffered that teachers be given enough improved incentives; government should build better and well equipped schools; also high education should be made affordable and assessable for young people residing in the regions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Obviously, as the main coordinator for the UNICEF / IEPF project, I totally share the sentiments of these young rural leaders.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><u><b>Update:</b></u> <a href="http://abc.az/eng/news_19_04_2013_73007.html" target="_blank">Someone is listening...</a> Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev today has signed a decree appointing USA trained Mikail Jabbarov as the new Education Minister of Azerbaijan. </span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEishNsHGBYmDFoxg4Gvgu-L3BlVtco0iP_rRKp1MLXV-JF2Fi8sydou0hD2wYvnkQfa3052Snrkqj9Yhz8B_F13h5pMYScSJ16oMXy9AJrMi4GLCyfXAdSL2qFCqxuf_vgAXaK3PPjcKQo/s1600/20130222_134253_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEishNsHGBYmDFoxg4Gvgu-L3BlVtco0iP_rRKp1MLXV-JF2Fi8sydou0hD2wYvnkQfa3052Snrkqj9Yhz8B_F13h5pMYScSJ16oMXy9AJrMi4GLCyfXAdSL2qFCqxuf_vgAXaK3PPjcKQo/s320/20130222_134253_1.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Needless to say, as the main Coordinator of the project implemented by International Eurasia Press Fund (IEPF) and UNICEF, it was impressive to see the level of interaction between young people from rural Azerbaijan and the government officials. Young people talked with the Deputy Minister of the Ministry, Mr. Intigam Babayev and informed him about some of the challenges they are facing in the regions. The main points made include: </span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Need for more social recreation centers (Terter has got a good one that can be modeled after);</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Encourage regional officers to be more supportive of youth initiatives and endeavor to participate in youth activities; </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Promote more access to internet for young people in the regions (the Vocational Training Center in Terter is a good model where there is a free internet access for all young people);</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Engage youths from this regions in various youth camps organized by the ministry as this would foster network and interactions between young;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Support the development of education system in the regions, and facilitate areas for youth employment.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In the meeting that lasted for over one and a half hours, the Deputy Minister took good note of the concerns voiced by the young people. He iterated the ministry effort to support all opportunities for youth development including the good initiatives within the IEPF and UNICEF project –Azerbaijan Youth Advocate Program that promotes youths leading other youths residing in their various communities in the regions. However, the Deputy Minister underlined that the emphasis should always be to see the glass as half full, rather than half empty. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">All in all, the meeting was productive and a good step in a good direction of bridging the communication gap between the government and the rural youths. This meeting is in line with the several town hall style meeting that IEPF and UNICEF have organized with the participation of heads of local authorities and representatives from regional offices dealing with youth affairs. </span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Early marriage is still a problem in Azerbaijan. The problem is more prominent in the hinterland of regions of Azerbaijan. The trend can still be observable in communities, and in most instances, some of the cases have happened without any public knowledge. It is unfortunate, but arranged marriage, and if you like, forced marriage is practiced in Azerbaijan.</span><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">True, the Azerbaijan government is making good effort to eliminate the occurrence of early marriages, including the obvious cases where underage girls are married to older men. The government has expressed a commendable degree of concern towards the problem. The legal age for a girl to get married in Azerbaijan is 18, and it is in accordance with the globally accepted law on the right of a child. The State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs that contributed in the recent amendment of the Azerbaijan Family Act Law has ensure that it is in accordance with the Article 176 of the Family Code that explicitly puts the responsibility on parent in a case where early marriages occurs. There is harsh punishment for Parents depending on the seriousness of the offense in violating the right of a child to choose, however, it has not deterred parents from engaging in this act because there are still reports of girls marrying early due to certain reasons that have to do a lot with lack of broad information and socioeconomic factors.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In 2011, UNICEF office and the International Eurasia Press Fund (IEPF) started the implementation of the project titled “Azerbaijan Youth Advocate Program”. The main goal of the project was to develop youths to become advocates for tackling challenges that young people face in the regions. Within the project, IEPF undertook series of activities that includes young people doing assessment of the challenges they face in the region; subsequently, IEPF and UNICEF conducted training for these youths based on a manual on Healthy Lifestyle, prepared by IEPF. One of the components of the training was on early marriages.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">At the commencement phase of the program, the young people residing in the regions involved in the process have repeatedly emphasized that one of the main challenges certain “vulnerable” young girls face in the regions are not having the choice to say no to their parents assumed prospective suitors. These young girls are vulnerable because in some of the cases where early marriage occurs, the girls are led by their own ignorance on the consequences of marrying early. Perhaps the lack of appropriate mechanism to aware and educate young girls who are prone or exposed to being married early, maybe the cause of the prevalence.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Young people conducted assessment in the 7 regions –Agdam, Agjebedi, Berda, Beylegan, Goranboy, Terter and Yevlax covered within the project. From the assessment result, even though youths mentioned having knowledge of cases of early marriage in all these 7 regions, however the problem was more prominent in the regions of Agdam, Agjebedi, Goranboy, Terter and Beylegan. One of the instances provided by young people to back up their claims was that they continue to observer classmates suddenly pulled out of schools and then in a while, the information they get is that these girls are betrothed, living lives in almost isolations, withdrawn from their age mates, and obviously raising a family at that young age.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The sad consequences of early marriage are enormous as young people have learnt through the series of training organized by UNICEF and IEPF. Young people are well informed that most of the girls who marry early do not have a good story to tell. Besides the fact that they have to leave school early, remain uneducated all the rest of their lives, and are shoved with the responsibility of taking care of a family at a young age, these girls are also exposed to domestic violence, and in extreme cases become victims of human trafficking. Moreover, the chances that girls who marry early would have maternal health problems are very high.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">As a measure to eliminate the problem on early marriages and other challenges faced by young people, within the action, UNICEF and IEPF have organized 2 regional meetings in Terter and Agjebedi, two of the regions with prevalence of the problem based on the assessment young people conducted. During the town hall meetings, youths had the opportunity to address their challenges to the heads of the local authority, the religious leaders, and also government offices dealing with the issue. For particular mention, one of the young people participating in the meeting, who is also a teacher in one of the schools in Agjebedi disagreed with the religious leader, and rightly so, on the notion that early marriage is almost an insignificant problem when compared with other problems like drug abuse that is rampant among young people and unemployment. Even it is only one young girl that is married out early, it is already a problem.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">While the Azerbaijan government continues to put policy in place to stop the occurrence of early marriage, and also the law enforcement officers apprehending adults in situations where it has occurred, however for UNICEF and IEPF, the approach is to use the strength of the youth in influencing positive changes. Through knowledge acquired while undergoing trainings, youths in these rural areas of Azerbaijan have initiated programs to do outreach to villages, targeting young girls that are exposed or might be victims. The positive outcome of the peer to peer education carried out by young people is noticeable. Take for instance, a story of a 16 years old girl in Safikurd village of Gornboy. This girl who had just finished her 9th class in school was already prepared to be betrothed to a young man. The girl and her mother participated in a meeting titled “Ealy marriage and its bad effect” arranged by the initiatives of youths within the IEPF and UNICEF program. After the meeting, the girl’s mother opened up, saying that now she knows better. She promised to not only call off the arrangement, but to make sure her teenage daughter completes her high school education. Likewise, it is observed that some girls who initially were ignorant about the sad consequences of early marriage have indicated their intention to resist their parents or adult folks in the society who might consider giving them out to early marriages. In order to eliminate early marriage, knowledge remains a vital key.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This Saturday I was in the region of Terter to do training for rural youths of Azerbaijan. My training was focused on developing selected youths from the already established Action Groups within the UNICEF-IEPF project called “Azerbaijan Youth Advocate Program” (AYAP). These youths participating in this particular training were selected as Regional Leaders and would in principle lead other youths who were already trained by UNICEF and IEPF on various topics that include Early Marriages, Rights of Child, Healthy Lifestyle, and use of Social Media for Advocacy.</span><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The need for the Saturday training was as a systematic strategy of ensuring that the previous trainings within the action produce maximum impacts, and remain sustainable. Therefore, it is appropriate that youth’s take over the leadership and continue to motivate one another through developing initiatives that supports more youth involvement, more outreach, and more importantly, eliminating these challenges youth face at the rural district levels.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The Youth Leaders I trained were selected from Agdam, Barda, Beylegan, and Yevlax. These leaders are to coordinate 7 regions that were originally part of the AYAP concept; and it includes 3 more regions: Agjebedi, Goranboy, and Terter. Actually, in the training, members of the Action group from the other regions also took part with the exception of Goranboy. These additional participants would be called Leader Assistants.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So, my training that lasted for about 3 hours for these leaders was basically on how to achieve effective result using the manuals that contains the reporting templates and communication plan At first, it was difficult for the youths who are not used to following specific procedure. Adapting to a new process felt very challenging. But with sufficient explanation, youths were able to catch along and saw the usefulness of the manual. The whole purpose of the training was basically to simplify the process of the advocacy on youth challenges, assist youths in identifying impacts of their advocacy work, as well as supporting youths in keeping tracks of initiatives developed in the process of young people helping young people.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Subsequent trainings as a follow up to this one will be organized for these leaders, almost on a monthly basis. As the main Coordinator of the project, it is encouraging to see the impact the project has made on rural youths. Most youths are better knowledgeable on how to address challenges young people face. Moreover youths have been able to use the platform provided for them through town-hall meetings, to address their challenges to the local authority and even get certain positive responses.</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=261481" target="_blank"><i>Ok, not really…</i></a><br />
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<a name='more'></a>But it’s a big ambition for a, once upon a time, a small country with no might of its own, no functional government, and lacking any presence in the global market. Azerbaijan to develop plan to transport its gas to far away Coasts of West Africa, thumbs up.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSPJAVA4zhujrQt5XYTHVF8z0tKPlHNpVExqjNAjAJ4Vw9vBMz3QL3gQ5XwtMrVTuBtG5J_T3sOPsl2mwo-tUxJhWSZyeR0fphTJNnA4tbG4aFLgq7COD87GFOP0Oipq8R8I9gBNP_OwU/s1600/Nigeria+Ambassador.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSPJAVA4zhujrQt5XYTHVF8z0tKPlHNpVExqjNAjAJ4Vw9vBMz3QL3gQ5XwtMrVTuBtG5J_T3sOPsl2mwo-tUxJhWSZyeR0fphTJNnA4tbG4aFLgq7COD87GFOP0Oipq8R8I9gBNP_OwU/s320/Nigeria+Ambassador.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Azerbaijan supplying gas to Ghana, Benin, Togo, and of course very soon, Nigeria as well, is a big paradox.<br />
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It’s a good business strategy for Azerbaijan because Africa is a huge market with lots of available consumers of any kind of goods and services. In recent years, every business that has dared the risk and ventured into the West African market has thrived, so obviously the logic for British Petroleum and its local partners State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) to expand its product to West Africa is a smart market strategy. <br />
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But it’s a shame that Azerbaijan has to deliver its gas to West Africa when Nigeria, presumably giant of Africa because of the abundant natural resources, petroleum, and human capacity, can be found in this geographical location. What happened to that gigantic project of Nigeria building a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)? Or is Nigeria still flaring its gas? Shell, ExxonMobil, Total, and all the big Oil companies in Nigeria should be ashamed of their business strategy in Nigeria because this proves that these companies are in Nigeria only to take advantage of the country and add no significant improvement. But the bulk of the blame falls on the Nigerian Leaders.<br />
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When it comes to doing oil business the governments of Mr. Goodluck Jonathan need to call up the Mr. Ilham Aliyev, the president of the Republic of Azerbaijan and take some lessons. But what an irony it is, that Nigeria that has existed as a nation for over 50 years should be leaning from Azerbaijan, a country that got its independence in 1991. That’s what Nigeria has been reduced to, so learning from Azerbaijan can’t be the lowest the country can stoop.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I won’t go into instances, but I want to focus on the sledge hammer, which has always been freedom of speech, and how the government has always been portrayed as being hard and cracking down on critical thinkers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">First, as someone who has lived a good number of years in Azerbaijan, I would say it is true that the country inherited lots of problem from the Soviet Russia. In this situation, the saying that it is difficult to change an old habit is so true about certain aspects of the country. But my argument for the government is that it is willing to listen to the voice of reasoning asking for change. I can understand that the change isn’t on equal par with the listening, but nonetheless, there is the will. Quite frankly, there is no ideal place in the world, and Azerbaijan is far from being ideal. However, I’m in that school of thought that agrees that every country is unique in its own way and therefore, should have a right to define how it governs and should be governed. But the people, not the government should have the final say.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So therein lays the problem, which in my opinion is the long process towards change. Nobody would disapprove of the smart move by the government to promote the reputation of the country globally. To a very large extent it is working. And I wouldn’t think the Azerbaijani government is naive to think that with the added visibility, there will be no added scrutiny. So, I give credit to the government for opening up itself to the scrutiny. Events like the Eurovision 2012, the IPI Oil, Gas and Media Conference 2012, the Internet Government Forum 2012, the FIFA under 19, women football 2012, and the recent right to host the inaugural European Olympic Games in 2015 are all platforms where the government has got to defend its positions on freedom of speech and of expression. I didn’t see all these opportunities go to waste, because in the events that I was part of, the government was constantly asked to defend its record which I think they did. To what effect, that would be for the observers to conclude.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The Azerbaijan government should be fully aware by now that it has placed itself under the spotlight and no matter whatever laudable effort it makes to refine its image, there still remains that negative perception that is stubborn to rub off. I think the government should take the issue of freedom of speech and of expression seriously and address it once and for all. It’s actually so simple to deal with, and it is to let the people have more access to information. By more access to information, I mean government transactions especially at regional and local levels, voices of oppositions, activists, contents of legislation, activities of office holders, etc. It is praiseworthy the initiative to allow the distribution of newspapers in metro and all of government effort to support the development of mass media through provision of grants for development, but there is also the need to take this effort the extra miles. Basically, more independent media should be allowed and supported to thrive and the problem is solved. Period!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I should also add that, certain people who are sympathetic to the government should be cautioned to stop underestimating the intelligence of the people because the common man and woman know how to sieve information and verify truth for themselves. The people will always identify with the real things on grounds which above everything is, that their government is doing a lot to listen and to effect appropriate and proportional change.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRNbBwKYEXE6NwbYvV-wyQSratpUdKRDEL_iSdbDjsVejqAq0bH7C71K8mhMr-RcDNcr7mgrWaQS68hpGbEM2CmztkIwzHWMREJ0Atyn1HjwBjQ9iytCmg7EwXHuDpRVX9PxRdXBNG6jQ/s1600/Azerbaijan+apples+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRNbBwKYEXE6NwbYvV-wyQSratpUdKRDEL_iSdbDjsVejqAq0bH7C71K8mhMr-RcDNcr7mgrWaQS68hpGbEM2CmztkIwzHWMREJ0Atyn1HjwBjQ9iytCmg7EwXHuDpRVX9PxRdXBNG6jQ/s1600/Azerbaijan+apples+(2).jpg" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I’m no expert in Economics, but this makes no logical sense, especially if you consider that fruits are quite expensive in the country, compared to Russia. Ok, maybe comparing the big cities, Baku and Moscow. This is my layman understanding of trade imbalance.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I kind of understand that the practice is good and a healthy balance of trade, although referring to a balanced trade, one has to see a general context not just in a single commodity, which if considered, I’m sure the country is not performing better in that regards. It’s obvious there is an over dependency on a single sector, which is Oil and Gas. And by the way, this a syndrome observed in most oil rich countries not just peculiar to Azerbaijan.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In this situation, the fear is with the consequences. Azerbaijan fruits, not just apples, are organically grown, nutritious and very tasteful, but yet, it is difficult to find them in fruit shops. Even when these fruits are in season, they flood the market, but the sad truth is that it is still not enough to make fruits available for poor families. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Azerbaijan is blessed with fertile land, and this is not legendary, but any fruit grows on the land. It baffles me that the government has still not maximally exploited these abundant natural resources: land and plenty sunshine, to at least bridge its trade gap. If well managed, Azerbaijan has the potential to produce food crops and fruits that can add sufficiently to regional supplies.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So, it should be worrying that Azerbaijan is exporting all its apples to Russia, yet not sufficient to the entire population. <b>But who is worried?</b></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Participants at the events include diplomats, NGO representatives, government officials, and members of the civil society. So of the Ambassadors who were present at the event include the Ambassador of Norway, Moldova, Serbia, and Latvia. While the embassies of Austria, UK, and France sent representatives. IEPF has over the years of its existence worked closely with embassies in Azerbaijan and some of the projects IEPF is implemented is funded through embassies, particularly related to community development and victim assistance. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">International and Intergovernmental organizations were also present at the ceremony. Some of the main representatives of UN agencies in Azerbaijan were present. They include: Mark Hereward, UNICEF, Dag Sigurdsson, UNHCR, and Envera Selimovic, UN DPI. IEPF has got a special consultative status with the UN ECOSOC division, and it was because of IEPF active role in the ECOSOC event that the head of the NGO branch of ECOSOC division, Mr. Andrei Abramov traveled to Baku to participate in the event, and he also delivered the message of the DESA office. IEPF is also in good standing with the UN agencies in Azerbaijan, and has implemented several joint activities together. Recently, IEPF jointly with UNICEF held a town hall meeting in one of the regions of Azerbaijan based on the project, Azerbaijan Youth Advocate Program (AYAP).Also, during the recently international day to bring to the forefront of discussion issues on domestic violence, IEPF supported the UN DPI main representative to arrange for meeting with rural men residing in Teter. During the meeting, awareness of the issue was raised among the men participating.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Over 150 persons participated in the IEPF 20 year’s anniversary celebration. Among them were the members of parliament, members of the media and journalists, academician, representatives of NGOs, and beneficiaries of IEPF activities. During his speech at the ceremony, the Chairman of IEPF stated IEPF commitment to continue to thrive to achieve greater accomplishments towards advancement of Azerbaijan. He stated IEPF strategic plan to focus on reaching out, and perhaps branching out of Azerbaijan to implement projects internationally, in countries or regions most in need of assistance.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6VUFGjYdCctcdp0IBqmhOWUbTnIKPL1Fm89Zt91GI6-qxwLh_6WVSRhd2l0tVzdTSYwA1KfOF5CvU9ob1UiplP7kIkiOWN8vWZ6HR4tbzejWfgYahmBREPxbPqsqCsDVpp_2gDAzJnHc/s1600/IPI+oil%252C+gas++and+media+conference+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6VUFGjYdCctcdp0IBqmhOWUbTnIKPL1Fm89Zt91GI6-qxwLh_6WVSRhd2l0tVzdTSYwA1KfOF5CvU9ob1UiplP7kIkiOWN8vWZ6HR4tbzejWfgYahmBREPxbPqsqCsDVpp_2gDAzJnHc/s400/IPI+oil%252C+gas++and+media+conference+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><a href="http://www.freemedia.at/">The International Press Institute (IPI)</a> - the oldest global press freedom organization in the world – is organizing the “Oil, Gas and Media Conference”, scheduled for 17-19 September, 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The two-and-a-half-day event will examine the many challenges, concerns and opportunities facing media who cover oil and gas; and also provide opportunities for discussions concerning energy and security, energy and democracy and energy and free media.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The president of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Mr. Ilham Aliyev, and the president of SOCAR, Mr. Rovnaq Abdullayev are some of the important speakers during conference that will bring together about 150 leading journalists from around the world.Several high profile journalists will be joining as speakers, including investigative journalist David Leigh of The Guardian (U.K.); Tom Bergin, oil and gas correspondent for Reuters; Alex Abutu Augustine, freelance science journalist and founding member of the Nigerian Association of Science Journalists; and Curtis Brainard, editor of Columbia Journalism Review’s “The Observatory” online science site; and Tom Burgis, oil and gas writer, The Financial Times, among many others. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Over the past 62 years, IPI’s very high-profile events have been addressed by a long list of kings, presidents, prime ministers, UN secretaries-general, Nobel Prize laureates and renowned philanthropists. Just to name a few: U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, French President Charles de Gaulle, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, His Highness the Aga Khan, King Juan Carlos I of Spain, Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Russian President Boris Yeltsin, U.S. Vice President Al Gore, King Abdullah II of Jordan and His Holiness the Dali Lama, among countless others.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Just some of the key topics to be discussed at the two-day event include: Who is underwriting today’s increasingly complicated and costly ventures? What information are reporters entitled to when dealing with state-owned oil interests? Is safety and spill-containment technology keeping pace with the exploration and extraction technology? How investigative reporting can lead to big answers and accountability.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Our partners for the conference include the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), British Petroleum, International Eurasia Press Fund, Eurasia magazine, Upstream oil and gas magazine, Azeri News Agency, and Open Oil, just to name a few.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://www.ipioilgasmedia2012.com/">Visit www.ipioilgasmedia2012.com</a> for more details about the conference, Baku, the speakers and also to <a href="http://www.ipioilgasmedia2012.com/2012/register.html">register</a>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">For more details about IPI go to <a href="http://www.freemedia.at/">www.freemedia.at</a></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The Nelson Mandela International Day is observed annually in Azerbaijan by the country office of UN Department of Public Information (DPI). This year, DPI partnered with the Informational Resource Complex of the Baku Language University, and also the International Eurasia Press Fund (IEPF) providing the key note address in the person of Nick Nwolisa, Head of Programs.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">About 30 participants were present at the meeting with most of the participants made up of youths between the age of 14 -18 years. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Ms. Vafa Safarli, Public Information Associate, UN DPI introduced the objectives of the meeting and why UN decided to set apart a day to remember his contributions to peace. “Nelson Mandela, also known as Madiba, helped healed South Africa after it just came out from the most outrageous divide between races. Mandela spent years in prison, but despite the agony he endured, he still participated in peaceful reconciliation in South Africa, and he is also involved in various good will activities”, Ms. Safrli remarked.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In his keynote address, Mr. Nick Nwolisa, who also has got his roots in Africa, reminded the participants the importance of Nelson Mandela as a role model and inspiration for many. “He is referenced not just in Africa, where obviously he is a proud son, but all over the world, people celebrate him, good leaders want to associate themselves with him, and he is seen as the leader’s leader”, he said.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">At the end of the keynote address, Mr. Nwolisa emphasized that everyone can make a difference just like Nelson Mandela. “Mandela is a champion on child right’s, he is a messenger for good governance, his Nelson Madela Foundation has carried out a wide range of awareness and has raised millions of funds for the fight against HIV / AIDS, and Mandela first priority is to serve humanity. We can all indulge in several actions to serve our fellow humans; we all have the potential to create change, and in the very little things we do, we can affect our community positively.” </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Other activity that was organized for the participants was a presentation on “Nelson Mandela, Chronology of Life”, and also film screening “INVICTUS. </span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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<br />
<i>GENERAL THEME: Promoting productive capacity and decent work to eradicate poverty in the context of inclusive, sustainable and equitable economic growth at all levels for achieving the Millennium Development Goals".</i><br />
<br />
<i><a href="http://www.today.az/print/news/politics/109890.html">OPENING REMARK BY THE CHAIRMAN OF INTERNATIONAL EURASIA PRESS FUND</a></i></b><br />
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<a name='more'></a>His Excellency, Mr. AQSHIN MEHDIYEV, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative for Azerbaijan to the United Nations,<br />
Honorable, Ms. Ganira Pashayeva, Member of Parliament, Republic of Azerbaijan,<br />
Representatives of the United Nations Agencies,<br />
Representatives of the Azerbaijan government,<br />
Members of the donor communities,<br />
International organizations and civil societies represented here,<br />
Ladies and gentlemen,<br />
<br />
Good morning and I welcome you to this great event “meeting of donors and partners in sustainable and inclusive development”. As the chairman of IEPF, I would like to express how delighted we are to be able to organize this side-meeting that is aimed at bringing global partners and stewards working on community development issues and to foster network and develop a mapping of priority areas to concentrate in eradicating poverty among communities through sharing best practices.<br />
<br />
The International Eurasia Press Fund has got enormous work going on in Azerbaijan particularly focused on community development. IEPF is a model of how donors and civil societies and NGOs can work to achieve results that are measurable and sustainable. IEPF donors are diverse; we cooperate with the Azerbaijan government, US government, and also the Japan government. IEPF also work in partnership with other donors agencies through the UN agencies, the World Bank, and also financial institutions.<br />
<br />
For IEPF, our current focus in the sphere of community development is basically focused on achieving the MDGs. The MDG 1 is a top priority for IEPF. Given that over 20 years that IEPF has existed as an NGO in Azerbaijan, we have got vast experience working with various communities. We have also appropriately concentrated a lot of our resources in assisting the war victims of Azerbaijan in ensuring they have a better pathway to proper re-integration. As a result, IEPF is helping in eliminating the poverty that is noticeable among these categories of persons because of the consequences of war. To this regards, IEPF has done a lot of human capacity development, and livelihood support.<br />
<br />
IEPF represents many other great stewards, working with various communities and target groups to ensure that there is an equal, sustainable and inclusive development across the globe. Whether in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americans, the effort is united to ensure that the mandate of achieving the MDGs by the target year of 2015 is achieved. However, there are concerns because despite the effort and the best practices observed globally, the MDG Monitoring –tracking the millennium development goals and also the 2010 MDG Report for Europe and CIS indicates that there are lots to be done if the target for reducing the world extreme poverty by half is to be met by 2015. The report commended efforts of certain countries, like for instance Azerbaijan that has already met the target, but the report also warns that if countries like Azerbaijan are not supported, the gains will be slowed down.<br />
<br />
Therefore, considering the sad turn of recent years with the negative impact brought by the financial crisis, it has become difficult for certain actions in development to remain sustainable. Donors are beginning to cut down on their funding, and some donors have stopped funding certain projects. That despite the success stories, that is IEPF model of tackling extreme poverty, however, it is no more easy for IEPF, and perhaps other NGOs, to procure funding for some of the significant activities that we are intending to implement, not only in Azerbaijan, but in target countries that we have identified as appropriate places where the IEPF model can be replicated, like Tajikistan, Iraq, and Afghanistan.<br />
<br />
So, it is my hope that with this meeting that the civil societies represented by NGOs would be able to share their experiences and best practices, perhaps point out areas where there are still gaps. Whereas the donors will be able to clearly layout the strategy for long term funding. At the end of today’s meeting that is focused on establishing partnership between NGOs, and donors in tackling poverty in countries with less capabilities and capacities we would have sufficiently defined the role of civil societies as leaders in sustainable, inclusive and equal development in the regions of Europe and Asia neighborhood. We would also develop a frame-like global strategy for donors, partners and NGOs in addressing poverty faced in extreme situations. The outcome might not be conclusive today, but IEPF intends to extracts from the inputs today in preparing a report synergy on “civil society role in eliminating poverty by 2015” that would be shared with NGO branch of ECOSOC division and with various civil society organizations.<br />
<br />
I am encouraged by the effort you all made in coming to be part of today’s meeting. All your contributions are very vital, and I am convinced that we will achieve successful outcome today. <br />
<br />
Thanks.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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<br />
It is a great honor to be with you today in celebration of Nelson Mandela International Day. Last 2 years I was privilege to speak to a group of youths on this same event, and I talked about the story of Nelson Mandela, also known as Madiba, and how he inspires every man and women with an African heritage. I also went further to say that Nelson Mandela is a gift to all mankind and that even though he is a proud son of Africa, but he belongs to all citizens of the world.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>Today, we are all here to once more remember the achievements of this great son of Africa. All across the world, there are various activities that are holding, just as we are doing right now, to put into perspective the symbolic importance of Nelson Mandela. His journey through life is an inspiration to many towards contributing to a good course; no wonder the United Nations in 2009 declared July 18 as Nelson Mandela International Day.<br />
<br />
There are so many great persons throughout history that has inspired the world towards good causes. And depending on which part of the world you reside, also depending on the era in history, there is a tendency to associate more with a past leader or see them as a typical hero to look up to. In the list of great leaders you will find persons like: Mahatma Gandhi, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, and Queen Elizabeth, Martin Luther King Jr and also Nelson Mandela, to mention but a few. All these great leaders inspired and still inspire people worldwide; however, to show how important and outstanding Nelson Mandela is, he is probably one of the rare individual among these entire inspirational leaders who even though still living, is celebrated for his contribution to mankind.<br />
<br />
The story of Nelson Mandela should be familiar to a lot of us here today. For those who might not know, or who does not really know, I will like to just recap briefly. Nelson Madiba Mandela actually was born into a royal family. Madiba was a bright young man who strived to educate himself even in challenging situations. As a very young man he was ambitious and hungry to address the injustice he is witnessing in his ancestral homeland. South Africa at that time in history was ruled by the Whites who had migrated from Europe to this part of Africa for greener pastures. Over the years of their sojourn in Africa, these migrants grew in number and in affluence, and as such, also was the exertion of power on the black. It is a fact then and even still today that the White Europeans were in minority compared to the Black Africans; however, back then, to enforce authority, which is always with the case where authoritarians are in leadership, there is that tendency to use excessive force. <br />
Black Africans were made to do the hard work, work in the mines, work in the farms and almost labored as slaves; while the White Europeans enjoyed all the good life. This ultimately created a great systematic divide between the races. <br />
<br />
Most people would be familiar with the African America civil right movement in America that crushed the injustice of segregation against African Americans. Whereas, the civil right movement got a lot of prominent mentions globally as at 30 years ago, but it was at almost similar time that the injustice in South Africa was escalating, but yet, inadequate attention was given to the sufferings of the Black Africans in South Africa. Apartheid was alive and breeding in South Africa, but the world refused to act.<br />
<br />
It was in this period of injustice that Nelson Mandela cut his teeth as an activist for justice. Mandela resolved within himself that he would support the struggle of his people because he knows that was the just thing to do. <br />
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During his early study years, Mandela became actively involved in the Students Representative Council. As a member of the Council, he led the boycott of university policies that were not favorable to blacks. His activity got him dismissed from studies but he remained resolute because of what he strongly believes in, that is the fight for justice for his people. Together with his friend, Mandela started a law firm that provided free or low cost legal counsel to blacks who lacked attorney representations. His reputation grew among his people and Mandela joined and rose up in ranks in the African National Congress (ANC). As his influenced increased among his own race, he was seen as a threat to the other race. Not so long, he was arrested for his participation in the ANC which then the ruling class and also international communities had labeled a terror group. Mandela was sentenced to life in prison in 1964 for an allegation of treason against the state. His influence was seen as a threat to the status quo. <br />
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Mandela believed in justice, and that with justice there is no grievance. In his most famous speech, when he was sentenced to life in prison, Mandela had this to say: "During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to the struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." Granted, he didn’t die for this idea, but instead he was vindicated. <br />
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Mandela’s arrest and life sentence was an eye opener, and all over the world, people who loved peace saw the injustice in South Africa. Mandela’s prominence expanded. His true reason for developing his anti- apartheid fight became clearer, and so many peace activists across Africa, Europe and America joined in the fight, with focus on the release of Mandela. Mandela ended up spending 27 years in prison and in February 1990 he was freed. Four years after, in April 1994 he won election through majority vote to become the first black president of South Africa. The whole of Africa celebrated his victory just as they celebrated his freedom and the whole world joined in the celebration.<br />
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They broke him, but they couldn’t kill the spirit. Madiba was resilient and because of his believe that one day justice will come, and that the sufferings he passed through in prison is not compared to the sufferings of the million other Africans suppressed under apartheid. <br />
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Not so many persons can pass through what Mandela passed through and still be champions of peace. Had Mandela allowed bitterness to exemplify who he is, we might probably not be remembering his achievement. As a leader of the majority black, Mandela could have resolved in violence, but instead choose the part to peaceful negotiations. Immediately after he was released he joined the peace process in South Africa. Nelson Mandela said, and I quote: “If there are dreams about a beautiful South Africa, there are also roads that lead to their goal. Two of these roads could be named Goodness and Forgiveness.” Mandela continued to believe in one country for white and for black, he believed in one South Africa. In 1994, Mandela was elected as the first post-apartheid president of South Africa. He was able to unify the country through his leadership; this was more eminent in his visible support for the all-white South African rugby team, previously hated by blacks, but that went on to win the rugby world cup. The whole South Africa celebrated the victory.<br />
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Nelson Mandela symbolizes all that is ideal in a leader. Actually he is a leader’s leader. No wonder every year, prominent persons travel to his small village in South Africa to make sure they get a bit of his wisdom. This moment, Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of USA is in South Africa, and it has become an annual visit, to join in one of the several activities connected to Nelson Mandela. <br />
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Mandela led by example; unlike what is obtainable in Africa, he ruled his country for a single term, relinquished power and concentrated his effort for greater good to the service of mankind. He has championed democracy in Africa and in Asia; through his various humanitarian engagement, he made the issue of HIV and AIDs become a global concern; he regularly stand up against injustice; he is an advocate for children, on poverty; he stood against despotism in governance; etc. Therefore as someone who has inspired many world over to heal its wounds, connect all that divides mankind, and has showed the way forward, it is proper that we always remind ourselves about this great leader accomplishments. <br />
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A year today, close to 12 million students sang “Happy Birthday” to Mandela before school began. This year, and many years to come many more children will join to also celebrate and appreciate this gift to us humans, and that is Nelson Madiba Mandela.<br />
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