Funded by the Government of Japan.
Implemented in close cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Center of Economic Reforms of the Ministry of Economic Development of Azerbaijan, Institute of Economics of the Ministry of Education and Science of Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of Kyrgyzstan, and the Ministry of Economy and Trade of Tajikistan.

Project goal:

The main objective of the project was to assist the Central Asian and Caucasus countries in improving the design and the implementation of income and employment generation programmes for poverty eradication.

Key activities:

The following five national seminars were organized:

• National seminar on Strengthening income and employment generation programmes for poverty eradication in Azerbaijan, Baku, 28-29 April 2004;
• National seminar on Poverty reduction strategy in Kazakhstan and Asia-Pacific region: monitoring and assessment, Almaty, 3-4 May 2004;
• National seminar on Strengthening the social passport system and programmes for poverty eradication in Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek, 6-7 May 2004;
• National seminar on Strengthening income and employment generation programmes for poverty eradication in Armenia, Yerevan, 18-19 May 2004;
• National seminar on Strengthening income and employment generation programmes for poverty eradication in Tajikistan, Dushanbe, 24-25 May 2004.

Main presentations at the national seminars:

• Poverty reduction strategies in Asia and the Pacific: dealing with multidimensional nature of poverty;
• Social capital and poverty eradication: some issues from the Malaysian experience;
• Poverty reduction in China and Viet Nam;
• Evaluation of existing programmes in the field of income and employment generation and monitoring of the implementation of programmes on poverty eradication in Azerbaijan;
• Strengthening income and employment generation for vulnerable groups of population in Kazakhstan;
• Evaluation of existing income and employment generation programmes and monitoring the different programmes on poverty eradication in Kyrgyzstan;
• Evaluation of the implementation of the poverty reduction strategy and income and employment generation programmes introduced in Armenia;
• Strengthening income and employment generation programmes for poverty eradication in Tajikistan.

Key outcomes:

The national seminars held in Central Asian and Caucasus countries contributed to the achievement of Expected Accomplishment 1 of the Subprogramme 1: Poverty and Development. The activities undertaken increased priority accorded to poverty reduction policies in the participating countries at the national and local levels. The participants of the national seminars identified and analyzed opportunities and constraints relating to Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers and other programmes of income and employment generation. A detailed assessment was made on a number of core areas of poverty reduction policies, including improvement of the quality of and equal access to basic health and education services and social protection system.

Based on the questionnaires distributed at the national seminars, most participants rated the seminars as good or very good and recommended follow-up actions with a more in-depth look in various issues related to poverty reduction.

Recommended follow-up action(s) by UNESCAP:

• to increase knowledge of government officials on various dimensions of poverty including definition of poverty line and measurement of poverty;
• to disseminate good poverty reduction practices known in UNESCAP secretariat through pilot projects and providing advice and assistance to build the capacity of Central Asian countries to adopt and replicate those practices;
• to undertake a review of the effectiveness of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers;
• to evaluate targeted poverty reduction programmes;
• to share experiences on prevailing microcredit programmes for rapid poverty reduction;
• to organize subregional forums on poverty reduction in Central Asia.