Dir. Human Resources & Sustainable Development

The issue of Human Resource Development has always been considered important for ECO member states. Establishment of the Directorate for Human Development at the Secretariat first proposed under ECO-UNDP Capacity Building programme which was implemented in two phases during 1998-2003.

Later on 13^th Council of Ministers (COM) held in June 11, 2003, in Bishkek, set up Eminent Persons Group (EPG) to submit their recommendations on the measures to promote efficiency and effectiveness of ECO. EPG on section D on subject of consideration of new priorities and new issues highlighted by international organizations such as UN Millennium Development Goals etc. recommended that:

“However, to take into account developments that have taken place in the international environment and in the member states, the issues of the human resource development, poverty alleviation, environment, agriculture and industry should receive increased attention from member states at national and regional levels”.

EPG report submitted to 14th COM meeting in Dushanbe, Tajikistan which endorsed the report in principle and referred to CPR for further consideration. EPG report was deliberated upon thoroughly by the CPR and a Working Group created by it in several sessions. As a result of discussions, the CPR recommended the establishment of a new directorate entitled “Directorate of Human Resources and Sustainable Development” to be in charge of Human Resource Development, Social Development, Drug Control Affairs, Health, Poverty Alleviation, etc. These recommendations were approved by the 15th COM held in Astana in October 1, 2005. COM also instructed CPR to make necessary adjustments to the Organizational Chart of the Secretariat based on the above decision.

In this regard, 105th CPR held in October 19, 2005 approved the Organizational Structure of ECO Secretariat with necessary adjustments, effective from 1st January 2006.

15^th COM meeting also adopted “ECO Vision 2015” as Basic Reference Document of ECO in which they reaffirmed commitment towards achieving the aims and objectives of the organization. In this Vision, Human Resource Development and Poverty Alleviation and Drug Control, Organized Crimes and Related Matters received specific attention which related paras of the said Vision are as follow:

Following the decision of 15th COM meeting, the said Directorate has already been established and 16th Regional Planning Council held in January 30- February 2, 2006 gave policy guidelines to this newly created Directorate and chalked out a work programme and Calendar of Events for 2006-2007.

Considering the need for capacity building at the Secretariat regarding Human Development and Sustainable Development, the Secretariat is to seek relevant international organizations’ support/assistance such as UNESCAP, UNDP, etc. to provide training programs for ECO staffs and relevant officers/experts of Member states involved in preparation of human development and sustainable development reports/activities.

People are the real wealth of the nations. Indeed the basic purpose of development is the well being of people and to enlarge human choices. The process of development, which economic growth is merely a means- albeit an important one- for achieving this, can expand human capabilities by expanding the choices people have to live full and creative lives. The range of these capabilities that individuals can have and the choices that help to expand them vary, but can be categorized these as four main capabilities: to lead a long and healthy life; to be knowledgeable; to have access to resources needed for a decent standard of living and to participate in the life of community.

During the past century progress in human development was drastic and unprecedented. For example between 1960-2000 life expectancy in developing countries increased from 46 to 63 years. Mortality rates foe children under five were more than halved. Between 1975 -2000 the share illiterate people was almost halved, etc. but despite this impressive progress, massive human deprivation remains. More than 800 million people suffer from undernourishment. Some 100 million children who should be in school are not, 60 million of them are girls. More than a billion people survive on less than $ 1 a day.

Given these problems, world leaders attending in the United Nations Millennium Summit in September 2000, adopted Millennium Declaration and expressed their determination to end the world poverty and achieve human objectives. stemmed from that declaration are Millennium Development Goals (MDG) a set of 8 goals including eradication of poverty and hunger; achieving universal primary education; gender equality; reducing child mortality etc, that establish concrete, time-bounded targets for advancing development and reducing by 2015 or earlier.

Keeping into consideration these goals, ECO Vision 2015 required cooperation of ECO member states in theses areas; taking necessary measures for the development of human resources and to improve social, educational and health standards of peoples; intensifying poverty reduction efforts through human resource development, special programmes at national and regional levels; Ensuring that all the girls and boys of the member states are able to complete primary schooling; Reducing by two thirds the mortality rate among children under five and reducing by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio by the year 2015.

The 16th RPC Meeting approved the work programme of this Directorate for the next two years according which a High Level Experts Group (HLEG) on Human Development has been established. The HLEG will identify the areas for ECO cooperation in the field of human and sustainable development and will meet annually or whenever necessary.

Using data and country reports provided in this event, achievements and obstacles of member states toward realization of MDG and human development will be identified, based on which ECO Human Development Report will be prepared and possible areas of cooperation among member states will be identified.

After preparation of this report, specific project/s may be defined in collaboration with international organizations/donor agencies to prepare regional strategy/programmes to help national states individually and in the context of organization to develop human resources.

Poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon and accordingly it affects the lives of people in a wide variety of ways. Conventionally poverty has been defined in terms of income or expenditure based on the assumption that a person’s material standard of living largely determines their well-being. In other word, the poverty is pronounced deprivation in well-being.

Poverty needs to be considered at various levels ranging from households and communities to nations and groups of nations. Poverty impairs human growth, constrains human development and prevents human capital required to achieve household well-being. The damage caused by poverty and hunger is both longer lasting and far-reaching than the individuals and facilities involved. Society as a whole suffers when children cannot learn, when poor health restricts productivity, and when malnourished mother gives birth to a new generation that lacks enough food. Therefore, combating poverty is not only a moral imperative, but it represents an investment in the future. Investments in poverty alleviation are investments from which whole world will benefit; investments that will prevent scars from forming on the bodies and in the minds of tomorrow’s children. In other word, poverty alleviation and sustainable development are similar and overlapping concepts.

Eradication of extreme poverty and hunger is the first goal among the MDG that halving the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day and halving the proportion of people who suffer from hunger by the year 2015 are targets set for this goal. However the progress in the realization of these goals have been limited so far calling for more intensified international efforts accompanied with regional initiatives and national programmes, components.

According to the report prepared by international organizations, the Central Asian Region has a considerable number of poor people. In the ECO Member States the number of people in living under 1$ a day ranges from 1.5% to more than 19% where for some countries the figure was not even available. In majority of the countries in the region the share of the poorest 20% in national income or consumption is less than 9%, while the share of richest 20% is around 40%.[1] In 1998-2000, the number of undernourished people was 58.8 million in ECO region corresponding to 15.6 percent of the population.[2] The situation has been improved since then.

Main objective of the ECO is to contribute to the economic development of its members. In line with the efforts of member states to reduce the poverty in their respective countries, ECO activities in the economic and infrastructural areas would also contribute to the reduction of poverty in the region.

Although up to now ECO has had no specific programme for poverty alleviation, but its activities in different areas i.e. Trade and investment promotion and facilitation, strengthening the transport infrastructures of the region, mobilizing and enhancing energy resources, industrial and agricultural activities directly or indirectly affects the economic and social development in the member countries. With establishment of new directorate, ECO will pay especial attention to poverty alleviation and will try to prepare and implement regional programs for member states in coordination with the international organizations involved in this areas i.e. UNDP, ADB etc.

According to the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), sustainable development is defined as: "the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Sustainable development implies economic growth together with the protection of environmental quality, each reinforcing the other. The essence of this form of development is a stable relationship between human activities and the natural world, which does not diminish the prospects for future generations to enjoy a quality of life at least as good as our own.

ECO Member States face different problems at the regional and national level directly affecting access to sustainable development. Some of these problems are natural resources such as atmosphere, land and marine including lack of safe drinking water, degradation of shared water, rivers/lakes; air pollution, depletion of common resources etc. so that these problems may lead to aggravation of poverty in affected countries. Tackling most of these problems needs supranational efforts and coordination at regional level that ECO as regional organization using existing potentials at national, regional and international arenas, can take it.

Taking into account the multi-sectoral/inter-disciplinary nature of Human Development and Sustainable development issues which within the current framework of ECO is dealt with by other directorates (Energy, Mineral and Environment and Agriculture, Industry and Tourism), to follow the common issues the new directorate will coordinate with the aforementioned directorates that require the cooperation of several units in the Secretariat.

For cooperation of ECO Member States in these fields, the Secretariat will identify possible areas of cooperation among ECO Member States and also between ECO and international agencies. By defining concrete goals and plans/projects, Secretariat will move forward to get in contact with different international organizations especially United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), UNDP, UNEP, etc. to secure financial/technical assistance to implement theses plans /projects.

It is fact that due to geographical contiguity of ECO Member States, there is need for close cooperation and monitoring of state of epidemics and other diseases for adoption of measures to bring down the chances of their spreading from one to another. Moreover, due to the similar economic and social conditions in most of the Member States, there is a similarity of problems faced by their health sector. Thus, there is a vast scope to benefit from each others experiences in strengthening health facilities for the benefit of the people in the ECO region.

The ECO Health Ministers, in addition to their joint session with UNICEF and WHO, had a separate consultative meeting on 23 January 1994 in Tehran. The Ministers discussed and finalized a framework outlining the possible areas of cooperation in health sector introduced by the ECO Secretariat.

Based on the recognition of the need for mutual cooperation at the regional level to enhance the socio-economic well being of the people in the ECO region, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was concluded between ECO and UNFPA in October 1994. Signing of the MOU on cooperation has resulted in five joint activities ever-since. These activities provided a forum to policy makers, planners, executors and the NGOs on one hand to learn from each other's experiences, while the relevant regional and international organizations understood better the needs and expectations of the Member States on the other.

The first conference was held in the Islamic Republic of Iran and dealt with the theme of women's status and health (2-4 August 1995). The second conference on access to and quality of reproductive health and family planning services through expanding contraceptive choices (13-15 April 1996) was organized in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The third conference on the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action in the ECO region (18-20 April 1996) was held in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The fourth conference in this series was hosted organized in the Republic of Azerbaijan from 27 to 30 April 1998 and covered the theme of male involvement in population, reproductive health and family planning programmes. The fifth conference on Expanding Contraceptive Choice and Improving Quality of Reproductive Health Programmes, held in the Republic of Turkey on 7-11 May, 2000. The themes of this series of ECO/UNFPA conferences were central to the population and development concerns in the ECO region and sought to facilitate regional exchange of country-level experiences and views in respect of population and reproductive health issues and programs.

As HIV/AIDS is a growing issue in the region and one of the priority areas in the reproductive health programs, the two organizations could also cooperate in organizing a regional seminar on the subject. On the other hand, during the course of the 12th Meeting of the Regional Planning Council, the Member States reiterated their willingness to participate in the subject seminar. so the “Roundtable Meeting on HIV/AIDS and Young People” was held in Issyk Kul Lake, Kyrgyz Republic on 05-07 June 2003 with participation of parliamentarians, youth involved in youth health prevention programs, relevant NGOs and representatives of ECO, UNFPA, UNAIDS, Global Fund, World Bank, World Health Organization (WHO), other UN agencies.

After adoption of ECO Vision 2015 and necessary change in Organizational Structure of ECO, in the context of new Directorate a High Level Expert Group Meeting (HLEG) on health has been established to be responsible for identifying activities/programs for regional cooperation in the field of health, population and reproductive health. The 1st HLEG on health focusing on avian influenza (bird flu) was held on 12-13 March 2006 in Tehran hosted by Ministry of Health and Medical Education of the Islamic Republic of Iran and in cooperation with WHO and FAO.

In this meeting Delegates from the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Republic of Azerbaijan, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Republic of Tajikistan, Republic of Turkey, Turkmenistan and Republic of Uzbekistan and the ECO Secretariat attended the Meeting. Delegates from the World Health Organization (WHO), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Bank also attended the meeting.

In this meeting, Delegates delivered Country Reports giving details of their national activities with regard to Avian Influenza. The Country Reports also covered the status of Avian Influenza in the countries, availability of National Preparedness Plan and its brief explanation and potentials and proposals for ECO cooperation to control / fight against Avian Influenza disease. Finally the meeting unanimously adopted the outlines of the ECO Regional Plan of Action on Avian Influenza which would be prepared in near future.

The First ECO High Level Drug Authorities (HLDA) Meeting on “Drug Regulatory Networking” was held at the ECO Secretariat Tehran on 13-15 November, 2007, hosted by the Ministry of Health and Medical Education of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Delegates from eight ECO Member States, namely Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan actively participated in the meeting. The representative of WHO/EMRO also attended the meeting.

The meeting was aimed at exploring the possibility of establishing a Network of the Drug Regulatory Authorities among ECO Member States and identifying activities/programs for regional cooperation in the field of drug regulation.

The following six broader themes were also discussed in detail during thematic sessions:

After detailed deliberations, the meeting agreed on a set of recommendations, including one to establish the “ECO Drug Regulatory Authority Network”. The network would promote collaboration of Drug Regulatory Authorities covering all aspects of quality, safety and efficacy of pharmaceutical products, facilitate communication and collaboration between Drug Regulatory Authorities and the pharmaceutical industry, and encourage technical collaboration. The meeting also agreed to set up a High Level Experts Group to promote cooperation in identified priority areas, develop a unified definition of counterfeit medicines, discuss possible measures to combat it at the regional level and prepare the ground for cooperation on the subject.

In the context of South-South Cooperation and in close collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Ministry of Health and Medical Education of Iran, ECO Secretariat arranged a Study Tour for Health Officials of ECO Member States on 9- 12 December 2007. It is aimed at exchange of information and best practices among health authorities of ECO member states. During the tour, participants will be familiarized with the achievements and experiences of Iran in the health sector. These would include Primary Health Care System (PHC) System, Family Health System, Disease Management and Emergency Systems. The Study Tour will comprise orientation sessions and field visits to primary health care clinics, fertility clinics, selected hospitals and factories.

ECO member states are located in a disaster prone area. This region has a wide diversity in demographic and economic terms with a relatively high poverty incidence especially in rural areas. During the last decade there has been an increase in the number of natural disasters worldwide and in the ECO region.

Frequent happening of disastrous earthquake and flood in the region and also already passing a decade of serious draught make natural disasters all contributed to the increased vulnerability of the economic development and well being of the people of the region. So, it makes it enough important to recognize the importance of disaster planning and preparation in protecting vulnerable population against natural disasters both at the national and regional level.

Baku Declaration, adopted in 9th ECO Summit on May 2006, highlighted the importance of regional cooperation on these issues and recommended consideration of regional programmes and projects for early warning, preparedness and management of natural disasters and the need for strengthening collaboration within and beyond the region in this regard, and putting in place a permanent regional response mechanism dedicated to disaster preparedness, earthquake safety and drought management, etc.;

However, disaster management issues are also a new field in ECO activities and considering the importance of this issue, the ECO Secretariat is trying to identify and expand regional cooperation/programmes for this end. In this regard a number of steps are taken that are explored in the following paragraphs.

The 1st ECO Interior Ministers Meeting held in Tehran on the 1st November 2006 was a positive step forward to strengthen cooperation in the face of natural disasters. It was noted that natural disasters were among the main challenge facing ECO member countries and serious efforts more needed to mitigate the effects of natural disasters. The meeting accepted the offer of the Islamic Republic of Iran to set up a Regional Centre for Natural Disasters Management in Iran. The meeting also suggested establishment of a Fund for Disaster Relief and Rehabilitation and possible prevention of natural calamities.

9th ECO Summit on May 2006 recommended to the Secretariat to approach relevant regional/international organizations for their contribution to implementation of ECO projects and plans in this regard. Therefore, ECO and the United Nations Secretariat of International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 9th May 2007. Based on this MOU, ECO and UN/ISDR will complement their efforts in expansion of disaster risk reduction cooperation and activities to achieve their respective objectives. Within the broad framework of this MOU, both organizations are preparing a mid-term work programme for its implementation.

ECO and United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN/OCHA) have also started cooperation and tried to conduct programmes at the regional level. These communications resulted in exchange letters to initiate regional cooperation on the matter of mutual interest and have identified main outline of cooperation.

In accordance with the above-mentioned agreements between ECO and UNOCHA, the two organizations organized a workshop on “Legal Frame work of Humanitarian Assistance” on 18-20 November 2007 in Tehran.

The Workshop on “School Earthquake Safety Review” was held on 1-2 June 2006 in Istanbul, Turkey and in cooperation with OECD and GeoHazards International (GHI).

The ECO International Conference on Disaster Risk Management was organized on 8-10 October, 2007 in Islamabad, Pakistan. The conference was part of efforts to promote a culture of disaster management and safety and to help devise strategies for better regional cooperation in this field. The Conference was attended by representatives of all the ECO member states and important international organizations. Theses included UNDP, ISDR and UNICEF. The following themes were covered in six thematic sessions:

Up to the end of 2005, Drug Control Coordination Unit (DCCU) was an independent Unit within the ECO Secretariat being financed through international organization i.e. UNDCP. 105^th CPR held in October 2005 as instructed by 15^th COM, made necessary adjustment to the Organizational Structure of the ECO Secretariat. As per this new Organizational Structure, DDCU has been merged within the Secretariat and will act as a part of HRSD Directorate. Information regarding the DCCU activities can be found on its separate website under the following address or via ECO Secretariat Website links as well:

[1]: Human Development Report, 2003, UNDP.

[2]: The State of Food Insecurity in the World, 2002, FAO