Twinning program is an initiative of the European Commission that was launched in 1998 in the context of the preparation for enlargement of the European Union (EU). It was initially conceived as an administrative cooperation instrument to assist candidate countries to strengthen their capacity to implement the EU legislation as future Member State.

Since the end of 2003, it has been made available for some Newly Independent States and some countries of the Southern Mediterranean region, including Azerbaijan. In this context, they became instruments to implement the European Neighborhood Policy action plans.

At the time of writing, there are 9 Twinning projects being implemented in Azerbaijan, including ours.

Our project main stakeholders

•  Beneficiary: State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SCFWCA).
•  Partners:  France has been selected among the other EU Member States to implement the project together with the SCFWCA. The main French institutions involved are:

- the General Directorate of Social Cohesion, part of the Ministry of Solidarity and Social Cohesion. It is the counterpart of  the SCFWCA in France.

-GIP International, which is the Agency for international cooperation of the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Health.

•  Donor:  European Union

 Expected results  

This project has been launched to achieve a series of results defined together with the SCFWCA, the EU Delegation, and the French partners.

The overall objective of our project is to promote and protect the rights of vulnerable families, women and children.

More precisely, we have set some objectives related to  4 main components: legislative background; institutional development of the SCFWCA; training and reinforcement of the professional skills; communication and awareness-raising.

• Legislative background

-  Propose a new law on international adoption
-  Support the enforcement of the law on Prevention of domestic violence voted in 2010

• Institutional development of the SCFWCA

-  Strengthen the coordination capacity of the SCFWCA
-  Develop tools and procedures allowing the SCFWCA to collect and monitor gender-disaggregated data
-  Reinforce the SCFWCA at regional level
-  Open a regional shelter for victims of domestic violence
-  Adopt a National Action Plan to promote the rights of vulnerable families, women, and children
-  Launch a network of civil society stakeholders working in the field of gender equality and child protection

• Reinforcement of the professional skills

-  Design  and implement a training scheme for the SCFWCA staff and its partners
-  Support the SCFWCA staff in integrating participatory approach in public policy making

• Communication and awareness raising

-  Launch a national campaign to combat and prevent domestic violence
-  Open a resource centre on gender and family issues
-  Set up a emergency hotline for victims of domestic violence

Starting from this basis, our project has been declined in 31 activities.  Each activity is expected to contribute to the achievement of one of results listed above.

 Our Team

The project is led by two project leaders:

• Azerbaijanese Project Leader: Ms Hijran HUSEYNOVA, Chairperson of the SCFWCA
• French Project Leader: Ms Marie KEIRLE, Head of the European and International Affairs Department, General Directorate of Social Cohesion

A permanent Twinning team, fully dedicated to the project coordination has settled in the premises of the SCFWCA. It is composed of 1 Resident Twinning Adviser, Mr Alain LAFERTE, 1 Assistant, and 1 Interpreter.

This permanent team prepares and supports the missions of the 40 French and European experts who are expected to participate in the project, for a total of about 330 expertise days.

 Timeframe

The project activities will be implemented during 22 months, from July 2011 to May 2013.

Contacts

For any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us:

Alain LAFERTE, Resident Twinning Adviser (FR – ENG):

alain.laferte@travail.gouv.fr
Tel: +994 12 498 43 24
Mob: +994 55 297 01 59

Lala RZAYEVA, Assistant (AZ – RU – ENG):

lala.twinning@yahoo.com
Tel: +994 12 498 43 24
Mob: +994 51 944 68 60