UNICEF Representative visits regions affected by war

By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

UNICEF Azerbaijan Representative Edward Carwardine has recently visited Aghdam and Agjabadi regions.

In Aghdam, together with the Head of the Executive Committee Vagif Hasanov, Mr. Carwardine visited a special room providing baby and child-friendly services to families affected by the latest escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, as part of a joint project with TABIB and the Regional Development Public Union. 

These spaces will enable mothers and children to receive basic healthcare and medical first aid. The joint effort will also include breastfeeding promotion and early child development and care counselling.

UNICEF Azerbaijan Representative also spent time with a team from Azerbaijan Services Assessment Network (ASAN) Volunteers who are undertaking assessments amongst conflict-affected families in the district to identify physical and psychological needs amongst children and refer families to specialized support.

In Agjabedi, Edward Carwardine met with the Head of Executive Committee Rafil Huseynov  to discuss the ongoing collaboration between UNICEF and the region authorities in support of conflict-affected communities, before visiting the region's Integrated Social Services Centre.

There he met children with disabilities who are currently receiving rehabilitative therapy, and with families being supported by local social workers and child psychologists. 

The centre was established within the integrated social services project supported by the European Union. 

Mr.Carwardine spent time with a family of a child with a disability who had been temporarily displaced during the recent conflict, and was receiving support from social workers at the centre.

UNICEF Azerbaijan also continues to support women and children affected by the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.

Nearly 24 psychologists and social workers who received Psychological First Aid training are now being deployed to different regions affected by the recent escalation in conflict. 

So far, 10 psychologists have visited around 250 families, and identified 80 children now receiving additional counselling support.

For more than 25 years UNICEF has been working with the government and people of Azerbaijan to provide every child with the best start to life.

Its activities began during some of the country’s most difficult times, assisting refugees and internally displaced people from the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and addressing the impact of economic hardships caused by the transition from the Soviet power to independence in 1991.

UNICEF now strives to build on the considerable progress Azerbaijan has made, economically and socially, over the last two decades. Poverty rates have dramatically decreased, child mortality rates have fallen, and primary school enrollment is almost universal.

The organization focuses its attention on those children who have not fully benefited from such advances. We work alongside the government, communities and families in Azerbaijan to reach out to those children who remain vulnerable or at risk, to initiate new approaches to child and youth development, and to strengthen the national capacities and systems that support children and families.

Being responsible for planning and coordination, management and monitoring of mine action related activities all over the country, ANAMA is the executing agency in Azerbaijan Mine Action Programme, the joint project of the Azerbaijani government and the UNDP signed on April 2, 1999.

The agency operates according to the state programmes, government tasks and ANAMA principles.