Stainable primary health services, training and job creation for the poor in rural areas	Prize Subject
US$ 150,000	Prize Amount:
Community-Based Primary Health Care Development in Azerbaijan (Selected winner from 5 projects).	The Winning Project
the International Medical Corps (IMC)	Implemented By
Azerbaijan	Beneficiary Country
Center for Refugees and disaster Response (CRDR)	Nominated By

International Medical Corps (IMC)  is a global humanitarian nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through health care training and relief and development programs. Established in 1984 by volunteer doctors and nurses. Its mission is to improve the quality of life through health interventions and related activities that build local capacity in areas worldwide. By offering training and health care to local populations and medical assistance to people at highest risk, and with the flexibility to respond rapidly to emergency situations, IMC rehabilitates devastated health care systems and helps bring them back to self-reliance.

In May of 2000 to IMC began working in Azerbaijan where the residents have long suffered from a severe shortage of local primary health care facilities, trained staff and supplies. IMC's goal from the outset was to improve the availability, quality and sustainability of primary health care services in Azerbaijan for more than 240,000 people living in the southern region of the country. The "Community-Based Primary Health Care Development in Azerbaijan" is well designed project and complied with AGFUND conditions. Its objectives were properly defined for the first phase, assessed and modified/developed for the second phase of the project to fit its progress, and to provide better health care services to the targeted communities. The project adopted the concept of Primary Health Care (PHC) in its approaches, and offered health care services, covering curative, preventive, promotive, and rehabilitative health care services ( including mother and child health ) , focusing on underprivileged population living in rural districts of Azerbaijan . The focus on women and children is provided by the emphasis on maternal and child health training for the clinicians and expansion of overall primary care capacity. It combines intensive direct support to local primary care clinics and systems as well as extensive training for health care professionals and support personnel. There is a significant health education effort as well. The key aspect of the work, from a sustainability viewpoint are the community health funds that have been initiated. A key need in systems that were part of the former Soviet Union is the development of value within the health care system and an insurance system or structure is necessary for future development. One way to do this is to expand the skills of the professionals in the system so that their service are more likely to be demanded and that people are more likely to pay. That task has been addressed impressively by the project.

The project trained 7800 people and improved the living conditions of 55 communities throughout 11 districts, covered 120,000 inhabitants out of which 56,000 (4 7%) were internally displaced persons (IDPs). The most important feature of the project is that it worked in close cooperation with the local health authorities and not created a parallel health care system. The project decreased the cost of the health care services, raised revenues to support running and fixed costs of clinics and formed community health funds (health care financing) to which community members contributed. The project also established number of innovative beside community health fund, like pre-paid insurance and fee-for-service payment system. These all are sustainable solution for functioning, responsive, and high quality PHC services at the local level. The project’s administrative and finance management system is well maintained and it shows replicable in other countries as implemented in Afghanistan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Iraq.

PRIZE WINNERS 2006 - Second Winner

Second Category for projects by national non-governmental organization (NGOs).

The role of NGOs in the provision of education services and job creation for the poor in rural areas	Prize Subject
US$ 100,000	Prize Amount
Discovering the Ocean World: Education resources for primary schools. (Selected winner from 29 projects).	The Winning Project
Shoals Rodrigues Society	Implemented By
Mauritius	Beneficiary Country
UNDP GEF Small Grants Programme	Nominated By

PRIZE WINNERS 2006 - Third Winner

Third Category for projects initiated, sponsored and/or implemented by individuals

“Business Women Association helps women find their way in life and not loose it. The transition to a market economy is a hard burden for socially vulnerable people – women, children, elder people and invalids. And such women as Dildor Alimbekova is of great demand for Uzbekistan”.
Lorrain Raffing, former UNDP Deputy Representative in Uzbekistan.

Dildor Alimbekova, Founder and Chairperson, Business Women Association of Uzbekistan (BWA) “Tadbirkor ayol”. She has initiated the BWA with aim of raising the economic status of women, providing training and assistance to women who lost their jobs during the disintegration of the Soviet Union and transition to the market economy. Her whole hearted dedication vibrated women folk in Uzbekistan in particular and the central Asia in general.

The project "Work places creation through training of women on vocations and business skills” is an excellent conceived and implemented project - well thought, well planned and well managed. Women folks in developing countries are to some extent neglected. They are not provided in general with adequate all round facilities for their over all developments – social, vocational, economical and political. This project with assistance of German Chamber and other international organizations revolutionised empowerment of women in Uzbekistan and neighbouring Republics such as Kazakhstan, Tajikstan and Kyrgyz stan. Modern thought of free economy and economic, social and political empowerment of women are well envisaged in the project. The new concepts of helping the poor marginalized people specially women with vocational Training and micro finances is praiseworthy.

The project is a well thought innovative project which gave adequate emphasis in education, vocational training, advocacy, micro finances, management, entrepreneurship, business skills, women empowerment etc and cooperation and coordination among agencies and nations. The reach of the project in terms of number of people which have received training and now gainfully employed or self-employed in businesses is very large. The project has adopted a strategy which focuses on interventions in line with the priorities of the Government of Uzbekistan and which is sensitive to the social, economic and cultural realities of the women in the country. Emphasis has been on promoting women’s businesses in the context of broader socio-economic development strategies, through a coordinated package of activities including skills training, entrepreneurial development and post-training support services such as provision of credit, technical and legal assistance. The strategy and success story of the project is now being replicated in other Central Asian countries to irradicate poverty and empowering women. Recognition has to be given to the critical role in the project of Ms Dildor Alimbekova, BWA Chairperson; she is the conceiver, designer, implementer and manager of the project. Her advocacy campaigns to bring to the attention of the Government and the private sector of the problems of women and especially the unemployed have been recognized both nationally and internationally.