This document discusses building resilience through development projects in Europe and Central Asia. It provides case studies of projects in Bulgaria, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Albania, and Croatia that addressed challenges like unemployment, access to justice, HIV prevention, landmine removal, and energy efficiency in public buildings. The projects showed innovation at the local level and then transformed and scaled up through multi-sectoral partnerships and national strategies. Building resilience requires strong community participation, addressing social determinants of health, and transforming systems to prevent future crises rather than just reacting to problems. Links are also discussed between these efforts and the WHO's Health 2020 strategy and sustainable development goals.

1. Empowering lives,
building resilience
Dr. Christoph Hamelmann
Regional Practice Leader HIV, Health and Development
UNDP Europe and Central Asia
Annual Business and Technical Conference of the WHO
European Healthy Cities Network and Network of European
National Healthy Cities Networks
St. Petersburg, 14-16 June 2012
Development Stories from
Europe and Central Asia

2. Overview
• Case Reports
• Environment and Health: Glocalization of Action
• Reflections on Building Resilience
• Resilience as Component of Sustainable
Development
• Link with WHO Health 2020 and Rio+20

3. Bulgaria: Job Opportunities through Business Support
Carpet factory HEMUS became leading employer in
village Kostandovo, over 80 women engaged
• Economy collapsing and in
transition
• high unemployment, rural areas
fall behind
• lack of self-confidence in
entrepreneurship in rural areas
What the Challenge was
• Business centre: support to open
business in depressed rural areas
• Loan guarantees and quality
certificates
Innovation / Pilot

4. Average Unemployment %
Small villages
Mixed areas
Country
Urban areas
Bulgaria: Job Opportunities through Business Support
• Owned up by Ministry of Labour
and Social Policy
• Branding: Job Opportunities
through Business Support ‘JOBS’
• 42 business centres
• 37,700 new jobs in rural areas
• 60,900 people trained with new
business and vocational skills
Transformation & Scale Up

5. Georgia: Justice for All
Head of legal aid services at legal consultation with
displaced people
• Country in transition, poverty
• Conflict and post-conflict
situation, past civil unrests
• Break-away regions
• Weak legal system, many
unresolved legal issues
What the Challenge was
• As part of judicial reform and the
2007 Law on Legal AID
• First Legal AID Service office for
the poor, displaced, ethnic
minorities, from remote areas
Innovation / Pilot

6. • Leadership by Ministry of Corrections
and Legal Assistance
• Rapid scale-up supported by UNDP
through training of lawyers, ‘knowing
your rights’ campaigns and service
marketing
• 11 Legal AID service offices and 3
consultation centres
• Over 12,000 legal consultations in
2010
Transformation & Scale Up
Georgia: Justice for All
Legal aid service to ethnic minority groups
– ethnic Greek woman in Georgia

7. Kyrgyzstan: Reducing harm from HIV
A health worker in Osh doing HIV testing
• People infected by HIV increasing
• Country at the crossroads of drug
trafficking through Central Asia
• Discrimination, marginalization
and criminalization of populations
most at risk
What the Challenge was
• Needle and syringe exchange
• Methadone substitution
treatment (2002, first in CIS)
• Landmark court case on
protection rights for PLHIV
through legal aid clinic
Innovation / Pilot

8. • Owned up by Ministry of Health
with multi-sectoral government
approach
• CSOs: ‘Nothing about us without
us’
• National HIV Strategy and
National AIDS Law
• National scale-up of harm-
reduction services for IDUs
• National scale up of
comprehensive HIV/AIDS services
Transformation & Scale Up
Kyrgyzstan: Reducing harm from HIV
National HIV Programme 2006-2010
conforms with international standards and focuses
on populations at higher risk

9. Albania: Mine-Free to Development
• Landmines from Kosovo
conflict
• Area in which people lived
mainly from subsistence
farming
• Abandonment of fields
and infrastructure
What the Challenge was
• Survey, mark, clear mines
• Mine risk education
• Victim assistance (1/3 of
victims were children)
• Whole community
engagement
Innovation / Pilot

10. • Early scale-up to all districts,39
villages, 25,000 inhabitants
• Clearing completed by 2005
• Mine action committees become
community development
committees
• Priority development plans
implemented through 185
community organizations
• Government investments for
infrastructure and matching funds
for community contributions
Transformation & Scale Up
Mine risk education taught children how to stay
safe
Albania: Mine-Free to Development

11. A house in Osijek demonstrates the benefits of
passive solar heating
Croatia: Energy Charta for
Public Sector Buildings
• Wasteful energy use, energy
intensity 12 % over EU average
• High carbon emission intensity
• High energy bill for public sector
buildings
What the Challenge was
• Pilot in Sisak, population 50,000
• 24 demonstration buildings
• Over 2 years, energy
consumption down 13%, savings
$ 440,000, carbon emissions
down by 780 tons
Innovation / Pilot

12. Croatia: Energy Charta for
Public Sector Buildings
• 127 mayors, all 20 county prefects
and 15 ministries signed Energy
Charta
• Marketing campaign with ‘Gaspar
Energetic’, information and solar
education centres
• Croatian Energy Law, Strategy and
Action Plan
• Energy audit infrastructure and
web-based EMIS
• Trainings and job creation
• 52% coverage of public sector
buildings, most in health sector
Transformation & Scale Up

13. • Health sector accounts for 7.5 % of GDP in ECIS region
• Technology intensive with significant consumption of
resources, associated with environmental pollution and
degradation
• Accounts for an estimated 4.2 % of greenhouse gases (GHG) in
the ECIS region
• Up to 25 % of these GHG can be reduced within short-term,
more through long-term measures
• Reductions have also direct positive impact on life-years saved
Example: Greenhouse gases
Ministerial European Environment and Health Task Force Meeting, Bled/Slovenia 2011
Environmental Impact of Health Sector

14. Report Regional Preparatory Meeting
Public procurement
47. Sustainable public procurement was supported as a
first critical step to further the green economy at the
national as well as the sub-national level. Concrete
progress was proposed in the form of sustainable public
procurement targets that could be met by an increasing
number of countries over the years.
Economic Commission for Europe

15. UK NHS Sustainable Development Unit, collaboration with UNDP and WHO
Carbon Foot Printing &
Marginal Abatement Costs in the Health Sector

16. Building Resilience:
Key Lessons Learnt
• It seems to need a trigger, often serious problem, crisis
• Hardest hit are the poor and disadvantaged populations
• Strong individual and community participation
important
• Multi-sectoral responses with particular focus on the
poor and disadvantaged populations
• Trouble shooting and preparedness for trouble shooting
is not enough
• Resilience is not endless and not a vehicle to justify
dismantling of social protection under austerity policies

17. Building Resilience:
Key Lessons Learnt
• Multi-level responses reflect glocalization of networks
and increase impact in time, scale and scope
• Strongest resilience when empowerment of people,
communities and institutions results in breaking
vicious cycle of trouble shooting and maintaining
outdated systems, values and practices causing even
more of it
• Commitment to multi-generational responsibility
• Transformational resilience as component of
sustainable development

18. Base Development Model
Economic
growth
Environmental protection
Social
justice

19. Dynamic Model – non-sustainable

20. Dynamic Model - sustainable
Blue Path

21. Links with WHO Europe Health 2020
• Values: universality and equity, sustainability,
rights-based and participatory approach,
anti-discrimination, transparency and
accountability
• Strategies: Universal access to health
services including emergency services; socio-
economic and environmental determinants
of health; Health in All Policies; whole
government approach

22. Glocalization in Action: WHO & UNDP
Wednesday, 20 June 2012
Local action and partnerships for more resilient
people and communities
Panelists to include:
Mr. Christian Bach, Minister for Development
Cooperation of Denmark; Dr. Margaret Chan, Director
General of the World Health Organization (WHO);
Ms. Helen Clark, United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP)

23. Glocalization in Action: WHO & UNDP
Wednesday, 20 June 2012
Greening the health sector
Wednesday, 20 June 2012
Health and sustainable development –
reinforcing the links
Panelists to include:
Dr. Margaret Chan, Director General of the
World Health Organization (WHO)

24. Empowering Lives,
Building Resilience
Development Stories from
Europe and Central Asia
christoph.hamelmann@undp.org
For further information:
Acknowledgment to all
who participated in the
projects and to those who
compiled the brochure