Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 18-19 May 2009 UNDP together with the Senate of Oliy Majlis of Uzbekistan and the Academy of State and Social Construction organized regional workshop on Human Development in the context of the Year 2009 declared by the President of Uzbekistan as a “Year of Development and Improvement of Countryside” and in light of realization of Anti-crisis program for 2009-2012. The seminar is organized in Urgench for representatives from Karakalpakistan Republic and Khorezm region of Uzbekistan.

The main purpose of workshop in Urgench is enhancement of professional level, knowledge and skills of the representatives of local authorities in the issues of socio-economic development of Uzbekistan’s regions, empowerment of participants with human development principles and their practical application, increase in activity of the governing bodies at regional level as well as local Kengashes of people’s deputies in operationalizing human development concept, implement State program 2009 and realize the State anti-crisis measures for 2009-2012. During the seminar it was also planned to collect materials for producing National Human Development Report 2009 on regional disparities.

2009 was declared in Uzbekistan as the “Year of Development and Improvement of Countryside”. Among the wide range of state initiatives directed towards realization of measures on rural/regional development, it is very important to emphasize the role and place of local Kengashes of people’s deputies in the system of good governance, enhancement of professional skills of local authorities and the legal framework to provide more comprehensive observance of interest of rural population, reconsidering the current legislative acts from the position of today’s requirements, improvement quality of provided services and rural infrastructure, increasing human factor magnitude in socio-economic development.

The comprehensive Anti-crisis programme 2009-2012 was released in order to overcome negative effects of global financial and economic crisis. Its measures address issues of sustainable pace of economic growth, provision of macroeconomic balance, stable functioning of the sector of economy, employment, effective social protection of the population, direct support of importers, major production industries, small businesses and other actions.

The Government of Uzbekistan is fostering the implementation of regional policies and programs consistent with the development goals and priorities of the Republic for the period up to 2010, as spelled out in the Welfare Improvement Strategy (WIS) for 2008-2010 .

The Human Development concept puts human being at the center of the development. The core pillar of the concept is about enlarging people’s choices and enhancing human capabilities and freedoms, enabling them to live a long and healthy life, have access to knowledge and a decent standard of living, and participate in the life of their community and decisions affecting their lives. National Human Development Reports published by UNDP in Uzbekistan are targeting issues of economic development and social protection, thus corresponding with the government’s development agenda.

Uzbekistan Human Development Report 2009 on Socio-economic Peculiarities and Disparities of Regional Development in Uzbekistan (NHDR 2009) will look at the role of regional identity in human development perspective which is the most significant factors that determine the differences of people’s life-activity opportunities in the regions. These differences are notable in regional development and engendered policies, health, education, employment patterns, factors that determine economic capability of the region, historically developed traditions of entrepreneurship, the legacy of the planned economy, the geopolitical situation, infrastructure, demographic situation, man-made environmental damages and landscape destruction, utilization of natural resources for agriculture and industry problems in the context of development and improvement of rural areas.

In the context of identified problems in February 2009 the national training -seminar on Human development was conducted by joint efforts of the Senate of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Academy of State and Social Construction under the President and the United Nations Development Programme in Uzbekistan. The event brought together over 150 representatives of state and local officials, scientific and research institutes alongside with academia. The seminar helped enlarging knowledge on methodologies and the system of state governance, based on human development principles.

The seminar paved the way for replicating this training practice down to the regions to cover human development issues in the context of development and improvement of countryside as well as realization of anti-crisis state program. The adaptation of the HD seminars-training to regions includes following tasks, goals and expected results.