By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan has allocated more than $1.5 million for education of girls in African countries through UNESCO projects.

The projects cover Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Liberia, the country’s Permanent Delegation to UNESCO reported.

Azerbaijan is one of the donors of UNESCO. The country is funding a UNESCO project on the education of girls in Africa in accordance with the Framework Agreement signed between Azerbaijan and UNESCO in 2013.

Gender equality is a global priority for UNESCO and inextricably linked to its efforts to promote the right to education and support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Gender inequality in education affects both girls and boys, and women and men, but girls and women are still more often disadvantaged. 

Azerbaijan has been historically committed to gender equity. The country has achieved universal suffrage in 1918, being the first to empower women, and by 1919 Azerbaijan had women parliamentarians. Women with Ph.D. in the fields of mathematics and science could be found in Azerbaijan almost a century ago.

Currently, women in the country are holding key strategic areas including human resources and economic sectors of different government ministries and directories.

Earlier, Azerbaijan contributed $5 million to the UNESCO/Azerbaijan Trust Fund, under which there are three projects implemented in the field of Girls’ Education in Sub-Saharan countries in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.