The inauguration was attended by representatives of UNICEF, the Academy, regional and local government staff that is currently enrolled in various in-service training courses of the Academy.

“Civil servants at central and local levels play a very important role in ensuring the wellbeing of children. They can ensure that children and women are at the top of the governance agenda by making policies and programmes responsive to children’s rights. They can also allocate more local resources to improve the situation of the most vulnerable and make sure these resource are effectively used,” said UNICEF Representative Jean-Michel Delmotte during the opening ceremony. “UNICEF’s cooperation with the Academy helps equip regional and district-level officials with necessary skills and knowledge to support child-centered action.”

The resource centre is established under the joint initiative of the Academy of State and Social Construction and UNICEF to conduct thematic discussions supported by the UNICEF team. This partnership is part of the Country Programme of Cooperation for 2010-2015 and focuses on strengthening capacity of government servants at all levels and across all sectors to prioritize children’s rights in social policy development and implementation.

In the past five years more than seven hundred local and regional government officials and regional representatives of line ministries were introduced to results based management (RBM) technique. The RBM module has now been included into the curricula of the academy. Local government officials were also trained in child rights to ensure that increased capacity in planning, management and monitoring would facilitate more effective use of resources for the wellbeing of women and children.

The new resource centre will also serve as a platform for knowledge sharing between the Academy, UNICEF and other partner organizations, including the National Human Rights Centre, Ombudsman’s Office, Cabinet Ministries, civil society organisations and NANNOUz. It is planned that the centre will host lectures and roundtable meetings with key national policy and decision makers and visiting international experts on issues related to child wellbeing.

The photo exhibition is dedicated to child rights and their implementation in daily life. A selection of articles from the Convention on the Rights of the Child is depicted through some of the best photographs taken by a prominent UNICEF photographer Giacomo Pirozzi in different parts of the world, including Uzbekistan. Each of the 15 exhibition panels illustrates one of the key child rights ‘in action’ with examples of children from Uzbekistan as part of a larger assortment of countries and contexts across the world. It will remind all of us who see it that rights are universal, interrelated and to be enjoyed by every child without discrimination. The exhibition will be on display till 5 January 2012.