launch and promote the Resource Guide and Toolkit , I contributed to a Community of Practice Meeting of National Human Rights Institutions from the Caucasus and Central Asia held from 30 September to 1 October 2010,in Yerevan, Armenia. This conference addressed “Promoting Minority Rights and Gender Equality Agenda – Role of Independent and Effective National Human Rights Institutions” during which the Resource Guide and Toolkit was presented to participants. This publication is a tangible outcome of a comprehensive consultative and drafting process, which is one of its unique features. It has been referred to as one of the “Best Models” of cooperation between a UN agency and a thematic mandate of the UN Human Rights Council, in various UNGA and HRC reports, with its emphasis on capacity development of governments for targeted and mainstreamed policies and programmes. According to Geraldine J Fraser-Moleketi ,Practice Director for Democratic Governance Group, UNDP: “The legacy of this engagement with UNDP, which in turn has already triggered a similar process in another UN agency (UNICEF), is already starting to see the actual benefits as our staff are now in a better position to offer more targeted, inclusive, and contextualized support to our programme countries and partners, and with the Post-2015 development process has already commenced, we are further convinced of the intrinsic and instrumental value of this critical knowledge product [Marginalised Minorities in Development Programming: A UNDP Resource Guide and Toolkit]. Moreover, [the Independent Expert’s] constructive partnership with UNDP has not only led to our continued engagement at the UN Forum on Minority Issues, thereby cementing our cooperation with one of the critical UN Human Rights Council processes, but also in the recently established UN Network on Racial Discrimination and the Protection on Minorities, as called for by the UN Secretary General.” The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has been engaged in minority rights interventions as part of its overall child-focused programming strategy which pays particular attention to vulnerable and excluded groups. A comprehensive assessment of UNICEF activities, undertaken in 2009, revealed theorganization’s active involvement in initiatives bringing real benefits to ethnic, religious, and linguistic minority communities. The most visible 6