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Newsletter 2007 -first release
Short content
Support for sports and
education for Refugee girls in Azerbaijan
UNHCR Azerbaijan would like to strengthen the community’s sports and
recreation services of and link these activities with existing school
and education activities for Refugee and IDP girls. In order to enhance
the quality of the sports programme provided to the within the frame of
Ninemillion.Org campaign with the support of UNHCR and Right to Play, it
is envisaged to carry out the following activities on the project:
Promote girls’ enrolment to the schools and provide their
sustainable education by means of the following devices
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Developing sports education programmes for girls in Azerbaijan and
providing the refugee and IDP girls with sports equipment and sanitary
kits
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Repairing the school building and playgrounds, enhancing the quality of
education and sports programme by providing the schools with education
materials and visual aids.
Providing regular access of the girls to daily health practices,
sports and play programmes
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Promoting daily health and hygiene education amongst Refugee and IDP
communities
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Encouraging regular access to sports and play programmes for Refugee and
IDP communities
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Supporting the development of female coaches and activity leaders within
Refugee and IDP communities.
Education for Development
Capacity Building and Economic Opportunities Expansion of the IDP Youth
Logistic Support to Vulnerable IDPs in Azerbaijan
The project “Education for Development,
Vocational Training for IDP youth and Logistical Support for vulnerable
IDPs in Azerbaijan” implemented by Umid HSSC with financial support from
UNHCR is going on in 2007, as well.
Education for Development
The studies were conducted in 21 IDP schools
located in Sumgait and near-by settlements to improve the primary
education conditions, enhancing the education quality and increase
parents’ initiative in IDP schools.
Based on the selection criteria, it is
envisaged to carry out the repair and restoration in three IDP schools –
Demirchiler village school of Gubadly region, school#9 of Fizuli region,
school#117 of Kelbadjar region. In these schools, four classrooms and
two community rooms will be repaired and restored; two classrooms and a
community room (school#9 of Fizuli region) will be constructed and
provided with the necessary equipment.
In target communities the TPAs were
established, CAGs, each consisting of seven people, were formed and the
action plan was developed. In the newly selected communities, five
community gatherings (total number of participants was 102, 37 men, and
65 women) were conducted to present the project and select the
initiative group, 13 community meetings (total number of participants
was 212, women-144, men - 68) and 19 round-tables (total number of
participants was 339, men 104, women 235, 159 teachers, 180 parents) on
the issues that covered the problems of the community and education were
held.
Vocational Training for IDP youth
To conduct awareness raising activities on the vocational training by
means of Apprenticeship method, the discussions were held with the
parents and youngsters in 25 communities, 516 participants taking part
in these meetings. 160 IDP youngsters who were eager to learn vocational
skills applied to the agency and at present, 18 youngsters are learning
six professions as barber, hairdresser, engine repairs, confectioner,
car fitter and photo-video. The monitoring are regularly conducted in
the workshops to track the effectiveness of the training sessions,
apprentices’ attendance and the efficient utilization of the provided
equipment.
The meeting of the representatives of “Hayat” NGO and Japanese agency
“Risshco Kosei Kai” with the pupils, teachers and parents from Khalaj
village school of Gubadly region was arranged. The compositions
reflecting the cultural heritage of both countries were presented and
the outlines of the future cooperation were identified. 29
representatives who came from Japan, the representatives of Education
Office of Gubadly region and Sumgait office of State Committee on the
Work with IDPs and more than 300 community members took part in the
event. At the end of the event, “Wish boxes” were presented to 206
pupils of primary classes.
Capacity Building of refugees and asylum-seekers in Azerbaijan and
logistic support
The implementation of the project “Logistical support and Vocational
training for the refugees and asylum-seekers settled in Azerbaijan”,
with its main goals being the strengthening of economic opportunities,
business and vocational skills of those seeking for asylum in Azerbaijan
and the provision of the refugees and asylum-seekers with non-food
humanitarian relief items, is still underway in 2007. The project is
being implemented in Baku with the financial support of UNHCR.
Project objectives:
Strengthening vocational skills of the asylum-seeking youth – Enhancing
entrepreneurial abilities and economic opportunities of the
asylum-seeking youth settled in Azerbaijan through Apprenticeship method
Involving asylum seekers to the Internet training sessions – training
the adolescents and youngsters in Internet skills that meet the modern
requirements and improving their communication skills,
Providing the refugees and asylum-seekers with non-food humanitarian
relief items – distributing humanitarian (non-food) relief items in
accordance with the plan agreed with the Government of the Republic of
Azerbaijan
In accordance with the Project objectives, a range of meetings were held
in the refugee and asylum-seeker communities, a variety of discussions
and surveys on the dissemination of the information concerning the
project and youngsters’ enrolment were conducted. The survey results
were analyzed and according to the selection criteria, 13 out of 31
refugee and asylum seeker youth were divided into groups based on the
specialties they selected for learning.
Since March, those youngsters have been involved to the training
sessions on five professions (barber, hairdresser, cosmetology, car
repairs and mobile phone repairs). The youngsters involved in the
trainings are the citizens of Chechnya and Afghanistan.
In the filed office, free use of Internet services and consultation
hours are arranged on a daily basis. During three months, 40 people
benefited from Internet services.
Strengthening Future Communities Programme in Azerbaijan
The goal of the project “Strengthening Future Communities Programme in
Azerbaijan” is to make the communities located in the east part of
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan / South Caucasian Pipelines reach the level of
initiator, self-governing and self-organizing community by using their
own income-generating skills and means. The project is under
implementation in Yevlakh, Agdash, Ujar, Kurdamir and Hajigabul regions
with the financial support from “Save the Children”.
According to the framework of the project, it is envisaged to implement
the following activities:
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Establishing sustainable relations among
Implementation Group and local ExComs in order to enable the development
of the community
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Improving social infrastructure and services
in the communities
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Providing the employment of the youngsters,
strengthening vocational abilities through Apprenticeship method in
order to increase commercial abilities and enhance income-generating
skills.
Technical Support Team formed of SC and Umid
HSSC staff, firstly, conducted a survey on 34 communities regarding the
selection of Star Community Groups and Municipalities. Having analyzed
the results of the survey, Star Community Groups and Municipalities were
selected in five regions. These are Nematabad community of Yevlakh
region, Ashagy Leki of Agdash region, Garadagly community of Ujar
region, Karrar community of Kurdemir region and Padar community of
Hajigabul region.
Organizational Assessment Tool (OAT) was separately applied to Community
Groups and Municipalities for evaluating the abilities of the selected
groups.
As a result of OAT, the training packages were developed on
Organizational Development together with Save the Children and Umid HSSC.
In terms of developing the skills of CGs and Municipalities the training
sessions on the following topics were provided during the past period of
time:
Star communities plan to communicate the
training sessions they received to the neighboring communities.
The information on the project was provided in the target communities in
order to improve the vocational and business skills of the trade masters
and apprentices through apprenticeship method, the survey was conducted
to identify the selection of the professions by the youth. 68 youth from
the target communities applied to learn the professions they desired.
Support to
Environmental and Energy Initiatives
The project “Support to Environmental and Energy Initiatives”
implemented to improve the management of energy resources, support the
initiatives on using the alternative energy sources and reducing
environmental pollution cases in the communities along Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
/ South Caucasian Pipelines is also underway this year.
After the demonstration of the redesigned Energy Bus in Sangachal
Terminal- Caspian Energy Center, it headed for Tovuz and Akstafa regions
in relation with the organization of awareness raising events in the
communities there.
The Energy Bus consists of such sections as alternative energy
technologies, operational models and mock-ups, materials and methods on
the effective and safe utilization of the energy in the household
activities, the demonstration of the materials necessary for the proper
isolation of the houses, schools, clinics and so on. Additionally, there
are booklets and information sheets in the bus, which consist not only
of the principles that are built on various initiatives, but also the
demonstration of the mock-ups that explain how they are installed and
placed.
Given the need for ecological awareness-raising of the members of the
target communities, the Energy Bus provides necessary information not
only on energy management and alternative energy devices, but also on
the purification of potable and irrigation water, waste management,
organic and inorganic wastes management as well as safe ecological
practice.
With the assistance of Caspian Energy Center, Future Communities
Programme, Ecological Investment Programme, the Energy Bus provides the
population involved in awareness-raising activity with the materials and
presentations providing information on the activities of BP on Energy
and Ecology.
The contest to strengthen the knowledge, skills and outlook of the
schoolchildren on environment, safety and energy on awareness-raising
component was completed.
With this end in view, on February 16, 2007, the awarding ceremony of
the winners of the drawing and article contest was held in Yevlakh city,
with the representatives of BP Ltd. Exploration, of the editorial staff
of “Sheker Villasi” newspaper and of Yevlakh city Education Office as
well as the schoolchildren, parents and teachers from the communities of
Yevlakh and Agdash regions participating.
113 articles and 87 drawings on
“Environment”, “Energy” and “Safety” were submitted by 12 secondary
schools of Agdash and Yevlakh regions. The drawings and articles
submitted for the contest were evaluated and 30 schoolchildren were
awarded with presents of value and incentive presents.
The schoolchildren who took the first,
second, third places were awarded with personal computer, video-camera
and photo camera, respectively.
During the implementation period, the
following projects on the component “Community projects on energy
management, renewable energy, environment and safety” were implemented:
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Kurdemir region, Topalhasanly community –
Installation of solar panels to provide the medical center with hot
water
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Yevlakh region, Nemetabad community –
Installation of solar panels to provide the village bath with hot water
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Goranboy region, Gurbanzade community –
Installation of Biogas digester in the farm.
Improving potable water provision in the communities along
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and South Caucasus Pipelines – Stage II
In 2005, the studies to clarify the situation with potable water
provision and water sources in the communities along BTC/SCP (Hajigabul-Yevlakh)
were carried out by Umid HSSC. It was identified that 23 out of 50
communities suffer from potable water shortage.
According to the conducted studies, in the
target communities, there are four main sources that meet the
community’s demand for potable water by means of channels and ditches.
These sources are Yukhary Shirvan channel and the rivers of Kura,
Kyulullu and Turyanchay.
The fact that the majority of the area consists of saline soils leads to
the increase of subsoil water level from 300 mg/l to 5000 mg/l per year,
the rise of water level during spring and autumn and the increase of
turbidity level up to 10000mg/l. The high turbidity level results in
spending much time to clear out the water naturally and leads to the
fall of the water quality. Umid HSSC conducted the analysis of the water
taken from each source and according to the laboratory results, it was
identified that the water the population use is of low quality in terms
of meeting sanitary-hygiene standards.
In 2006, within the first stage of “Improvement of potable water
provision in the communities” project implemented to solve this problem,
the water purifiers were implemented in six communities, the
communities’ demand for potable water were satisfied and LLCs were
established to organize the water sale in the communities.
Taking into account the community members’ demand for potable water in
the areas along pipelines, in 2007 the actions on expanding the activity
and improving the water supply within the second stage of the project
are being implemented.
To ensure the dissemination of the information on the project, the
meetings were held with Executive Powers of Hajigabul, Kurdemir, Ujar,
Agdash and Yevlakh regions, regional executive power representatives in
the communities and municipalities, the information on the project
parameters was provided.
The booklets “The water we drink”, “Water is the fundamental of the
life” and “Protection of water sources from the pollution and
devastation” were distributed among the population, the awareness of the
population on the protection of water sources from the pollution, the
water we drink and the necessity of depurating the water we drink by
means of modern purification technologies and an integrated and
efficient utilization of water was raised.
Furthermore, in 39 round-tables in which 301 community members,
executive power representatives and the municipality chairmen
participated, the discussions on the problems, challenges in water
supply and their causes were held, the information on the project
parameters were provided and the mechanism of the participation of the
communities in the competition and the terms of the competition were
announced.
To select the target communities where the water purifiers are to be
installed within the frame of the project out of the communities along
the pipelines, the Assessment Commission consisting of the staff of BP,
Save the Children, Agro Information Center, the representatives of
communities, municipalities and LLCs was organized and 20 proposals
submitted by the communities on the improvement of potable water supply
were assessed. The Assessment Commission conducted the studies in ten
selected communities and five communities that gathered most points were
selected for constructing water purifiers, applying Organizational
Assessment Tool, strengthening CAG skills, establishing and developing
LLCs.
USAID’s
Community Development Activity Project
Since 2005, Community Development Activity (CDA) program of USAID
has established close collaboration with 23 communities from four
regions of North-East region of the country. The establishment of closer
and more constructive relationships among communities, Executive Powers
and municipalities is important for the emergence of the local
government. The local government’s support is very valuable in order to
understand thoroughly the needs of the citizens for planning and
decision-making processes and to implement the successful projects.
In January 2007, Umid HSSC and CHF arranged several meetings with the
participation of CDA communities, the representatives of the Executive
Powers and municipalities to discuss the last year’s achievements and
challenges as well as future plans. In these meetings, the problems
within the communities were discussed and the local government
representatives put forward a range of constructive proposals on joint
activity methods. These meetings were not only the official forum for
the local government representatives to render their contribution to CDA
program, but also it resulted in the emergence of the contributions
aimed at the success of the community development initiatives.
By cooperating with CDCs, Executive Powers and municipality
representatives try to create confidence and trust between the citizens
and themselves. As the confidence and trust develops based on the mutual
interests, the communities and local government representatives will be
able to form a stronger local government in future.
During the activity period, the opening ceremonies of four projects
implemented in Mollaburhan community of Khachmaz region were organized.
In the ceremonies, Ann Derse, Ambassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary of the USA, the representatives of CHF International and
community representatives participated. Since January 2005, Mollaburhan
community has been involved in the Community Development Activity
program of USAID. During last year, community members and Community
Development Council (CDC) participated in the training sessions, weekly
meetings were held and four projects with a total sum of 35000 AZN, half
of which was collected by the community, were implemented.
During the quarter, nine social and infrastructure project proposals and
seven Project Technical Description forms were developed. The results of
the tenders conducted in eight communities were announced and the
agreements were signed in four communities.
Zykh Community
Development Initiative
The project is implemented to support the sustainable and creative
initiatives that would strengthen the communities living around Zykh
highway and Textile Industrial Complex named after Z.Tagiyev of Khatai
district, Baku city, to create their income-generating opportunities and
improve their socio-economic opportunities as well as enhance vocational
skills of the youth residing in Bibiheybet settlement and Zykh area. The
project is implemented with the support of BP Exploration (Shahdeniz)
Ltd. Company.
In this stage of the project, it is envisaged to enhance the vocational
skills of the youngsters through Apprenticeship method, to expand the
activity of Business Development Services and to implement Jump-Start
economic projects for the youth who completed the vocational training
courses.
The studies were conducted in Zykh highway and Bibiheybet areas, the
announcements on vocational training courses were distributed. During
the period of activity, in general, 28 people were involved in
apprenticeship vocational trainings (welder, dressmaker, hairdresser,
car fitter, auto electrician, auto-blacksmith and manicure-pedicure). 21
out of the apprentices involved in the courses were the youth from Zykh,
while 8 of the apprentices were the youngsters from Bibiheybet
community. During the quarter, a total of nine apprentices successfully
completed the courses on visagiste field and they were presented with
the certificates and presents. At present, 19 apprentices (15 - Zykh, 4
- Bibiheybet), 14 trade masters (11 Zykh, 3 Bibiheybet) are successfully
continuing the vocational training courses.
During the activity period, in Zykh area, the implementation of two
micro projects was started. The project “Improvement of sanitary-hygiene
conditions in Kindergarten # 288” proposed with the initiative of
“Ulduz” community and the implementation of the project “Improving
primary education conditions in secondary school # 116” in “Ugur”
community are implemented by “Vestal LLC” and “Yagub LLC” companies that
were selected through the tender, respectively.
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