US-Azerbaijan NGO Partnership Opportunity

Initiative for Social Action and Renewal in Eurasia (ISAR) announces a new program to provide cooperative funding for Azerbaijani and US grassroots non-profit organizations/non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Funded by the United States Agency for International Development, ISAR's US- Azerbaijan NGO Partnership Program will target advanced NGOs working in the fields of women's issues and/or the environment, including environmental health and environmental education.

Azerbaijani women's and environmental NGOs have become increasingly active in recent years. Women's NGOs in Azerbaijan have participated in a range of civic causes including, but not limited to: family planning; monitoring and publicizing violations of women's rights; AIDS education; domestic violence prevention; assisting disabled women; and increasing women's involvement in politics. Azerbaijani environmental NGOs have likewise been active in a range of topics including, but not limited to: monitoring sources of pollution; protecting natural habitats for birds; ecological education for children; informing the public about pollution data; measuring health effects of pollution and raising issues of consumer rights. However, many of these organizations have not had sufficient opportunities to partner with counterpart organizations in the United States.

The US-Azerbaijan NGO Partnership Program will occur in two phases. First, during a two-week exchange program in Winter 2000-01, four Azerbaijani NGO representatives will travel to the US to meet with counterpart US organizations. During this time, each Azerbaijani exchange participant will spend several days working with a selected US non-profit/NGO to become familiar with their host organizations' activities and to develop ideas for a cooperative project.

To be eligible to host an Azerbaijani NGO leader, the US organization must be active in women's issues and/or the environment on both a community and international level. US organizations need to demonstrate a clear commitment to international partnership activities by indicating successful previous projects. American and Azerbaijani NGOs need not have worked together prior to the application for the first phase of the program, however preference will be given to organizations which have initiated some contact with one another prior to the submission of the application. In other instances, ISAR will be able to match selected applicants from the US and Azerbaijan according to the focus of their work.

Following the exchange in Winter 2000-01, ISAR will hold a second phase of the project: a cooperative grants competition to support joint projects between NGOs from the US and Azerbaijan which will begin in Spring 2001. ISAR plans to support between three and five projects with an average grant of approximately $10,000.

The application deadline for the first phase of the project will be November 1, 2000. Application materials and further information about this program will be available on ISAR's website on June 15, 2000 at http://www.isar.org/. The application deadline for the cooperative grants phase will be March 15, 2001.

If you would like additional information about the US-Azerbaijan NGO Partnership Program, ISAR's work in Azerbaijan or about NGOs in Azerbaijan, please contact Telman Yolchiyev at [email protected] or Alex Klaits at [email protected].

Last updated:    May 2000

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