highlights, as promised, here you go...

Highlights of our first 3 months (mid-August to mid-November, 2006)
in Republic of Azerbaijan

The time here in Azerbaijan goes faster, or maybe it’s just our impression as we have rarely time to have a look from a certain distance on our daily work. We have arrived a little bit more than 3 months ago, mid-August when the weather in Baku was hot and stuffy, now winter is approaching.

It is high time to take a break and to put on paper what has been achieved so far. This report aims to celebrate the setting up of a new project in the rural regions of Azerbaijan. It’s not meant to be a high official report, it is more showing some of our ‘highlights’ here and that things are going smooth, despite our first expectations. We hope that you enjoy reading this report… and we would like to thank the Internally Displaced Person (IDP) communities and other people working here in Azerbaijan for their interest, their enthusiasm and warm welcome of two strangers to their live.



First month we spent most of our time in Baku, helped out with trainings and a Play Day in Sumgayit (2nd largest city in Azerbaijan, located 30 km north of Baku accommodating a large number of IDPs). We learned a lot about the RTP programs in the IDP schools in Baku and Sumgayit, how the project has started and what achievements and challenges are.

With the assistance of Baku office, we recruited Madat, our Local Project Coordinator (LPC) for Imishli project.

We visited IDP settlements in Beylagan and Bilasuvar regions together with the Swiss donors who were visiting Azerbaijan at that time.

We also learned more about the history of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia and the hardships that IDPs have been through in the last 18 years.

During the second month we set up our office/home in Imishli, arranged orientation and team building activities for Madat, the new LPC. We also reached out to IDP communities in Bilasuvar and Beylagan settlements in Imishli region, got introduced to the representatives of the government, contacted local NGOs and managed to establish a very good relationship with local population.

We moved from our first house to a new house in the center of Imishli with better electricity (more electricity sources which means less hours without electricity), cheaper and a bathroom and toilet inside the house instead of outside in the yard, this is very rare in rural region of Azerbaijan!

We had many introduction meetings with directors of schools. We were invited to two wedding parties and other events such as celebration of Azerbaijan Independent Day. We also got to know our neighbors, played football and volleyball with their children, learned were the market is and were people (actually just men) meet: Chaykhana (teahouses).

In the third month of the program, things accelerated enormously. Meetings in Bilasuvar were followed by two Play Days. We assisted teachers, community volunteers and government representatives to organized two Play Days in IDP settlements of Bilasuvar. About 1,000 children and youth from 6 schools participated in the event and played different Azerbaijani games that were lead by their teachers. A local music band came to the event and played Azerbaijani music.

It was through the Play Days that we learned about the local games and how sport and play programs are implemented in IDP schools and the community. We also got to know amazing volunteers, teachers and community leaders who are very skillful and motivated people to work with. We felt privileged getting to know them and assisting them.

Play Days followed with training workshops. Teachers and volunteers who were interested in learning more about Right To Play programs participated in these workshops. We shared information on benefits of sport for healthy child development and wellbeing of the IDP communities in the settlements. We also discussed ideas on how Right To Play can assist the community to organize regular sport and play activities and provide opportunities for children and youth to play and participate in sport events. We also presented some of Right To Play games to teachers and volunteers and learn more about local games.

Meanwhile we supported the community providing them with more than 300 pieces of sport equipments. We have been working with 14 schools (6 in Bilasuvar settlements and 8 in Beylagan settlements) and a local sport council in Bilasuvar settlement.

Beside the program implementation in the IDP settlements in Bilasuvar and Beylagan, we have also been in contact with local and international NGOs and UN agencies in Baku. We cooperated with the UN World Food Program (WFP) and organized a fund/awareness rising run/walk in down town Baku for the World Run Day to End Child Hunger. The program was a WFP global initiative. We managed to raise US$ 3,500. The fund raised will be used to organize Play Days with health message in IDP settlements in Bilasuvar and Beylagan. We are working with WFP and Ministry of Health in this regard.

We are also in regular contact with Azerbaijan NGO Alliance for Children’s Rights. NGO Alliance is made of about 60 NGOs that advocate on behalf of children and assist Azerbaijani government to allocate more resources for programs that are designed for children and youth. They have an online platform to share information, ideas and experiences in this field. We have established a very good relationship with the president of NGO Alliance and are taking steps to get more involved and learn about activities of other organizations.

We have also met with local NGOs in Imishli region such as Araz, Reliable Future (they are based in Baku but run a Parent-Teacher-Association in Bilasuvar IDP settlements) and Development 2006. We recently moved our Imishli office to the building of Development 2006 NGO. These NGOs are potential implementing partners for us in Imishli region working with IDPs.

We are also cooperating with the government of Azerbaijan and International Medical Corps (IMC) to organize a Play Day in Yevlakh for children with disability on December 3rd to celebrate International Day of People with Disability. The local government office will secure the venue and cover the costs. IMC will organize the event and we, Right To Play, will bring in the program. We will train some of the local teachers and volunteers the day before the Play Day. They will then lead the games during the Play Day.

The above activities have been very useful for us to learn what programs/resources Azerbaijani government, UN agencies and local/international NGOs have in Azerbaijan. Such information help us to develop partnership with other organizations and better utilize our resources in order to reach out to more IDP children. We also believe that such approach contributes to sustainability of our program in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has one of the world’s fastest growing GDPs (%26) thanks to the oil revenues. There is no emergency situation here and most international organizations have stopped their direct intervention and have shifted their approach to supporting the government to implement projects. Local government offices are well funded and are keen on partnering with international NGOs to deliver their programs.

… and to finish with a good news: Zenfira joined us in the 3rd month and is helping us as a Local Project Coordinator. We are hoping that her arrival will increase participation of female volunteer and teachers in our programs. Thanks to all of those who made these highlights possible, special thanks go to Madat and Zenfira, our local project coordinators.

M & A
Project Coordinators
Right To Play in Azerbaijan

November 2006