Through this EU-funded project, the IFRC will support the capacities of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Azerbaijan with a view to enhancing the efficiency of their efforts to address the needs of people affected by crises in Azerbaijan, such as the conflict escalation in 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic. The overall objective is thus to reduce vulnerabilities and strengthen the resilience of people affected by crises in Azerbaijan.

This will be done by a combination of the following:

1) strengthening the capacities of CSOs in humanitarian action by ensuring that CSOs have suitable structures, systems, and approaches to deliver activities that aim to improve people’s coping strategies to recover from crises;
2) sharing of best practices from the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement with CSOs in Azerbaijan;
3) addressing the recovery and livelihood needs (not relief) of the most vulnerable communities;
4) providing CSOs with resources to implement best practices.

The main objective of the project is to reduce vulnerabilities and strengthen the resilience of people affected by crises in Azerbaijan in partnership and cooperation with local CSOs including the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society, local authorities, and other relevant stakeholders.

The specific objective is to strengthen the institutional capacities and operational capabilities of local CSOs in Azerbaijan, including volunteer groups and self-organising communities, to bolster their participation in public decision-making and support their efforts in terms of reducing local vulnerabilities through service delivery, with a focus on those associated with the recent conflict escalation and COVID-19 pandemic. This involves:

• Stimulating community-based development that is inclusive, gender-responsive, and/or gender-transformative and resilient;
• Strengthening CSOs' internal capacities, organizational settings and implementation capacities as actors in local development and service providers for vulnerable populations;
• Contributing to tangible and measurable transformation in the lives of the most vulnerable population including internally displaced people (IDPs);
• Increasing CSOs’ contribution to national and local development processes in support of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development.

• Greater participation of community-based and grassroots organizations in the local development process;
• Generation of best practices that can be replicated or scaled up for the progress towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);
• Building multi-stakeholder partnerships and alliances around the local development agenda;
• Creating and improving the organizational settings and internal development of the CSOs;
• Greater number of community-led initiatives that are inclusive and gender-sensitive.