The Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society benefited from IFRC’s “Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA)” level 2 training under the EU-funded project

On 22-25 April 2024, in the framework of the EU-funded project “Bridging the Gap between Community Needs and Local Capacities and Capabilities of the Civil Society Actors in Azerbaijan”, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society (AzRCS) organised 4-day “Cash and Voucher Assistance” training.

The training program involved the participation of staff of HQ, coordinators, chairmen, and volunteers from the Regional Centres and Branches of the AzRCS.

The primary objectives of the CVA training were to bolster humanitarian aid capabilities in cash transfers: to enhance the knowledge and skills of AzRCS’s key staff at headquarters, branches, and volunteers on key aspects of CVA program development and implementation, drawing upon the standard approaches and tools of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement; and to provide practical opportunities for participants to utilize tools for setup and implementation, including conducting CVA feasibility analyses, market assessments, Community Engagement and Accountability, working with service providers, distribution, and encashment. The training modules have been adapted to the Azerbaijani context in order to provide more effective content and to respond to the training needs of new staff in the future. Throughout the training, participants actively engaged in group work, assignments, and discussions based on scenarios.

“I can’t wait to apply what I have learned in a real project. I was initially curious about how this 4-day training would go, but with the scope of the training, the fictional disaster scenario adapted to our country, the group works, real examples by the facilitator from different contexts and the effective presentation of the CVA project cycle, I didn’t realize how time flew by and I learnt a lot.” – Khayyam Mammadov, a 15-year volunteer at the Fuzuli branch and a member of the CVA volunteer pool.

Upon completion of the training, participants were awarded level II certificates in CVA. This successful training initiative underscores AzRCS’s and its partners’ commitment to enhancing humanitarian capabilities.