SPF: Improved Livelihoods for Internally Displaced Persons in Azerbaijan

active

This project will be implemented by the State Committee for IDPs and Refugees of Azerbaijan, building on a partnership with the Bank that goes back more than a decade in supporting IDPs in the country. It will enable the State Committee to renew and adapt its support to the skilling, employment, and livelihood activities for targeted IDPs which was implemented under the IDP Living Standards and Livelihood Project (LSLP). The LSLP Project was evaluated as highly successful by the World Bank’s Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) receiving High and Substantial ratings for relevance, efficiency, and efficacy. This Project identified 2,500 youth IDPs as potential beneficiaries of livelihood support, but only 833 individuals received support as of November 2019 in order to leave a significant “control group” for an impact evaluation. As such, there may be as many as 1,600 youth IDPs still interested and eligible for support, only a portion of which would receive support under the proposed project. The most vulnerable IDPs would be targeted for support. The supported activities will follow the model of the LSLP and will be implemented with the support of local NGOs. They will target: (i) IDPs in rural and semi-urban areas who are in more vulnerable positions compared to IDPs in Baku; (ii) IDPs in regions closer to the conflict-affected area who would have been more affected by the conflict; (iii) vulnerable IDPs in selected settlements in and around Baku that would require a tailored approach to prepare them for livelihoods in the regions of origin that may be rural or semi-urban. The project activities are expected to target IDPs in the following regions: Agdam, Barda, Terter, Ganja, Goygol, Gabala, Fizuli, and vicinity of Baku. The project will include three components. Component 1: Skills development, will screen and select qualified IDPs and provide them with training in technical fields that are of interest to participants and in-demand in the labor market. Component 2: Business development support, will train participants to prepare business plans, provide financial support to purchase tools/equipment needed for their professions and provide additional business support to help participants to succeed in their endeavors. Component 3: Civic engagement, social cohesion and support, will train beneficiaries on civic engagement, community participation, establishment of community groups, trust-building and related techniques to support an eventual peaceful and cohesive transition of IDPs to a new living environment. This component would also include resources for project implementation, monitoring and evaluation and communications.