Azerbaijan announces grant competition related to COP29 for NGOs

The Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry of Azerbaijan together with the Agency for State Support to Non-governmental Organizations announces the Competition “International Initiatives related to COP29” for NGOs.

Report informs that the submission of documents for the competition will start from July 16, 2024.

The deadline for applications is August 16, 2024. After that, documents collected from NGOs will be examined and projects will be analyzed, in order to identify the winners.

The projects presented should be relevant to the topic of global climate change.

Upper limit of grant amounts and implementation period:

Upper limit of grant amount on Medium Grant Competition (MGC) – 30,000 manats ($17,647) (implementation period up to 6 months)

Upper limit of grant amount for Large Grant Competition (LGC) – 50,000 manats ($29,412) (implementation period up to 6 months:

Requirements for participation in the competition:

NGOs can only participate in the grant competition in the form of a coalition. The procedures are carried out in accordance with the decisions of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated September 14, 2023, No. 327 and 328 (in relation to local NGOs).

Requirements for NGOs participating in the competition as a coalition:

- The coalition must comply with the format “minimum 1 local NGO (having state registration in the Republic of Azerbaijan) + 1 foreign NGO”;

- Only a local NGO should be the main implementing party in the coalition;

- The protocol on the establishment of the coalition, approved by all member-local and foreign NGOs, must be submitted (in Azerbaijani and English)

- Detailed information about the foreign organizations represented in the coalition should be provided (which country represents, field of activity, experience, website, etc. and other sources of information);

- The staff of NGOs participating in the coalition must have Project Management experience and capabilities in an international format;

- NGOs that have won large, medium and small grant competitions of the Agency for State Support to Non-Governmental Organizations of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2024 and whose commitment is not completed by August 16, 2024, cannot be the main implementing party in the coalitions;

- 1 NGO can only be represented in 1 coalition;

- The coalition can submit projects for both competitions (MGC and LGC), in which case only 1 of the projects that meet the competition requirements will be funded.

Which criteria will be preferred in the competition:

• That the NGO which is the main implementing party itself or the organization participating as a foreign partner in the coalition has had an observer status at the Conference of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), as well as have international experience related to previous COPs or climate change issues;
• That an organization with UNFCCC observer status participating as a foreign partner represents developing countries (DCs), especially least developed countries, small island developing states;
• Having a letter of support related to the submitted project from a foreign partner represented in the coalition.

Documents required for the competition in accordance with the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated September 14, 2023, No. 327:

• project proposal (sample attached on medium, large grants, logical framework);

• project implementation plan (sample attached);

• project cost estimate (sample attached);

• financial feasibility of the project budget (sample attached);

• Copies of the charter, registration certificate and extract from the State Register of legal entities of each local NGO participating in the coalition;

• Copy of Tax Accounting Certificate of NGO (in relation to local NGOs);

• Copy of documents confirming the identity of the authorized representative of the NGO (in relation to local NGOs);

• Information on the bank account of the main implementing NGO to which the grant amount will be transferred;

• Information on whether or not each local NGO participating in the coalition receives grants from the institutions included into the "list of institutions financed from the state budget of the Republic of Azerbaijan, which can issue grants to legal and natural persons of the Republic of Azerbaijan according to their fields of activity", approved by Decree No. 654 of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated October 21, 2015 (sample attached);

• A document confirming the distribution of at least 10 different pieces of information about the activities, implemented projects, and programs of the main implementing NGO in the last 3 years on MGMs, as well as programs, and at least 20 different pieces of information about the activities, implemented projects, and programs of the same NGO in the last 5 years on LGMs in the media subjects (sample attached);

• Protocol approved by local and foreign NGOs (sample attached);

• Application form for foreign organizations represented in the coalition (sample attached).

The following projects are not admitted to the competition:

• Projects whose content contradicts with the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan, laws and other normative legal acts of the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as decisions of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 327 and 328 dated September 14, 2023;

• Projects with the same content that had been financed from the state budget of the Republic of Azerbaijan as a result of previously held competitions;

• Projects of NGOs that have been deprived of the right to participate in the competition by the Agency for State Support to Non-Governmental Organizations of the Republic of Azerbaijan for violating their obligations under the Grant Agreement, as well as those that have debts to the Agency.

Project evaluation criteria

After passing the technical examination, the projects are evaluated on a 100-score system according to the following criteria:

• clarity of the purpose of the project;

• innovativeness of the project;

• justification and sustainability of the project implementation period;

• correspondence of the project budget to the amount of the grant;

• experience of the NGO and its staff in accordance with the relevant project topic;

• project risk analysis;

• correct identification of project beneficiaries;

• cooperation with relevant partners and media during project implementation;

• compliance of the project topic presented by the NGO with the objectives of the charter;

• expected outcomes of the project.

Technical requirements:

• The main implementing NGO submits the project electronically through a special section on the website of the Agency for State Support to Non-Governmental Organizations of the Republic of Azerbaijan (https://ngoagency.gov.az/az) (the corresponding section will be active on the website of the Agency on July 16-August 16, 2024);
• Project proposal documents submitted in person, by mail or by e-mail are not accepted.

Contact information:

Agency for State Support to Non-governmental Organizations of the Republic of Azerbaijan,

Baku, Yasamal district, Huseyn Javid avenue, block 520, house 20.

[email protected] (+994 12) 493-15-81