The Democracy Commission Small Grants Program of the US Embassy in Azerbaijan introduced new guidelines and procedures related to grants program. The main change is that now the Azerbaijan based organizations will be able to apply to the Democracy Commission throughout the year, not twice a year as it used to be before. (05-MAR-08)
    
Placed on website by Shahla Ismayilova/ HRH Azerbaijan on the basis of press conference materials and the information from the US Embassy website.

The press conference for introducing the new guidelines was held for the representatives of mass media. The press conference was conducted with participation of the US Ambassadr Ann Derse, Public Affairs Attache Jonathan Henick, NGO coordinator Elina Caunite and other staff members of the US Embassy in Azerbaijan. The three grantee organizations – Election Monitoring Center (EMC), Azerbaijan Young Lawyers Union (AYLU) and Women’s Association for Rational Development (WARD) – shared their experience of working with the DCSGP.

It was mentioned on the conference that the DCSGP seeks to support development of Azerbaijan’s democratic institutions and civil society by awarding on competitive bases small project grants not exceeding $24,000 to Azerbaijani nonprofit, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), nonprofit community based organizations (CBOs) and other nonprofit associations and community groups as well as independent local media organizations.

Democracy Commission seeks to fund well developed and innovative grassroots initiatives that aim to create open, tolerant and democratic society; advocate for transparent and accountable government, rule of law and market economy based on sound legislative framework, strong property rights and unrestrained competition.

Topics for projects
• Initiatives for peaceful conflict resolutions;
• Advocacy for government’s compliance with its international commitments, including in the area of democratic reform, protection of human rights, and anti-corruption efforts;
• Effective oversight of the government in the area of budgetary process and expenditures;
Monitoring of human rights environment and advocating on behalf of victims;
Contributing to free and fair democratic elections;
• Projects that promote civic responsibility and build democratic values in youth;
• Development of free and professional media and participatory journalism;
• Initiatives to promote collective responsibility to protect the environment;
• Transparency and accountability in all sectors of government;
• Increase public awareness on corruption and its detrimental effects on the society;
• Improvement of Azerbaijan’s business environment;
• Raising ethical standards for professionals and public officials.

Projects that are not funded by the Democracy Commission
• Fund-raising campaigns;
• Humanitarian assistance projects;
• Scientific research projects;
• Projects with budgets that exceed $24,000 and take more than a year to implement;
• Projects that duplicate existing projects being implemented by an organization;
• Projects submitted by for profit, commercial organizations;
• Projects that aim to support partisan political activity.

Evaluation Criteria
There are several criteria used by the Democracy Commission for evaluating the projects. Some of them are:
• The project proposal demonstrates that the organization has sufficient expertise, skills and human resources to implement the project;
• The organization demonstrates that is has a clear understanding of the underlying issue that the project is aiming to address and is able to articulate it without using excessive generalizations;
• The organization has consulted relevant literature, experts and potential partner organizations during the project’s design phase, etc.

For more information see www. azerbaijan.usembassy.gov