EWMI breaks down the barriers that prevent people and communities from living in just, prosperous, and peaceful societies.
Socio-Economic Development Activity in Azerbaijan (SEDA)
2011 – 2021
EWMI’s Socio-Economic Development Activity in Azerbaijan (SEDA) contributed to the advancement of socioeconomic development at the regional level in Azerbaijan by providing support for community-driven socioeconomic projects and strengthening stakeholder participation in setting priorities for socioeconomic strategies and programs in the regions that SEDA targeted and beyond. SEDA was a ten-year project funded by the USAID and co-financed by the Government of Azerbaijan.
Working in strategic partnership with the Azerbaijani Support to Social Development Public Union (UMID) and the Washington, D.C.-based International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL), EWMI built upon 15 years of work by USAID in Azerbaijan by expanding support to the communities and rayons in Azerbaijan that had not yet benefited from international developmental aid. To increase community participation in socio-economic development at the local and regional levels, SEDA revitalized and supported the establishment of Community Development Councils (CDCs) in more than 100 communities in the Aran, Guba-Khachamaz, and Ganja-Gazakh regions, and implemented 196 small scale socio-economic development projects in partnership with these communities. EWMI and its partners also provided technical assistance and funding to cohesive networks of non-governmental, governmental, and private sector stakeholders that work together on advancing citizen-driven regional socio-economic planning and development. To contribute towards the sustainability of such initiatives, SEDA supported the Government of Azerbaijan’s local and central institutions to develop and use an inclusive approach to socio-economic development. This included technical assistance for Government of Azerbaijani efforts to complete the regulatory framework for citizen participation at the local and central government level, as well as piloting of small scale public private partnerships.
Amazing things can happen when citizens come together to plan and implement development projects that address the economic issues facing their community. Despite the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, EWMI has continued to work with Community Development Councils (CDCs) in Azerbaijan through the USAID-funded Socio-Economic Development Activity (SEDA) to ...
Alpan, Uzunmeshe, Kurkun and Susay villages, with a population of only 5,149, are located in a mountainous area of Guba in northern Azerbaijan. These communities have been a center of fine carpet weaving for centuries. Experts say these carpets, long renowned for their durability and unique designs, have a special ...
Residents of the Surra community in Shabran, Azerbaijan have long faced challenges safely crossing the river that divides their village to get to school, work and the nearest town. With support from EWMI's USAID-funded Socio-Economic Development Activity in Azerbaijan (SEDA) and the Ministry of Economy, Surra residents came together to ...
Agriculture is at the center of life for families of the Khaspoladoba community of the Khachmaz rayon in Azerbaijan. Growing primarily hazelnuts, the approximately 50 farmers from Khaspoladoba own and cultivate 75 hectares of hazelnut orchards. For 85-year old farmer, Yadigar Maharramov, a father of eight children, selling hazelnuts from ...
The Niyazabad community in Khachmaz rayon, Azerbaijan, is home to one village school that is located in a building that belonged to the former village’s farm (sovkhoz) and consists of 13 rooms. The building was constructed in 1965 and does not comply with modern education and safety requirements. The classrooms ...
In December 2014, news spread among citizens of the Aran region that their access to quality medical care was about to improve with the inauguration of three new Medical Points - two in Imishli and one in Sabirabad. The new Medical Points, rebuilt with support from EWMI’s Socio-Economic Development Activity ...
EWMI’s Socio-Economic Development Activity in Azerbaijan (SEDA) project has led several high impact initiatives these past few months with very promising outcomes. SEDA brought better roads to a small town in Khachmaz, raised awareness and improved services for the elderly and disabled, and finally helped support advocacy groups in applying ...
EWMI’s Socio-Economic Development Activity (SEDA) in Azerbaijan includes a grants program that supports organizations that engage in advocacy on socio-economic development at local and regional levels. Poverty reduction, participatory water management, environmental protection, improved social services, and efficient seed registration procedures are among the initiatives that civil society organizations (CSOs) ...
For almost 10 years, Nabat Aliyeva has lived alone in her home in Alinazarli village in Beylagan rayon. She has an oncological disease. Remarkably, Nabat was not aware that social services are available for elderly people living alone in her area. “Recently I heard from our community leader that an ...
Sevara Ulfanova is a young teacher whose family left Uzbekistan as refugees in 1989 to settle in Ahmedabad village in Sabirabad. She grew up warmly accepted as a member of the village. Sevara’s love for her adopted village compelled her to become a teacher in the same secondary school from ...
