Azerbaijan Rural Investment Project
Encyclopedia
The Azerbaijan Rural Investment Project (AzRIP) was established by the government of Azerbaijan
’s State Agency on Agricultural Credits under the Azerbaijan Ministry of Agriculture
. It is designed to invest in the rural development
of five economic regions of Azerbaijan, focusing on community
-based infrastructure
development. (Note: in the Azerbaijani language AzRIP is known as Azərbaycan Kənd İnvestisiya Layihəsi, or AzKİL.)
The objective of the project is to improve the living standards of communities that participate by increasing their access to infrastructure services, by the building and/or repair of roads, health clinics, schools, footbridges, electrical resources, potable water resources, and irrigation and drainage systems. The AzRIP project became effective on January 18, 2005 and at this time is planned to be completed March 31, 2012. Finances are provided through a loan from the World Bank
to the Azerbaijan government, which will be reimbursed by Azeri taxpayers.
.
The economic regions targeted by AzRIP and the Azerbaijan rayons in those regions include:
Key highlights of the project are:
AzRIP projects are based on two principal documents:
Volume III of the Operations Manual can be found in English and Azerbaijani on the AzRIP web site at http://www.azrip.org.
The International Fund for Agricultural Development
(IFAD), a United Nations agency, was established in 1977 to assist in the agricultural development of needy countries worldwide, including Azerbaijan.
Grassroots Human Security Grant Assistance Program (GHSGAP), sponsored by the Embassy of Japan in Baku, Azerbaijan, supports rural community development. A water supply system development project in the Shamakhi rayon was completed in two parts by the two organizations, the first by GHSGAP and the second by AzRIP.
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
’s State Agency on Agricultural Credits under the Azerbaijan Ministry of Agriculture
Ministry of Agriculture
An agriculture ministry or department of agriculture is a ministry or other government agency charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister for agriculture....
. It is designed to invest in the rural development
Rural development
Rural development in general denotes economic development and community development actions and initiatives taken to improve the standard of living in non-urban neighbourhoods, remote villages and the countryside...
of five economic regions of Azerbaijan, focusing on community
Community
The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...
-based infrastructure
Infrastructure
Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...
development. (Note: in the Azerbaijani language AzRIP is known as Azərbaycan Kənd İnvestisiya Layihəsi, or AzKİL.)
The objective of the project is to improve the living standards of communities that participate by increasing their access to infrastructure services, by the building and/or repair of roads, health clinics, schools, footbridges, electrical resources, potable water resources, and irrigation and drainage systems. The AzRIP project became effective on January 18, 2005 and at this time is planned to be completed March 31, 2012. Finances are provided through a loan from the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
to the Azerbaijan government, which will be reimbursed by Azeri taxpayers.
AzRIP Communities
AzRIP targets rural communities with more than 1,000 and less than 10,000 people in areas that meet the criteria for high poverty incidence. These communities cover all rayons of Azerbaijan, including Nagorno-KarabakhNagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, lying between Lower Karabakh and Zangezur and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains...
.
The economic regions targeted by AzRIP and the Azerbaijan rayons in those regions include:
- Lower ShirvanShirvanShirvan , also spelled as Shirwan, Shervan, Sherwan and Šervān, is a historical region in the eastern Caucasus, known by this name in both Islamic and modern times...
: HajigabulHajigabulHajigabul is a rayon of Azerbaijan.There are 31 populated areas. One of them is a city, 1 city-like settlement, 4 settlements and 25 villages.There are 15 administrative-territorial units, 5 medical institutions and 55 cultural centers....
, KurdamirKurdamirKurdamir is a district in Azerbaijan. The capital of the district is Kürdəmir....
, ZardabZardabZardab is a rayon in Azerbaijan; its capital is Zardab.-Overview:The regional name Zardab is mentioned in historical publication dating back to 16th century. As a raion, Zardab was established on February 5, 1935. Located in central Azerbaijan, the raion is 231 km to the east of capital Baku...
, Ujar, Goychay, Aghdash, YevlakhYevlakhYevlakh is a small city in Azerbaijan, 265 km west of capital Baku. It is surrounded by, but administratively separate from, the rayon of the same name... - Mughan Salyan: JalilabadJalilabadJalilabad is a rayon of Azerbaijan. The capital is the city of Cəlilabad ....
, Neftchala, Salyan, SaatlySaatlySaatly , established in 1943. It has 87.000 population....
, ImishliImishliImishli is a rayon of Azerbaijan.Imishli and Sabirabad rayons share the largest lake of Azerbaijan Sarysu...
, BilasuvarBilasuvarBilasuvar is a rayon of Azerbaijan.It has been said that the ancient name was Pileh-Swar that in Persian means "the elephant-riding person " , named after one of the Buyid dynasty amirs. The name in Turkic means pure water falls, due to the area's numerous rivers, though given the largely flat...
, Sabirabad - Nakhchivan: Sadarak, SharurSharurSharur is an rayon of Azerbaijan in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.-History:Sharur formed part of the territory of the Nakhichevan Khanate until its abolition in 1828. In the Russian empire it was made a part of the Armenian Oblast. After the oblast was abolished, it became a part of...
, Shahbuz, Babek, Julfa, Ordubad, Kangarli - North: IsmayilliIsmayilliİsmayıllı is a city and head town of the Ismailli Rayon of Azerbaijan. Population 14,435 .- References :* – World-Gazetteer.com...
, Gabala, Oghuz, Sheki, Gakh, Balaken, Zagatala, Quba, GusarGusarGusar is a riverside town in north-west Tajikistan. It is located in Sughd province. -External links:*...
, Shamakhi, Agsu, Khachmaz, Gobustan - Northwest: Gazakh, AgstafaAgstafa-Overview:Agstafa raion was created on 24 January 1939 as an independent administrative unit out of larger Qazakh region of Azerbaijan. On 4 December 1959, the status of the raion was abolished and it was incorporated into Qazakh Rayon...
, GadabayGadabayGadabay is a rayon of Azerbaijan renowned for its potatoes and its gold fields. The famous Siemens company worked here in the Tsarist era claiming that they were exporting copper. However it has been recently revealed that in fact they were actually secretly exporting gold...
, DashkasanDashkasanDashkasan is a rayon of Azerbaijan. The district was called Dastafur until 1956.The district is located in northwestern Azerbaijan, 33–41 km away from Ganja city and on northeastern edge of Lesser Caucasus rising 1,600-1,800 meters above sea level. The regional capital of the raion is...
, Tovuz, Tartar, GoranboyGoranboyGoranboy is a rayon of Azerbaijan. During the Soviet era the region was best known for the oil-cure sanatorium resort of Naftalan, though administratively Naftalan technically counts as an independent city. Naftalan is now starting to operate again following several years of virtual inaction when...
, SamukhSamukhSamukh is a rayon of Azerbaijan.The term Samukh comes from a Caucasian Albanian word for 'Forest Hunting Place'.There are Bronze Age burial mounds around Nəbiağalı, the rayon's administrative center....
, Barda, ShamkirShamkirShamkir is a rayon in Azerbaijan. It is located in the northwestern part of the Azerbaijan Republic. The rayon was previously called "Shamkhor" during the Soviet rule and was renamed to Shamkir only in 1991 after restoration of independence of Azerbaijan. The district was established in 1930...
, Goy Gol
Project Components
AzRIP has three components:- InfrastructureInfrastructureInfrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...
. This includes the identification, design, construction, rehabilitation, operation and maintenance of rural infrastructure based on community’s needs. Those needs are identified and prioritized by the communities with the help of AzRIP personnel. - CapacityCapacity utilizationCapacity utilization is a concept in economics and managerial accounting which refers to the extent to which an enterprise or a nation actually uses its installed productive capacity...
Enhancement. The capacities of communities and support service providers are enhanced through training, conferences, seminars, consultations, and monitoring and evaluation. - Project ManagementProject managementProject management is the discipline of planning, organizing, securing, and managing resources to achieve specific goals. A project is a temporary endeavor with a defined beginning and end , undertaken to meet unique goals and objectives, typically to bring about beneficial change or added value...
. The administrative and operational project implementation and management costs are financed. This includes the training and/or hiring of qualified personnel to undertake the procurement, disbursement, and management of project finances, as well as the reporting, monitoring and evaluation of community projects.
How AZRIP Works
AzRIP provides communities with the managerial, financial and technical resources needed to manage their community projects. To do this, AzRIP uses the Community Project Cycle to find eligible communities and to train community members in the selection, implementation and maintenance of their projects. This includes six steps:- Information outreach and selection of communities
- Community mobilization
- Training of the communities in the preparation of community project proposals
- Training of the communities in project registration, appraisal, approval, and forming cooperation agreements
- Training of the communities in procurement and implementation
- Project completion, handover and evaluation.
Key highlights of the project are:
- Communities are selected on the basis of their infrastructure needs, community assessments and their ability to organize themselves and implement and maintain projects.
- AzRIP contributes up to 90% of the funds for projects; those funds are provided by the Azerbaijan government through loans from the World Bank. Communities must contribute at least 10% of the project funds, and at least 2% it must be in cash. The remaining 8% can be in their own labor or materials.
- Selected communities participate in Community Mobilization facilitated by AzRIP Project Assistance Teams (PAT). The region’s PAT visits the community and guides the community members in an open and transparent process of identifying their needs, prioritizing and selecting projects as well as electing a Community Project Committee.
- The PAT trains the Community Project Committees along with members of the Municipalities, local ExComs and other community leaders in leadership, management, planning, accounting, procurement, project implementation, monitoring and grant proposal writing.
- When the Community Mobilization and trainings are done, the communities design and plan their own projects and send project proposals to AzRIP for approval. They are helped by engineers they choose and with the assistance of the AzRIP engineers.
- The approval of a project is based on its proper design, its appropriateness, the transparency of the community’s approval and AzRIP’s site appraisal.
- For projects under $15,000, communities may procure materials and perform their own construction. For projects over $15,000 a contractor must be hired through an open competitive bidding process.
- The community establishes a Maintenance Committee with community funds to maintain the project throughout its life. Sustainability is the key to a project’s success. The community must make sure that either the municipality or Community OrganizationCommunity organizationCommunity organizations are civil society non-profits that operate within a single local community. They are essentially a subset of the wider group of nonprofits. Like other nonprofits they are often run on a voluntary basis and are self funded...
s ensure project operation, maintenance and sustainability.
AzRIP projects are based on two principal documents:
- The Project Appraisal Document (PAD), which describes the project’s development objective and strategic plan, plus the project’s description, sustainability and risks. The PAD is used by the community and AzRIP project staff throughout the project to monitor the performance of their official duties.
- The Operations Manual (OM), which contains all of the necessary guidelines, rules and criteria for Capacity Enhancement and Community Project implementation. The OM has five volumes:
- Volume I: Policy and Guidelines
- Volume II: Operations Procedures
- Volume III: Reference Manual
- Volume IV: Public Information
- Volume V: Financial Information
Volume III of the Operations Manual can be found in English and Azerbaijani on the AzRIP web site at http://www.azrip.org.
Other Azerbaijan Rural Development Nonprofits
Many international organizations support agriculture and rural community development in Azerbaijan. Some of those organizations are described here.The International Fund for Agricultural Development
International Fund for Agricultural Development
The International Fund for Agricultural Development , a specialized agency of the United Nations, was established as an international financial institution in 1977 as one of the major outcomes of the 1974 World Food Conference. IFAD is dedicated to eradicating rural poverty in developing countries...
(IFAD), a United Nations agency, was established in 1977 to assist in the agricultural development of needy countries worldwide, including Azerbaijan.
Grassroots Human Security Grant Assistance Program (GHSGAP), sponsored by the Embassy of Japan in Baku, Azerbaijan, supports rural community development. A water supply system development project in the Shamakhi rayon was completed in two parts by the two organizations, the first by GHSGAP and the second by AzRIP.
See also
- AzerbaijanAzerbaijanAzerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
- World BankWorld BankThe World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
- Rural DevelopmentRural DevelopmentUSDA Office of Rural Development is an agency with the United States Department of Agriculture which runs programs intended to improve the economy and quality of life in rural America....
- Non-profit organizationNon-profit organizationNonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
- Not Just For ProfitNot just for profitNot Just For Profit is a concept that captures an expanded set of values for defining and evaluating for-profit private sector organizations, not only by their ability to generate profit as is done traditionally, but also by their determination and success in driving a benefit for people and/or...