Questions/Answers

Azerbaijan Youth Foundation (AYF) began its full-scale activity in January 2012. Back then the country was facing several challenges in youth sphere. Firstly, no public institution had an effective tool to provide transparent and inclusive financial support policies targeting young women and men (aged 16-29) who make up 25% of the country’s population Youth groups, particularly those who did not belong to any organized youth platforms and networks, had little participation in public decision-making processes and policies. Secondly, lack of ODA and private sector investments coupled with the absence of centralized institution to offer capacity-building, financial resources and overall strategic direction to mobilize young people in designing, implementing and review of the national strategies on youth and subsequently the SDGs. Young people aged between 16-29, particularly those from vulnerable groups such as youth from remote rural areas, disabled, displaced and from underprivileged communities were being left out of designing and implementing policies that impact their present and future. The challenge was to work both with public bodies and civil society organizations and be on first-hand contact with young people individually to analyze our target group, their needs and capacities. Hence, AYF was created to bridge these gaps during the post-2015 process. AYF provides necessary financial tools for responsiveness of the government to the needs of young citizens through online and offline stakeholder engagement processes, education programs and capacity-building initiatives. By providing grant programs for all groups of youth, AYF has been working entirely on a two-end communication basis providing youth-to-state dialogue. AYF announces grant competitions for non-profit social projects of youth at least twice a year. Based on the needs of local youth and global developments, such as the SDGs, a set of priority directions is determined for each grant competition with a particular focus on vulnerable youth groups.

Following lies at the heart of our youth empowerment policy: • Provide support to socially important projects engaging youth in problem-solving in their communities; • Empower youth and boost local, regional and international youth activity; • Educate young people about the SDGs, stimulate youth-led solutions and innovation in support of the SDG implementation through direct funding of youth-designed projects; • Ensure the inclusion of under-represented youth in social activities and decision-making; • Promote equal participation of all youth including young women and girls from remote regions, youth from under-privileged backgrounds and disabled people; • Ensure the development of civil society and youth organizations, particularly those from rural areas; • Support artistic projects of the creative youth in the fields of theater, cinema, architecture, design, modern art; • Provide the state institutions involved in youth policies with adequate and comprehensive data on youth challenges, needs and demands and their input in youth policy-making; • Deliver transparent and effective public service in youth sphere.

AYF is a unique mechanism that makes direct investments into youth-led and youth specific programs aimed at youth empowerment and stimulating youth-led solutions. All executive decisions about the strategic direction and investments of the AYF are made by its Supervisory Board. The Board consists of a chairperson and 8 members, out of which 4 represent diverse groups of youth populations (see below). Members of the board from youth-led and youth-focused organizations were selected through national elections held in February 2017 with a participation of 200 youth organizations representing an estimated 250,000 young people. Thus, AYF ensures a transparent public service as well as youth participation in decision-making. This is an entirely new institutional mechanism in local context in providing youth participation in public service, where young people are engaged in the decision-making process through a representative process. AYF’s investments target youth, with a focus on young people from vulnerable groups, such as: • youth from remote rural areas; particularly young women • disabled young people • internally displaced young people • youth from disadvantaged communities and socio-economic backgrounds • youth with history of substance abuse • juvenile delinquents An estimated 450,000 young people benefited from grant packages and capacity-building programs offered by the AYF since inception.

Since the adoption of the SDGs in 2015, all youth-led programs financed by the AYF have been aligned with the SDGs. AYF enabled implementation of 2130 youth-led projects with a value of 5 million USD focusing on various targets of SDGs (3,4,5, 10, 13 and 16) covering various themes from health to education, from women’s empowerment to climate change. 45% of these projects were designed and implemented by young women. AYF organized 34 workshops to raise awareness on SDGs among young people covering all regions. AYF Secretariat provides exceptional client-oriented service. At least twice every quarter, AYF holds dialogues with youth to brainstorm on joint roadmap that feed into the design and roll-out of our investment strategy. This approach to the youth constituencies has earned AYF a degree of trust among young people leading to the biggest number of grant applications received by any public institution in the region. The last- tenth grant competition (2017)- saw a record number of submissions – 1799, out of which 568 projects were supported. 55% of these youth-led projects will contribute to the achievement of diverse SDG targets at national and grassroots levels.

AYF’s primary objective is to include as many young people as possible in active participation and decision-making, improve their livelihoods, enhance their social responsibility, and mobilize them towards the implementation of the SDGs. The most significant issue addressed by the AYF are: a) ensuring voices of youth are incorporated into decision-making processes affecting their lives (institutional level); b) enabling evidence-based, consultative and demand-driven investments into youth development within the framework of the SDGs through open dialogues and consultations (grassroots level); All of the above is implemented to ensure that “working with and for young people” is not only just a phrase. At the institutional-policy level, we work with youth by engaging them in setting the direction for AYF’s strategy and investment policies first and deciding on where the investments should go subsequently through their equal participation in the Supervisory Board. At the grassroots level, AYF invests in young people particularly on the vulnerable groups mobilizing them towards the achievement of the SDGs. Furthermore, young people, including those unemployed or from underprivileged backgrounds find themselves employed through one or several projects. Those who have been participating in the projects sustainably eventually become project leaders themselves and act as job-creators for others.

In 6 years of its existence AYF has supported 3909 projects of youth within 10 grant competitions. Projects have been supported in every administrative region of the country be it urban or rural areas. Around 450 000 people have been involved in these projects. Inclusivity is AYF’s number one priority, echoing “leave no-one behind” approach of the 2030 Agenda. Specific focus and target of the AYF’s investment and engagement strategies are youth organizations from the remote regions. AYF managed to cover the youth and youth NGOs of the whole country and create close working contacts with the Youth Departments of all the regional local authority offices. As a result, the number of registered organized youth groups from rural areas grew by 2,5 times since 2012. A total of 12,032,532 USD was invested into the implementation of youth-led innovative projects covering all administrative regions of the country. Of those approximately 5 million USD constitute share of the SDG-focused youth projects since the alignment of the investment strategy of AYF with 2030 Agenda. 55% of the investments since 2012 were dedicated to address socially challenging issues, such as women’s empowerment, reproductive health rights, rehabilitation of substance abusers and former young prisoners into the society.

AYF is the first public institution in Azerbaijan to provide full public services online. Any young person aged 16-29 or a youth NGO with access to the internet can create an account and submit their proposals (78% of households in Azerbaijan have internet access, ITU). To ensure participation of young people with no access to internet, AYF arranges bi-monthly visits to remote areas and facilities without internet access (correction facilities, health facilities, IDP settlements) to consult the views of youth for setting the direction of the investment strategies and collecting offline application forms. The effectiveness of combined on- and off-line stakeholder engagement was effective and state institutions managing civic engagement processes with other constituencies replicated this model. Another innovative approach has been work with the young people individually. Previously only young people with membership in youth organizations could access funding from the government, leaving substantial proportion of youth out of the scope of services. AYF’s new grant category targeting young individuals addressed this gap, paving the way for proposals from individual youth activists to become eligible. The first grant call in 2012 saw only 19 individual applications, whereas in the last one in 2017 this number surged to 1604.

The general concept of Azerbaijan Youth Foundation is based on the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe and adapted to the local context. Certain categories of grants were designed from scratch and new categories were introduced. Currently, after many modifications AYF stimulates applications in 4 categories: Category A – open only to local youth NGOs for their projects (priority is given to NGOs from regions); Category B – open to local youth NGOs in collaboration with partners for international projects; Category C – open to young individuals aged 16-29 for their innovative projects; Category D – travel grants for young scientists, innovators, educators, artists and others. Priority directions are updated for each grant competitions. After the adoption of the Agenda 2030 in 2015, the grant categories were further aligned with the SDGs to stimulate youth-led innovative to achieve the SDGs and mobilize young people in Azerbaijan towards the achievement of the Global Goals. To summarize, the initiative is based on best European practices further inspired by universally accepted global framework - 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development - reflecting national priorities and context in Azerbaijan.

The initiative is being implemented primarily through government investments with an annual cost of 3 million USD. This includes direct investments into youth-led projects, organization of dialogues with youth constituencies and visits to remote areas, travel grants for young scientists and talented individuals for their participation in international forums and youth development events (70% of the budget all together), as well as the operational costs for AYF (30%). Vast human resources are used indirectly. AYF neither implements projects, nor adopts comprehensive strategies on the achievement of the relevant SDGs. AYF sets strategic direction through calls for project proposals that facilitates direct investments into youth-led solutions to achieve the SDGs. In the process, AYF mobilizes thousands of young people with innovative ideas to work directly with the public institution and contribute to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The total number of these young people and representatives of youth NGOs registered on AYF’s website has reached 10,548 at the end of 2017.

Yes

Several public sector institutions have adapted AYF’s business model focusing on delivery of reliable, transparent and timely e-services to its beneficiaries and users. Before the establishment and operationalization of AYF, representatives of youth organizations, particularly those based in rural areas of Azerbaijan had limited access to opportunities. Paper-based analogue services offered by the government institutions required youth activists to travel from regions to urban centers to present their project proposals, obtain necessary forms, meet with representatives of relevant government authorities. This increased transaction cost for already under-funded rural youth organization and further exacerbated the divide and access to opportunities between rural and urban youth populations. After the successful testing and rollout of the e-services offered by AYF to young people, other public foundations adapted this approach in their public service delivery. Public institutions such as the Scientific Development Fund and the State Council on NGOs have replicated the business model of AYF.

AYF keeps focus on sustainability of its grant projects. First, the projects managed by young people create employment opportunities for their peers, i.e. young people act as social entrepreneurs by offering jobs to other young people. 5805 individuals found employment opportunities through 3909 projects supported by AYF between 2012 and 2017. This experience improved their practical skills further building their capacities and knowledge in various areas depending on the project (since 2015 also their expertise on various SDGs) supporting their transition of young people implementing AYF supported programs to labor market after their completion. The number of grant applications received by AYF grew 11 times since 2012 and employing 1799 active project managers. Each project also employs financial manager and depending on its format there are a number of other young experts involved, such as trainers, project coordinators, lawyers, social workers, psychologists, sociologists, exhibition curators, artists and others. Second, the initiatives address one or several key issues pertinent to various local contexts (environment, women’s empowerment, education, promotion of equality, access to health services etc) and trigger follow-up activities by communities and relevant government agencies by creating and sustaining momentum. To cite one example, AYF supported, youth-led “Young teacher of the remote village” social campaign has mobilized young educators from rural areas to opt for teaching posts in remote villages offering primary, secondary and tertiary education for thousands of students attending these formerly abandoned schools, which in turn, has triggered more investments into this area by government. Further, sustainable development occupies 55% of the priority topics of our projects. Projects supported by AYF contribute to targets of SDG 3, 4, 5, 10, 13 and 16. Targets under SDGs 8 and 12 will be added in our next call for projects. The amount of grants allocated on SDG achievement reached 5 million USD.

AYF has grown from a pilot project under the Ministry of Youth and Sports to a full-fledged institution under the President of Republic of Azerbaijan. Originally designed to support 150 youth-led projects annually, AYF has exceeded that baseline by investing into 400 youth-led solutions on average per year since 2012. This steady growth investments in youth sector, scope of programs, subsequent alignment of funding strategy with the SDGs, positive feedback both from youth and the assessment of return on investments by the State Treasury resulted in further expansion, sustainability and durability of services offered by AYF. AYF maintains a comprehensive database of all projects implemented and young leaders whose projects received support. These young leaders and youth-led/youth-focused NGOs are consulted on a regular basis, ensuring their engagement with the work of AYF and logically connection to SDGs continues after the completion of projects. All of our recipients are invited to our annual evaluation meetings with youth on February 2 – the national Youth Day- to provide their feedback on the challenges of follow-up activities. In order to balance between preferential treatment and continuity of impact, AYF Board establishes quotas for recurring grant recipients, i.e. youth organizations and individuals who are eligible for re-submitting new or follow-up projects for new cycle of funding, before the announcement of each grant call.

Yes

In compliance with the Charter of AYF, investments made into youth-led projects are monitored on a continuous basis and the results of evaluation are summarized in annual reports submitted to the President. Every youth-led project implemented must be accompanied with M&E strategy to be admitted for review. Upon completion of projects, youth organizations and individual young people must submit final reports that contain evaluation of projects results to receive remaining 30% of project costs. Since 2015, AYF also applies peer-evaluation of youth-led projects, where young people evaluate each other’s initiatives upon completion and submit parallel evaluations to the AYF Secretariat. The purpose of this exercise is to further develop accountability skills among youth. Annual public perception survey on the quality of services offered by AYF has also been introduced since 2015. National Youth Council carries this survey among to measure the impact of our work among youth. Final evaluations submitted by youth organizations are analyzed by the External Audit Department. As of last grant call, our staff carried out independent evaluation of 89% of the projects supported by AYF. All of the above is subsequently summarized in annual reports submitted to the Presidential Administration.

The result of annual evaluations indicate decreasing trust deficit between youth and government institutions responsible for youth development. Survey carried out by National Youth Council in 2017 shows that 75% of respondents believe if they have good project ideas on SDGs, government is likely to invest in these projects without any prejudice. The last- tenth grant competition (2017) - saw a record number of submissions – 1799, out of which 568 projects were supported. 55% of these youth-led projects will contribute to the achievement of diverse SDG targets at national and grassroots levels. 5805 individuals found employment opportunities through 3909 projects supported by AYF between 2012 and 2017. For every 100 USD invested since 2012, AYF was able to reach 3 young beneficiaries. A total of 12,032,532 USD was invested into the implementation of youth-led innovative projects covering all administrative regions of the country. Of those approximately 5 million USD constitute share of the SDG-focused youth projects, thus creating massive youth movement on SDGs. To this end, inn January 2018, AYF was awarded with the UNDP administered inaugural King Hamad Youth Empowerment Award to Achieve SDGs for its contributions on mobilizing young people for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

The evaluations are based on the follow quantitative and qualitative indicators: 1. Total value of investments in youth projects (per capita among young people disaggregated by gender, rural/urban) 2. Number of funding applications received from youth (disaggregated by gender, rural/urban) 3. Number of young people reached (total number, per 100$ invested disaggregated by gender, rural/urban, social status) 4. Number of youth-led organizations registered in the country (2012-2017) 5. Perception surveys to analyze the effectiveness of youth participation in decision-making processes Since 2015, investments in youth-led solutions to achieve SDGs are being measured.

First of all, the Supervisory Board, which is the decision-making body of AYF, comprises equal number of representatives of non-governmental organizations and ministries, namely the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Ministry of Finances, and a chairperson representing the Administration of the President. All the decisions are made by a consensus. All the youth platforms and civil society organizations have a right to participate in AYF decision-making and the elections of NGO representatives at the Supervisory Board. Currently there are 294 registered NGOs on the website of AYF. Number of individuals registered has reached 10254 people. United Nations Development Programme has been a major partner of AYF since its creation. Being an observer at the Supervisory Board in the first year of AYF’s existence, UNDP is now a consultative collaborator on SDG Agenda achievement along with UNICEF. Further, we actively cooperate with the Youth Departments of local authorities and regional youth centers in communication with the hard-to-reach areas, e.g. mountainous villages.

AYF is determined to continue the work with young people regardless of their background being fueled only by their enthusiasm and determination. This approach however brings about a challenge of dealing with a variety of professional and unprofessional operations. To tackle the issue we are currently advancing our systems of grant approval, monitoring and evaluation and involving volunteers to work with the Secretariat. As a strategic direction for 2018-2019 we are preparing an action plan on boosting youth entrepreneurship skills with an abiding focus on inclusivity. Since appearing on the agenda in 2015 it has been the challenge on how to restructure AYF, adding a separate category of grant and further monitoring and mentoring the youth start-ups. At the same time, we are planning to broaden the focus on the achievement of SDGs in collaboration with UN agencies and governmental stakeholders from existing 50% to 65% of all the supported projects.