Background
Following the worldwide decrease of the oil price, Azerbaijan – after years of unprecedented growth – started suffering a severe economic contraction. As a response, in March 2016, the President issued a decree for the development of a strategic roadmap for certain priority sectors that are critical for diversifying the economy of the country. The roadmap, currently under development, aims at supporting the following sectors: (1) oil/gas, (2) agriculture, (3) production of consumable products, (4) heavy and engineering industries, (5) specialised tourism, (6) logistics/trade, and (7) housing; (8) vocational training as a transversal issue; (9) financial services, (10) telecommunications; and (11) utilities.
The expected diversification of the economy requires a modernised education and, more specifically, vocational education and training (VET) system. This was also already envisaged in the "State Strategy on development of education in the Republic of Azerbaijan" of 2013, and in the Development Concept "Azerbaijan 2020: Look into the Future".
Size of grants
Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
- Minimum amount: EUR 1.300.000
- Maximum amount: EUR 2.000.000.
Eligibility
In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
- be a legal person
- be a specific type of organisation such as: non-governmental organisation, community-based organisation, business association, public-sector
operator, local authority, VET centre, education institution, universities, international (inter-governmental) organisation as defined by Article
43 of the Rules of application of the EU Financial Regulation
- be established in the Republic of Azerbaijan, a Member State of the European Union, accession or official candidate country or the European
Economic Area . This obligation does not apply to international organisations
- be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an
intermediary.
Deadline: 06 February 2017