Baku - As part of the "Integrated Rural Development for Internally Displaced Communities in Azerbaijan through Revitalization of Kahriz Water Supply System" Project, which is implemented by IOM Mission in Azerbaijan with financial support from the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and in coordination with the State Committee for Affairs of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons of Azerbaijan, it is envisaged to provide support to small business initiatives creating a conducive environment for IDPs to start and maintain income generating/livelihood activities in project target regions of Aghdam and Aghjabadi districts of Azerbaijan.

Recently IOM’s project stuff conducted monitoring visits to Aghdam district, one of the target regions and met some of IDPs’ families whose self-employment initiatives was supported by IOM Azerbaijan.

In total, out of 61 participants of the business trainings held by IOM Azerbaijan in the pilot districts of Aghdam and Aghjabadi, 23 IDPs living in the Aghdam region and 14 IDPs from the Aghjabadi region were selected to support their business plans.

So far, the business of 23 IDPs, including 9 women and 14 men, living in Aghdam and Aghjabadi districts, has been supported with non-cash grants. Supported small businesses include farming, butcher shop, beauty, and tailoring salons.

In general, activities targeting IDP communities in the target areas under the business development component of the project are threefold: generating reliable data for producing tailor-made initiatives; increasing the financial literacy of the IDP communities and promoting self-employment. These activities also aimed to help IDPs to improve their standard of living and encourage their participation in society.

In addition to the business development component of the project which envisages providing support to small business initiatives creating a conducive environment for IDPs to start and maintain income generating/livelihood activities in the target regions of Azerbaijan, the project contributes to the prevention of forced economic migration by enhancing access of rural communities in Azerbaijan to energy-free water resources as a means to increase agriculture productivity and livelihoods through provision of water infrastructure, by providing opportunities for income-generating activities in link with Kahriz renovation.

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