New legal developments may contribute to an improved access to funding for CSOs in the country.
Changes in the Grant registration rules
By the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan No. 355 dated November 17, 2021, changes were made to the “Rules for registration of grant agreements (decisions)”. According to the amendment, if the document or information required for registration of the grant agreement can be obtained from the relevant government agency through the E-Government Information System, CSOs are not required to submit the same document or information. However, this change does not simplify the registration of foreign grants as such.
New powers to the Agency for State Support to NGOs
Since the Cabinet of Ministers delayed the approval of the grant making rules of the NGO Agency, President Aliyev signed a Decree on December 2, 2021, and gave temporarily powers to the NGO Agency to approve its grant-making rules. These rules also cover the procedure for monitoring and evaluation of implemented projects, as well as the procedure for conducting competitions for grants (until the rules on the above are approved by the Cabinet of Ministers). Following this, NGO Agency held its first grant competition and awarded 415 NGO projects.
Package for improved CSO legislation submitted to the Parliament
MP Erkin Gadirli together with civil society expert submitted a package of changes to the CSO legislation to the Parliament. The package includes recommendations from our CSO Meter country reports from 2019 and 2020, related to simplification of grant registration, ending service contract registration, ending the requirement for CSOs to sign contracts for volunteers if the assignment is less than one day, empowering citizen participation, and other amendments.