EU and UNDP team up to support the development of social entrepreneurship in Azerbaijan

As part of the EU-funded ‘Developing innovation-driven and sustainable civil society in Azerbaijan’ project, the events involve 40 people of social entrepreneurs, government representatives and other ecosystem players to work on challenges and co-create solutions in this area.

Mr. Sukhrob Khojimatov, UNDP Officer-in-Charge in Azerbaijan attended the event and highlighted about the valuable role of social enterprises in tackling socio-economic challenges while contributing to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

The workshop brought together social entrepreneurs working in various spheres such as supporting the employment of women and people with disabilities, helping rural farmers, improving education opportunities of regional youth, and providing environmental services.

Organised in “world café” format, the event enabled the participants to openly share their experiences in running social businesses and collectively find ways to improve the social entrepreneurship ecosystem.

These events are held as part of the project’s series of debates around social entrepreneurship policies led by Ms. Lana Lovasic, the international expert with over 15 years of experience in social enterprise and social economy with an emphasis on innovation, research and policy work.

At the event, the expert presented the findings of the survey that has been conducted among the social entrepreneurs of Azerbaijan to analyse the current landscape in this area.

Ms. Lovasic also shared results of the SWOT analysis of the ecosystem and her vision on the priority areas for future policy actions in the country.

Through the workshops, meetings and advisory support, the project aims to accelerate the country’s efforts to build a supportive policy framework which will enable more people to start and scale up businesses addressing socio-economic challenges in Azerbaijan.

The series will continue with the next event for the government representatives, innovation centers, business incubators and ecosystem experts on 14 April 2022.

This series is organised is by the ‘Developing innovation-driven and sustainable civil society in Azerbaijan’ project, funded by the EU and implemented by UNDP. The project aims to help increase CSOs capacities to engage in policy-making processes, foster local development, and promote social entrepreneurship and social innovation.