Entrepreneurship Programme for Job Seekers in Azerbaijan

The Strategy combines demand- and supply- side interventions, prioritises investment in the real economy, facilitates employment friendly macroeconomic policies, suggests targeted action for youth, addresses labour market mismatches, and supports entrepreneurship and self-employment.

Promotion of entrepreneurship plays a key role in achieving job-intensive economic growth in Azerbaijan. The new initiative designed and tested with the ILO support includes entrepreneurship training and grants for job seekers. It is funded by the President Reserve Fund through allocation of AZN 6,000,000 (ca USD 4,000,000) and covers 68 districts of the country. The programme is implemented by the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Population (MLSPP) and the Public Employment Service (PES).

The ILO project “Partnerships for Youth Employment in the CIS”, implemented with the support of LUKOIL company, has helped the Ministry of Labour to train 136 trainers for the ILO Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) programme. It is expected that after the SIYB training more than 2 thousand households will apply for funding and start their own business.

To date, five out of nine planned training sessions for the potential trainers have been conducted in different regions of the country. During their official visit to Azerbaijan, Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia and Eastern Europe, Heinz Koller, the acting Director of the ILO DWT/CO Moscow, Shurenchimeg Zokhiolt, and Minister for Labour and Social Protection of the Population of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Salim Muslumov, presented certificates the graduates of the training courses . The trainers are now ready to deliver the SIYB courses to the job seekers.