Azerbaijan

Background

• The Republic of Azerbaijan has one of the largest displaced populations of anywhere in the world. One out of every eight persons in the country is an Internally Displaced Person (IDP) or a refugee.
• In 1988, the Nagorno-Karabakh region sought to become part of Armenia. During this period, ethnic Azerbaijanis left Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, and ethnic Armenians fled the Republic of Azerbaijan. 575,000 people remain internally displaced, the majority of whom are female.
• In 2000, there was a large influx of Chechens from Russia to Azerbaijan, due to the military conflict in Chechnya. Huge foreign oil investments have improved the infrastructure of the country, but social inequality and ethnic tensions remain problematic.

What We Do

Right To Play started with project implementation in Azerbaijan in response to an invitation by the UNHCR. In order to address the problems of youth under-development and over-crowding in the refugee camps, Right To Play programs in Azerbaijan have been designed to develop individual and community capacity of Teachers and Local Coaches to provide regular sport and play activities for internally displaced children and youth. By using the best practices of sport and play, Right To Play will instil indispensable life skills such as leadership, discipline, fair play, and conflict resolution which will lead to increased child self-esteem and resilience. Ultimately, the children who possess these crucial life skills will serve as catalysts for healthier, happier and more peaceful communities.

So Far

We have trained 250 youth and adult teachers, 70% of which are female, and lead regular activities in a total of 30 schools/communities for approximately 8,000 children and youth. Taking into account child-to-family, coach-to-family and peer-to-peer knowledge transfer, Right To Play estimates approximately 58,500 indirect beneficiaries will benefit from programming in Azerbaijan. Right To Play will directly reach a further 14,600 internally displaced children and youth aged between 5 to 18 this year, and train an additional 400 coaches to work in the most needy communities.