Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 4 / corr Trend A.Huseynbala /
The management and transparency in the Azerbaijani NGOs is not satisfactory.
"One of issues, causing serious discussions over the current development of civil society is the accountability and transparency of NGO activities, State Council on Assistance to NGO Chairman MP Azay Guliyev told Trend during the conference on Efficient management, transparency and accountability in NGO activities.
The contest related to financial aid to NGOs in 2009 was announced on Jan. 15. Deadline for application was Feb. 15. This year the State Council received 569 projects, requesting roughly 9 million manat, though the contest fund amounted to on 2.68 million manat. Some 226 of application were supported and the Council allocated 848,000 manat for their implementation.
President Ilham Aliyev issued a decree to establish a State Council on Assistance to NGO at the Azerbaijani President on Dec. 13, 2007.
Guliyev said efficiency and transparency of NGO sector is one of important terms. "It is the major term to strengthen the NGO sector. We confess that administration in NGO is not satisfactory. Too less NGOs provide public with information about their financial activities."
Although 2,447 NGOs were registered at the Justice Ministry, they cannot collect data about 1,308 organizations. "Some of them submitted data to the Council after our appeal. This fact testifies for absence of transparency this sphere," Guliyev added.
NGOs should submit timely information about grant projects to the Justice Ministry. "Our analysis revealed that only 35 NGOs submitted similar information to the Justice Ministry in 2005. Although over 300 NGOs received grant that year," Guliyev underscored.
Guliyev proposes to release the NGOs from social insurance so that to increase the efficiency of their activities. "The parliament is to discuss the bill on changes and supplements to the Law on Social Insurance on Dec. 4. I will raise an issue to release the NGOs from social insurance payments," he added.
After the adoption of the Charter of Responsibility of NGOs in Azerbaijan", positive breakthrough will be observed in this sector.
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