Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr. I.Alizadeh / The Open Community Institute fund Sorosa has allocated $1.5mln to Azerbaijan to implement a program to move children from children's homes and boarding schools to live with families.
The memorandum on cooperation was signed between the Azerbaijan Education Ministry and Sorosa fund in Baku on 24 September. The document was signed by Misir Mardanov, the Azerbaijani Education Minister, and Judy Klein, the representative of the fund. Sorosa allocated a $1.5mln grant to Azerbaijan. A pilot boarding school will be established with the aim of bringing up children within the framework of transferring children from children's home to families. The program will be implemented within five years. Some $300,000 will be allocated per year, Mardanov said.
The fund proposed several conditions on allocation grants to which Azerbaijan adhered to. In compliance with the new conditions, no boarding schools and children's home can be constructed or new employees to be appointed to the pilot boarding schools. Azerbaijan will receive technical assistance within the framework of the grant project and specialists will also be included in the process.
The Azerbaijani Government plans to suspend the admission of children to boarding schools and children's home gradually and in the future to have them closed. The first objective is returning the children to their biological parents. The second objective is transforming children into the community. Those children will receive education in normal schools, the Minister said.
Azerbaijan will be the first country, amongst the former Soviet Union countries and East Europe, to implement the aforesaid project.
The main issue is to provide assistance to families who will be prepared to adopt children, Lein said.
Some 202 children were transferred to families within the framework of the project.