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New opportunities for community development

Society Materials 16 July 2021 11:42 (UTC +04:00)
New opportunities for community development

bp on behalf of its co-venturers in the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Shah Deniz, and South Caucasus Pipeline projects – SOCAR, TPAO, PETRONAS, MOL, LUKOIL, NICO, Equinor, INPEX, ExxonMobil, SGC, ITOCHU, ONGC, TOTAL, Eni – today announced successful completion of three community development projects along the bp-operated export pipelines. The total value of the projects is around 900,000 AZN.

The one-year project in Tovuz was aimed to support the development of micro-entrepreneurial skills and capabilities of rural women, as well as to enhance their self-employment opportunities. The project has provided development opportunities to a total of 60 women from low income and vulnerable families. They received specific trainings to improve their skills to manage their own small businesses and were provided with necessary equipment to launch micro-level income generation activities as tailors, hairdressers, pastry cooks, beekeepers and mill runners.

The project which aimed to support inclusive education efforts in the Tovuz and Agstafa districts provided upskilling opportunities for 300 school and pre-school teachers – 200 in Tovuz and 100 in Agstafa. They received trainings on 10 inclusive education related themes and were provided with five new learning materials which were developed as part of the project by local experts. These included practical recommendations for organization of the learning process in the inclusive education environment. In addition, as part of the project modern inclusive education literature – national and international, has been donated to the Inclusive Education Centre in Tovuz.

The final stage of bp and its co-venturers’ community infrastructure improvement project resulted in the refurbishment of three kindergartens - for a total of 200 children - in the Hajigabul and Kurdamir districts - one in Hajigabul and two in Kurdamir. This completes the 5-year programme with a total cost of more than two million AZN aimed at improving social infrastructure in the communities living in the neighbourhoods of bp and co-venturers’ projects and activities. Overall, 14 kindergartens have been refurbished and upgraded in the neighbouring communities since 2016 when this major social infrastructure programme first started.

A group of bp and co-venturer companies’ representatives visited the Tovuz, Samukh (the Sweet Gold project), Yevlakh (the Build Your Future project) and Kurdamir districts on 14-15 July to see firsthand the sustainable results of the social investment initiatives implemented in the neighbouring communities.

bp has been present in Azerbaijan for 28 years safely, efficiently and reliably operating major oil and gas exploration, development and transportation projects. To date, together with its partners, bp has invested around $78.5 billion into projects it operates in the country. In Azerbaijan, we are committed to supporting sustainability efforts focusing on the areas where we believe we can make the most difference.

Our extensive social investment activities and capacity-building efforts in the country have had a positive impact and brought tangible benefits to people, improving their lives and making difference.

Our social investments cover such areas as building local capabilities, education, development of communities, local enterprises, the environment, sporting potential as well as research and promotion of the country’s rich cultural heritage. Overall, since the start, bp itself and together with its co-venturers in the joint ventures that bp operates in Azerbaijan, has spent more than $94 million on social investment projects in this country.

In 2020, bp and the co-venturers in bp-operated joint ventures spent $3.2 million in Azerbaijan on social investment projects. In addition, in 2020, bp alone spent more than $4.2 million on various social and sponsorship projects in this country.

In Azerbaijan, bp directly employs more than 2,400 Azerbaijani citizens who make over 90 per cent of the company’s professional staff.

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