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Mercy Corps Azerbaijan Chief of Party William Holbrook. Photo: Mercy Corps
The First Azerbaijan Micro-finance Conference was held in Baku, Azerbaijan on October 11 and 12, 2001. This conference represents the culmination of coordination efforts that began in 1996 and has been led by Mercy Corps since 1998. Over 150 participants attended from 43 organizations including 22 humanitarian non-governmental organizations, 6 local commercial banks, 3 diplomatic missions, 3 ministries, 2 private companies and 7 donor agencies. The conference’s goals were to discuss and share micro-finance best practices, improve coordination between micro finance institutions, and increase public awareness about micro-finance in Azerbaijan. It was also the first time that micro-finance institutions (MFIs) in Azerbaijan had an open dialogue with government officials.
Over $24,000 was raised to support the conference from Donor, Diplomatic, and private sector entities including the United States Agency for International Development, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, World Bank/SFDI, STATOIL and Norwegian Embassy in Azerbaijan. The conference was organized by the eight-organization taskforce including: Academy for Educational Development, Adventist Development & Relief Agency, Foundation for International Community Assistance, Norwegian Humanitarian Enterprise, Norwegian Refugee Council, Mercy Corps, Social Fund for Development for Internally Displaced People and World Vision International.
Five distinguished guests spoke during the opening ceremony including, US Ambassador to Azerbaijan Ross Wilson, Deputy Prime Minister Ali Hasanov, USAID Country Coordinator William McKinney, and Director of the Micro-finance Centre for Central and Eastern Europe and CIS countries Grzegorz Galuzek, and Mercy Corps Chief of Party William Holbrook.
Mr. Holbrook opened the conference and thanked its donors, organizers, and participants, and outlined the objectives of the conference. Ambassador Ross Wilson, noted his familiarity with the USAID funded micro finances programs and highlighted the critical role that economic programs such as micro-finance play in the development of the country. Deputy Prime Minister and Head of the State Commission on International Humanitarian Assistance Ali Hasanov stated that over 20 micro-credit programs had been operating in Azerbaijan since 1996. He said the government supports micro-finance activities. For example, of the $10 million borrowed by the government from the World Bank $2 million has been set aside for micro-finance for supporting the refugees and internally displaced people. In addition, the government has allocated $250,000 to the state committee for the micro credit for IDPs. Mr. Grzegorz Galuzek discussed worldwide trends in micro finance emphasizing the outreach of micro finance activities and key challenges including legal status and taxes.
A key decision of the conference was the agreement to begin the formation of an Association of Azerbaijan Micro-finance Institutions. This represents a great step forward to improving coordination efforts and providing a forum to more efficiently represent MFI needs to the government and donor communities.
Micro-finance program implementation in Azerbaijan began in 1996. The programs’ objectives are to provide financial support to low-income families, entrepreneurs and other segments of the population to help them launch their own businesses. Currently 15 micro-finance programs are providing financial services to 14,909 entrepreneurs with the support of International and local NGOs. Micro-credit loans vary from $50 to $1,000 and small credit ranges from $1,000 to $30,000 for a period of 4 to 12 months.
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