OSCE awards projects addressing disaster risk reduction
By Nigar Orujova
The OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Baku has awarded two civil society organizations with grants under the Civic Action for Environment and Security (CASE) Programme.
The maximum available grants of 20,000 euros were awarded to the environmental legal center Ekoleks and Yaddash Young Enlighteners Public Union, working in the field of disaster risk reduction.
The Ekoleks project will assess how drought impacts the environment and people's lives, before offering recommendations to the local executive bodies and communities in the targeted regions.
Yaddash aims to work on raising the awareness of teachers, schoolchildren and their parents about natural hazards risk reduction.
The award winning organizations were selected by the CASE Screening Board, which comprised of representatives of the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Baku, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry, the Emergency Situations Ministry and Khazar University.
The grants are part of the OSCE's Civic Action for Security and Environment (CASE) programme, launched in 2009. The programme is part of the Environment and Security Initiative for the South Caucasus (ENVSEC) region, co-ordinated by the OSCE Co-ordinator of Economic and Environmental Activities office.
The CASE Programme in Azerbaijan is funded through extra-budgetary contributions to the OSCE by the governments of Luxemburg and Switzerland. The OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Baku is providing logistical support to this initiative.