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Civil Society in Azerbaijan:
National agenda for a change

1st Civil Society Forum presents the National Agenda comprising the below mentioned recommendations for improving and enhancing civil society in Azerbaijan.
National Agenda constitutes of the following 5 parts:
1. Registration of Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs);
2. Activities of NGOs;
3. Economic activity and taxation;
4. Public participation in decision making process
5. Increasing transparency of local donors and NGOs.

1. In the field of the registratrion of NGOs:
1.1 Simplification of the public registration of NGOs and creation of single window registration;
1.2 Simplification of public registration procedures of foreign NGOs and foundations, reserving the registration right at the Ministry of Justice and decreasing legal fees for establishment;
1.3 Create a simplified juridical base for registration of NGO Unions (Coalitions, Alliances, Networks, Associations and Forums) by making the necessary changes to the relevant legislation;
1.4 Online submission of changes about registration information and grant contracts of NGOs, creation of online public registration service and application of online services for making technical changes to database.

2. In Activities of NGOs:
2.1 Classification of NGOs on the base of annual financial turnover while submitting financial reports, exempting NGOs that have annual turnover less than 12,000 AZN from submitting annual financial reports , establishment online service for submitting financial reports for NGOs having annual turnover more than 12,000 AZN.
2.2 Establishment of conference and local resource centers for development of activities of NGOs in the regions;
2.3 Take actions for removing illegal control and intervention by the local and central state bodies in activities of NGOs ;
2.4 Establishment of “NGO Houses” in regional centers and cities for resolving office problem of NGOs.

3. In economic activities and taxation policy:
3.1 Annual prioritization of corporate social responsibility programs by the Council on State Support to NGOs and stimulation of annual social business development according to predefined directions;
3.2 Exempting NGOs from VAT for the works (services) procured and carried out with the raised grants, and from simplified tax for the exchange transactions of NGOs (commercial activities) since those funds are invested to NGOs, and decreasing social deduction (22%) for employees employed under grant activities.
3.3 Application of stimulatory tax mechanisms to charitable activities of business companies and their associations, for non economic activities such as grant, donation, supports to state and public unions;
3.4 Increasing and improving the mechanisms of providing direct state financial support to NGOs, realization of social services funded through state orders by selected NGOs in the result of competitions and acceleration of adoption of the law of Azerbaijan Republic on “Social Orders”;
3.5 Stimulating the establishment and activities of national donor institutions and endowment funds.

4. In the field of inclusive public decision making:
4.1. Organization of debates for the bill on “Public participation” and adoption the law;
4.2. Preparation, implementation and monitoring of state programs and national strategies with the participation of public unions;
4.3. Representation of civil society in the management of public funds;
4.4. Participation of civil society in the budget discussion and law making process;
4.5. Organization of public hearings at the parliament with the participation of civil society members on the progress of implementation of the state programs and laws.

5. In the field of increasing transparency of local donor and NGOs:
5.1. Determination of guidelines for holding grant announcements and grant competitions by the local donors and publication of grant results and making appeal from them.
5.2. Preparation and adoption of transparency charter for local donors and NGOs, and policies for ethics and conflict of interest.
5.3. Organizing individual and/or group conferences for submitting annual reports for national donors and NGOs for transparency in their activities.