Baku, March 15 AZERTAC

bp on behalf of its co-venturers in the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Shah Deniz and South Caucasus Pipeline projects - SOCAR, TPAO, LUKOIL, NICO, MOL, Equinor, SGC, INPEX, ExxonMobil, ITOCHU, TotalEnergies, Eni, ONGCVidesh - yesterday marked the successful completion of three social investment projects and announced the launch of two further social initiatives that foster innovative educational and capacity building approaches to the development of inclusive society. The projects aim to help frame the best experiences and define the best solutions for the social integration of people with disabilities.

Bakhtiyar Aslanbayli, bp’s vice president for the Caspian region, communications and external affairs, said: “Together with our co-venturers we have been aiming to actively promote social inclusion of people with disabilities by fostering the principles of an inclusive society through our social investment projects. The three projects we have successfully completed and the ones that we are announcing today have one common goal - to help develop a society in which attitudes, beliefs and perceptions do not allow any exclusion. Most importantly, with our two new projects we hope to help expand the scale and area of this social change and enhance awareness of inclusive education in the rural communities. We believe by contributing to the promotion of an inclusive society we are helping the country’s sustainable development in which everyone has a role to play and feels advantaged.”

The first completed project focused on developing and enhancing the capabilities of various categories of people specializing in the assessment, diagnosis, rehabilitation and therapy of autism, such as physicians, neurologists, paediatric psychiatrists, paediatricians, caregivers, vocational specialists, volunteering students selected from a large number of local universities, therapeutic sport specialists, etc. The project created an opportunity for about 60 specialists based in Baku to learn from the best international theories, practices and know-how, as well as understand the current trends. The scope of the project also included training of national trainers using internationally approved training programmes.

The duration of the project was 20 months with a total cost of around 415,000 AZN ($244,118). The project was implemented by the public union Together and Healthy (Birgə və Sağlam).

Based on the success of this project, it has been decided to expand our support to help enhance the capabilities of autism specialists in the rural communities.

This new project will cover such districts as Ganja, Dashkasan, Tovuz, Agstafa, Goranboy, Samukh and Shamkir. The scope includes specific training for autism and therapeutic sport specialists, volunteers and other groups of people involved in the assessment, diagnosis, rehabilitation and therapy of autism. The training, which will be centred in Ganja, will be delivered by international and local experts using programmes based on international standards and practices.

The new project is for one year with a cost of around 98,000AZN ($57,647). It will be implemented by the same organization - the public union Together and Healthy (Birgə və Sağlam).

The second completed project aimed to create an opportunity for children with disabilities to practice sport and physical training as part of their integration into wider society. The project was designed to promote a hybrid (online and offline) educational model for the Azerbaijan Academy of Physical Education and Sport to use as an effective tool of inclusive education. It also aimed to foster the best international practices in the area of habilitation, rehabilitation and social integration of children with disabilities. To enable an effective transition to specialized inclusive education, the project scope also included specific training for a group of teachers and students of the Academy and amendment of the Academy's curricula to cover adaptive physical education and sport.

The duration of the project was 13 months with a cost of 77,100 AZN ($45,353). It was implemented by the State Academy of Physical Education and Sport.

The third completed project focused on enhancing inclusive education at schools. The project was designed to promote inclusive educational culture at high schools through creating an inclusive educational environment and fostering a behavioural change as to the social integration of children with disabilities. The project covered four piloting schools selected by the Ministry of Science and Education - schools number 202 and 246 in Baku, and number 4 and 21 in Sumgayit.

As a result of the project, specifically designed resource rooms - one in each of the selected schools - have been set up to provide group and individual services to help children with disabilities in their learning and integration efforts. All rooms are equipped with practical teaching and assistive technologies, specific devices and furniture, as well as software and audiovisual tools that meet the individual educational needs of children with disabilities.

In addition, selected groups of the teaching staff - up to 50 tutors in total, have been trained to efficiently use the new equipment and technologies as well as to help uphold the overall inclusive environment and culture at their schools.

The total value of this eight-month project was around 260,000 AZN ($152,941). It was implemented by the public union ‘Regional Development’ (Regional İnkişaf İctimai Birliyi).

Based on the success of this project, it has been decided to continue it into phase 2 with a larger scope that will cover 24 schools selected from across the country including Baku, Sumgayit, Shirvan, Ganja, Absheron, Guba, Sheki, Gazakh, Khachmaz, Gabala and Aghjabadi. It aims to enhance around 250 schoolteachers` theoretical knowledge and practical skills in inclusive education through a specifically developed training programme.

This new project, which will also be implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Science and Education, strongly advocates a modern inclusive education policy and promotes strategic development of inclusive education as an integral part of Azerbaijan’s education system.

The cost of this one-year project is more than 104,000 AZN ($61,176). It will continue to be implemented by the same organization - the public union ‘Regional Development’ (Regional İnkişaf İctimai Birliyi).