U.S. Mission to Azerbaijan in Baku: English language Capacity Building Program for Azerbaijani English-language teachers

Overview

The U.S. Embassy is pleased to announce a call for proposals from U.S.-based organizations and universities for its English Language Capacity Building program. The program invites U.S.-based organizations and universities to submit a proposal to conduct a comprehensive training certificate program for English-language teachers working in public schools throughout Azerbaijan. The program should be innovative and cost-effective with both virtual and in-person components and utilize a synchronous online learning platform, practical curriculum, and live personal coaching in support of a key Embassy goal in Azerbaijan: improve the quality of English language instruction and increase English language fluency of Azerbaijani students at all levels of education.

The program’s objectives are:

• Provide professional development opportunities to Azerbaijani English language teachers to enhance the quality of English language teaching in Azerbaijan by helping teachers reinforce their English skills and learn the latest strategies and methods for teaching English as a foreign language.
• Offer a high-quality English-language training certificate program that is based on communicative teaching methods and that focuses on enhancing the teachers and eventually their students’ conversational and comprehension skills while taking into account the elements of the National Curriculum of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
• Strengthen people-to-people ties between the United States and Azerbaijan through promotion of community service and activities to enhance critical-thinking skills among participants, information sharing, and experiences between American experts and target audiences that increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and Azerbaijan.

Participants and Audiences:
The intended audiences for potential projects are young and less-experienced Azerbaijani English language teachers exposed to minimum or no prior professional development opportunities working at public schools. Special consideration will be given to programs that focus on secondary school English language teachers working with disadvantaged communities (rural areas, low-income, IDP etc.) in regions outside of Baku.

• Length of performance period:  applicants are encouraged to design programs that encompass at least one academic year. 
• Number of awards anticipated:  1-2 awards, depending on availability of funds
• Award amounts: awards may range from a minimum of $50,000 to a maximum of $100,000
• Anticipated start date of selected program: October 2023
• Anticipate start of the training program: December 2023 – January 2024 
• Applications should be emailed back to [email protected] .  Please be sure to send all attachments in one email message and include your entity name and program name in the subject line of the email.  Applications must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. (Baku time) May 7, 2023.  English Language Capacity Building Program recipients will be announced after May 31, 2023.