Social Investment Initiative

bp AGTR on behalf of its Co-venturers in the ACG, BTC, SCP and SD oil and gas projects has an ongoing commitment to socially invest in long-term, environmentally friendly, socio-economic development in the areas impacted by its assets and activities. bp and co-venturers are good corporate citizen and value sustainable development of the communities and the broader society affected by its operations. 

The recent challenges in the world economy raise more need for the private sector actors to become socially and environmentally more conscious toward the surroundings it operates at.

Improvement of the socio-economic situation and adaptation to the effects of climate change require mitigation measures that necessitate combined efforts of governments, non-governmental institutions and international entities. As the driving force of economic growth, private sector actors bear a responsibility to tackle these challenges.

Operating in AGT Region as a responsible neighbor, BP invests in the communities affected by its operations, but more than that, evaluates opportunities where it can step beyond its operations and contribute to the progress of the societies it cooperates with to improve the general socio-economic environment.

By aligning with business strategy, we aim to create positive impact on society through delivering sustainable projects and relationships. Our goal for Azerbaijan is to improve pro-poor growth conditions in the Projects Affected Communities and conditions for nationwide economic development in the selected non-oil & gas sectors. We aim to reach our goal through the following objectives:

• Improving enviromental protection
• Increasing income of rural households (with a value chain approach);
• Introducing new or improvement of existing standards in Education;
• Developing small and medium enterprises;
• Improving need-based and targeted community infrastructure

We are currently implementing dozens of projects under the abovementioned strategic objectives. Some of our projects have had high impact beyond the communities we are working with, and are currently being scaled up. We work with well-known implementing partners who have comparative advantage in their field of operation to implement Social Investment projects of highest quality and deliver sustainable results. 

Submitted concept papers will undergo the following steps:

1. Informing applicant organizations on the results of the initial screening of the concept papers;
2. Development of complete project proposals by the successful applicant organizations, based on the templates, continuous feedback and commentary provided by BP Social Investment practitioners and Procurement Category Specialists;
3. Approval for funding by BP Leadership [Condition for proceeding to the next stage] based on the Social Investment and Sponsorship Panel’s recommendation on the internal presentation of complete project proposals by BP SI practitioners
4. Informing Applicant Organization on the decision of the leadership
5. Conducting Counterparty Due Diligence for the applicant organizations and companies who are not contracted by BP in the past three years;
6. Registration of the organization at BP;
7. Preparing and signing contractual arrangements;
8. Launching of the project.

The following criteria are used to screen concept papers:

1. Form of application: Correct form of application as described in the call for proposals is mandatory. Submission of the concept papers as a separate MS Word document is the first condition for the revision. Any project idea submitted as an e-mail or information note will not be reviewed and/or approved for the next stage. All SI projects are non-for profit projects. Therefore, BP does not fund individual entrepreneurs directly.
2. Strategic alignment: Any concept paper submitted should have its goal and objectives aligned to the BP AGT Social Investments Regional goal and country objectives. This also includes minimum requirements set out in the Call for Proposals. Any concept paper that presents goals and objectives not aligned with the SI Strategy objectives will be rejected.
3. Criteria of selection: Call for proposals do not establish a competition. All submitted concept papers aligned with the form and strategy are assessed against a set of criteria for the selection. However, considering the constrained annual budget, only the projects which meet all the selection criteria may be funded by BP Social Investment. The criteria applied in selecting successful concept papers for further development are: BP Values alignment; Need-based intervention; Cost effectiveness;  Outcome oriented approach; Experience; Transparency; Socio-economic, environmental sustainability and exit strategy;  Measurement of success; Capacity building; Prevention of duplication. 

Concept paper submission instructions:

Concept Papers should be maximum of 3000 words. It should contain an initial idea about the proposed project, and the following information:

• Projects highlights;
• Background and preliminary needs assessment results;
• Name of the project;
• The priority theme under which it is submitted;
• The objectives (one, or more) it chooses to fulfil from the abovementioned results matrix chart;
• The list of the proposed activities for the fulfilment of the expected results/outputs;
• Sustainability strategy;
• Anticipated timeframe;
• Geographic focus;
• Target group(s);
• Implementation plan (lay out in months);
• Preliminary budget with approximate breakdown of costs and description of items in the budget list;

Concept papers should specify:

• The name of the applying organization;
• Tax registration number;
• A brief history of past activities and lessons learned;
• Contact information of at least two senior members within organization, including phone numbers, address, and email.

All costs and expenses incurred by a submitter in preparing and submitting concept papers and/or proposals shall be to the submitter’s account. BP is not being liable for any costs related to the preparation and submission of concept notes and proposals.

Concept papers and any inquires or requests for clarifications concerning this call shall be channeled electronically via: cdi@bp.com.

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