"Umid" Social Development Support Public Union ("Umid" SSD) has started the implementation of the project titled "Initiative to Support the Socialization of Management in Education" with the financial support of the State Support Agency for Non-Governmental Organizations of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The project is scheduled to take place between September 1 and November 30, 2022. The city of Baku is the project's target area.

The main idea of the project is to identify a) possibilities for studying and improving the current state of community-school (parent-teacher, school-parent, entrepreneur-community, etc.) relations in the target schools, b) environmental factors required to increase community participation (entrepreneurs operating in the community, influential persons living in the community, local government bodies, parents, etc.) in educational process and preparing proposals for improving these relations.

Overall, the main goal of the project is to develop a package of proposals for improving community-school relations. The following activities are anticipated to be carried out in order to reach this goal:

Objective 1: Study the current state of community-school relations in the target communities

In the course of this activity, "one-page" information of the project's goal, objectives, and anticipated outcomes will first be created, posted on social media and various websites, and information will be forwarded to the appropriate state authorities. For the first goal of familiarization, meetings with the principals of the target schools will be arranged. After that, at least two survey forms will be created, and 30 individuals will attend a meeting to discuss the results. After the survey forms are in their final form, at least 50 teachers, 10 business owners, 10 influential people who reside in or have connections to the community, 5 members of local government bodies, and parents of students from all classes (a total of 100 parents) will be surveyed (for a total of 175 respondents).

Objective 2: Analysis of survey results, discussion of results with community representatives, school staff, education experts and NGOs

The findings of surveys carried out as part of this activity will be examined, along with the current state of parent-teacher, school-parent, and entrepreneur-community relations, as well as suggestions for boosting the involvement of local government agencies, parents, and influential local residents in the educational process. At least 10 teachers and school principals, 2 local government representatives, a few business owners and influential locals, 2 educational experts, and representatives of NGOs working in the field of education will attend the round table discussion to discuss the findings of the analyses that have been conducted (30 people in total). A final proposal package will be created and delivered to the Ministry of Science and Education after the suggestions and opinions expressed during this round table discussion have been summarized. More than 200 participants in the project, including community members, teachers, and local business owners, will learn the value of relationships between the community and schools, voice their opinions on it, and as a result, they will have an increased impact on the public's perception of schools and education. The package of proposals to be submitted to the Ministry of Education will have a distinguishing feature such as the involvement of the low-income class in the educational process. The Ministry of Science and Education can then provide the package of proposals to schools as a recommendation.