The Government of Azerbaijan declared the development of the non-oil economy and the reduction of socio- economic regional disparities as the main priorities for the coming years, as clearly outlined in the Strategy Vision 2020 and other strategic government documents. In order to support the Government in its efforts to develop regions and to implement reforms under the current EU-Azerbaijan agreements and future agreements under the Eastern Partnership, the EU identified two components under the Annual Action Programme:
Component 1. Support Regional and Rural Development in Azerbaijan (SRRD)
The overall objective of this programme was to contribute to the diversification of the economy and sustainable regional development in Azerbaijan, while reducing socio-economic disparities between regions.
Component 2. Framework programme in support of EU-Azerbaijan Agreements
The overall objective of this framework programme was to build the institutional capacity of selected public administration institutions in Azerbaijan. Main activities foreseen included technical assistance and Twinning projects in support to the implementation of the EU- Azerbaijan ENP Action Plan and the implementation of CIB.
To ensure adequate visibility, each project implementing the programme had its own communication and visibility component and budget, according to the Communication and Visibility Manual for EU External Actions. In addition, funds were reserved to ensure overall visibility of the actions under this present project.
The overall objective of the present contract therefore was to increase the visibility of EU-funded projects in Azerbaijan in general, with a specific focus on

• Increasing the visibility of the EU assistance in regional and rural development in Azerbaijan, and
• Awareness raising about the EU activities in institutional capacity building in Azerbaijan through Institution Building Instruments: Twinning/TAIEX/Sigma.

These visibility goals were achieved by using a large variety of communication tools over a duration of 2 years. Activities are carefully planned to ensure a harmonised approach where all elements and campaigns build upon each other. This will maximise the impact and ensure a continued presence of relevant information on EU activities in the Azerbaijani media.
The requested services were split up into three groups:

• Component 1. Support Regional and Rural Development in Azerbaijan (SRRD)
• Component 2. Framework programme in support of EU-Azerbaijan Agreements
• Component 3. General visibility measures