DOST social project attracts over 250 volunteers

By Azernews

By Rasana Gasimova

Volunteering is increasingly popular in Azerbaijan as President Ilham Aliyev announced 2020 “Year of Volunteers”.

The Agency for Sustainable and Operational Social Security (DOST Agency) under the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection also plays an important role in expanding the volunteer movement through its volunteer program.

The Volunteer DOST program has so far received 6,900 applications and has attracted up to 250 volunteers.

The volunteering program at the DOST center has three subprograms: Young DOST, Elderly DOST and Virtual DOST. Volunteers provide state social services through the “one-window” principle of citizen satisfaction in DOST centers.

Along with young people, a group of retired people between the ages of 60 and75 also works on a volunteer team under the Elderly DOST program. A group of disabled people also participate in Young DOST program and work at the center.

DOST volunteers were given the necessary knowledge and skills during the trainings organized for them. They meet the citizens, direct them to service windows, manage human traffic, queues, provide citizens with necessary information, help them use electronic systems, fill various surveys, forms etc.

Some 17 volunteers from the Volunteer DOST program were employed by the DOST Agency and continued working at the center.

In May 2019, the DOST Agency opened the first Baku DOST center.

DOST centers are created to provide a significant part of state social services (labor and employment, types of social security, pensions, social insurance and other services) through operational simplified procedures.

The centers are expected to provide 132 different types of social services to citizens, 91 of them being electronic. Currently, more than 20 types of electronic services are provided to the population in DOST centers. Every center is expected to employ approximately 100-150 people.

As many as 31 DOST centers are planned to be opened in Baku and regions by 2025: five in Baku, two in Sumgayit and Ganja, and the rest in other regions of the country. The services will be rendered to 2.8 million people.