Center for Economic and Social Development, or CESD; in Azeri, İqtisadi və Sosial İnkişaf Mərkəzi (İSİM) is an

Azeri Azerbaijanis (; az, Azərbaycanlılar, ), Azeris ( az, Azərilər, ), or Azerbaijani Turks ( az, Azərbaycan Türkləri, ) are a Turkic peoples, Turkic people living mainly in Azerbaijan (Iran), northwestern Iran and the Azerbaijan, Republi ...

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

, NGO based in

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

. The Center was established in 2005. CESD focuses on policy advocacy and reform, and is involved with policy research and capacity building. CESD involves leading researchers prominent in their fields and enjoys a broad regional and international networking. CESD ranked as one of the top think tanks in the world by

The University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, United States i
Global "Go-To Think Tanks" Report in 2010
According to the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

rankings - a result of surveys from 1500

scholars A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher ...

and

peer review Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

evaluation - the Center for Economic and Social Development (CESD) is one of the top 25 think tanks in

Central and Eastern Europe Central and Eastern Europe is a term encompassing the countries in the Baltics, Central Europe, Eastern Europe and Southeast Europe (mostly the Balkans), usually meaning former communist states from the Eastern Bloc and Warsaw Pact in Europe. ...

, including

CIS Cis or cis- may refer to: Places * Cis, Trentino, in Italy * In Poland: ** Cis, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, south-central ** Cis, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, north Math, science and biology * cis (mathematics) (cis(''θ'')), a trigonome ...

. CESD is the only think tank from the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

and

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

included in the top think tanks rankings. CESD is also ranked as one of the top 25 domestic

economic policy The economy of governments covers the systems for setting levels of taxation, government budgets, the money supply and interest rates as well as the labour market, national ownership, and many other areas of government interventions into the e ...

thinks tanks in the world. Only CESD (ranked 19) and the Center for Social and Economic Research (CASE), (

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, ranked 21) were included in the list from

and

countries.

Mission

CESD has been set up to promote research into domestic and regional economic and social issues, advocacy towards reforms and capacity building for the purpose to positively impact the policy making and improve the participation.

The focus

The Center is a leading Azerbaijani

specialized in economic and social policy issues working with and establishing bridge between the government and the various representatives of civil society. At the same time, the Center positions itself in the center of the civil society having tight relationships with media, 24 communities spread around

, NGOs providing services at the grass-root level, international think-tanks, financial institutions and donors, and virtually all the other think tanks functioning in Azerbaijan.

Goals

*Policy advice and advocacy *Government and civil society capacity development *Public awareness, interest in involvement and participation in policy programs and reforms *Anticorruption reforms, mechanisms, programs and tools at the policy and grassroots levels *Understanding and application of

market economy A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand, where all suppliers and consumers ...

principles and values in

and the region *Cooperation between educational institutions and public, private and NGO sectors in addressing the economic and social issues *Research and programs to address sustainable development, as well as the issues on women’s rights protection, poverty reduction, Millennium Development Goals and economic and social reforms

Management

Chairman of CESD is Vugar Bayramov, well-known economist in Azerbaijan. He has Ph.D. in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

from

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

. The center Board consists of 5 economists and social-work specialists and all of them almunues from different US universities.

Publications

*Ending Dependency: How Is Oil Revenues Effectively Used in Azerbaijan? () *Audit in Local Government () *Modern Economics *Reforms in Public Administration; Policy Recommendation *Health Economics *Strategy of State Oil Fund (Policy Paper) *Azerbaijan’s Accession to the WTO (Policy Paper) *Gender Economics; “Brain Lost” Problem in Azerbaijan (Policy Paper) *Political Credibility; why investments go to the oil sector (Policy Paper) *Why 90% of investments go to oil sector? (Policy Paper) *Oil Revenues; Transparency, Effectiveness and Accountability (Policy Paper) *Investment Strategy in Business Sector (Policy Paper) *Social insurance in Azerbaijan: diagnostics and recommendations on policy and implementation ()

Membership

CESD is a member o
PASOSCIVICUS World Citizen’s AllianceGlobal Development NetworkNISPAcee
etc. and local partner o
Global Integrity

References

*https://web.archive.org/web/20110716095309/http://www.gdnet.org/cms.php?id=organization_details&organization_id=3845 *http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Org/152558-113 *https://web.archive.org/web/20090131232059/http://pasos.org/www-pasosmembers-org/news/think-tanks-from-azerbaijan-czech-republic-and-georgia-join-pasos-network *http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/WBI/EXTSOCACCDEMSIDEGOV/0,,contentMDK:21241045~menuPK:2872101~pagePK:64168445~piPK:64168309~theSitePK:2872075,00.html *https://web.archive.org/web/20100613012612/http://socialinnovationexchange.org/node/1222 *https://www.ammado.eu *http://edirc.repec.org/data/cesddaz.html *http://www.worldpress.org/library/ngo.cfm *http://www.nira.or.jp/past/ice/nwdtt/2005/DAT/1446.html

External links

The Center for Economic and Social Development

A Comparative Analysis of CIS Countries' WTO Accession, by CESD Director, World Bank paper

CESD book, Ending Dependency on Hydrocarbon Resources

Dövlət Neft Fondunun Sərəncamındakı Vəsaitlərin Səmərəli İstifadəsi, in Azeri

Using Oil Revenues Effectively In Azerbaijan

Political Credibility and Economic Development: A Case of Azerbaijan

Public Expenditure Tracking; Increasing of Role of Communities and Municipalities. Vugar Bayramov (Ph.D.) Chairman of CESD

Anti-corruption Initiatives in Oil Sector in Azerbaijan By Vugar Bayramov, CESD
{{DEFAULTSORT:Center For Economic And Social Development Think tanks based in Azerbaijan 2005 establishments in Azerbaijan Research institutes established in 2005 Research institutes in Azerbaijan Economy of Azerbaijan