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Good practice Imported

“Women at the Centre”: Azerbaijan's National 860 Helpline for Gender-Based Violence Survivors

Azerbaijan · Baku · See the Azerbaijan profile · See the Baku profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 75% 41/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Since December 2020, Azerbaijan's 860 helpline has offered free counselling and legal referrals to gender-based-violence survivors, logging 1,100+ calls by mid-2024 — modest given roughly 1 in 3 women report partner violence and only two shelters nationwide.

1100+
Total calls logged since launch (Dec 2020-mid 2024)
44
Calls leading to in-person consultation (Dec 2020-mid 2024)

Details

Promoter
State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs of Azerbaijan, with UNFPA Azerbaijan (EU4GenderEquality programme)
Period
2020–2025 (status uncertain following UNFPA office closure)
Keywords
gender-based violence, helpline services, psychosocial support, EU4GenderEquality

Context

Azerbaijan's State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs and UNFPA launched a free, confidential national helpline (860) on 1 December 2020 for survivors of gender-based and domestic violence, staffed by two clinical psychologists, a coordinator, an accountant and a lawyer.

Results

By mid-2024, the helpline had logged over 1,100 calls since launch, of which 44 (about 4%) led to in-person consultations, with no published data on longer-term outcomes.

Conclusions

UNFPA closed its Azerbaijan country office in May 2025 as part of a government-ordered closure of international-organisation offices; whether the helpline continues to operate is unverified as of this review.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k)
Time to results
Short (< 1 year)
Staffing & skills
2 clinical psychologists, 1 coordinator, 1 accountant, 1 lawyer

Conditions for success

  • sustained donor funding (Takeda Pharmaceuticals, EU4GenderEquality programme)
  • government partnership continuity

Common failure modes

  • UNFPA's May 2025 Azerbaijan office closure creates unverified continuity risk

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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