Kiva Country Profile: Azerbaijan

Today, Azerbaijan is ranked 14th in number of Kiva loans administered.

Kiva has been lending in Azerbaijan since 2006 and the Kiva community has lent over $5.2 million dollars supporting 4,661 loans to low-income entrepreneurs there. Our two Field Partners in Azerbaijan are Komak Credit Union and Aqroinvest Credit Union. We provide statistics on population, literacy rate, average income, and more on our Field Partner pages.

Here we wanted to share some other interesting and helpful facts about Azerbaijan. We plan to post unique country profiles each month to bring to life the places in which we work!

Azerbaijani Phrases: Salam (hello), sağol (thank you)

Map of Azerbaijan
Map from https://www.cia.gov/

Baku, Azerbaijan (capital)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/teuchterlad/ / CC BY 2.0

Traditional Azerbaijani Dishes include:

Dogva: spinach-based soup, with rice and beef cuts with a yogurt sauce on top
Plov: meat-based dish, with rice and pine kernels
Piti: a mutton and chickpea soup
Lyulya kebab: spiced, minced lamb pressed onto skewers
Dograma: a milky potato, cucumber and onion soup served cold

Azeri Pilaf Dish

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cjsveningsson/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

Famous Azerbaijani Proverbs:

"It's not shameful not to know, but it's shameful not to ask."
"Beauty without virtue is a curse."
"One's own simple bread is much better than someone else's pilaf."