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Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan was the first country to organise the Olympic Culture and Education Programme (OCEP) as a legacy of the European Olympic Youth Festival (EYOF) held in 2019 in Baku. The OCEP was a joint project by the National Olympic Committee of Azerbaijan in close cooperation with the National Olympic Academy of Azerbaijan and other partnersand was fully supported and funded by the International Olympic Committee and the European Olympic Committees through Olympic Solidarity. The overall objective of the two year programme was to promote Olympic values to young people across Europe. One of the objectives was the selection, mobilisation and twinning of about 80 schools in different countries, in close cooperation with the respective National Olympic Committees. A total of 49 schools were selected from Azerbaijan to represent the culture, sport and history of each participating country in the EYOF. A specially developed communication and training platform by the Olympic Committee of Azerbaijan has allowed OCEP to reach and inspire thousands of young people across Europe, especially from Azerbaijan, to become true champions, to adopt and live with the Olympic values of Friendship, Excellence and Respect and have active roles in their communities. It is worth noting that the schools number 23, 20, 193 representing Ukraine, Spain and Azerbaijan were the winners of the "Most Active Schools” category and won a special trip to Olympia, the home of the ancient Olympic Games. This historic trip to Greece was organised with the full assistance of the IOA. Although the OCEP was officially closed in November 2019, the programme is operational and continues to serve the schools to this day, as the Azerbaijan Olympic Committee decided to reactivate it in early 2020 in the context of the battle with COVID-19. Through the #stayathome #stayactive #stayfit #staycreative campaigns launched through OCEP, hundreds of students are encouraged to share sports, artistic and educational activities that take place at home during quarantine. It is worth noting that the number of schools enrolled in the first competition increased by 70%, which is almost double since the time of OCEP.