Armenia - OCHA-01: 01-31.Jan.98

Situation Report from the
OCHA Coordinator in ARMENIA - No. 1 - January 1998

HIGHLIGHTS
- The National Assembly adopted a USD 428 million state budget for 1998.

- Food for Work programme is an effective instrument to tackle transitional
poverty

- A charity concert was held in Paris to raise funds for repairing schools
and children?s institutions in Armenia

- UNDP programme on Integrated Support to Sustainable Human Development
aims at constituting an integrated strategy to foster a social cohesion and
welfare among the poors

- UNHCR launched an Appeal for the CIS Countries, 1998. USD 1,197,000 is
required for UNHCR activities in Armenia under General Programmes

The past year has been the turning point for Armenia. Overall political,
economic and social situation in the country has stabilised due to the
reform policy undertaken by the Government of Armenia. The government has
indicated that the humanitarian situation cannot be characterised as an
emergency anylonger, and the main focus should be on longer-term issues,
such as poverty alleviation. However, the government has recognised that
there are still outstanding humanitarian needs in the country, which
require support by the international community. The international community
shares these views. In 1997 DHA (now OCHA), in collaboration with the
Government, UN Agencies, donors and non-governmental and international
organisations, concluded that the humanitarian crisis had been overcome and
that another UN Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for the country would not
be issued. Instead, a document -Post Appeal Framework Linking Humanitarian
Needs and Development Strategies- (PAF) has been issued to ensure a link
between humanitarian and development activities and to highlight the
continued outstanding humanitarian needs in a development context.

Based on a decision by Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello, Under-Secretary-General
for Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Department of Humanitarian
Affairs is now called the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA). The OCHA Field Unit in Armenia will continue to play a
supporting role to the Resident Coordinator in 1998, by monitoring the
overall humanitarian situation in the country, and the efforts of
humanitarian diplomacy in Nagorno-Karabakh with a view to facilitating the
coordination of humanitarian efforts by the international community, and in
particular those of the United Nations system.

SITUATION OVERVIEW
1. Economic Performance
On 27 December The National Assembly adopted a USD 428 million state budget
for 1998. The budget forecasts a 5.2 percent increase in GDP and an annual
inflation rate of 13 percent, which will reduce the budget deficit to 5.5
percent from its current level of 6.7 percent. A deficit of 50.9 billion
drams or 5.5 percent of GDP is to be covered by domestic resources, income
from privatisation and lending from international financial organisations.
Social spending is planned at 21.2 billion drams. The Finance and Economy
Minister told the National Assembly after it adopted the budget plan that
the budget is aimed at the development of the country.

2. Social Affairs
The price of bread in Armenia has risen by 20 percent after a governmental
decision to extend  the 20 percent value-added tax on grain products. The
average price of one kilogram of bread now equals 250 drams (USD 0.5).
Bread prices in Armenia were liberalized in late 1994. Full price
liberalization has been a key condition for obtaining loans from the World
Bank and IMF, on which the country is strongly dependent. Bread is a
crucial staple food for the poor, who constitute a considerable parties of
the country's population.

SECTORAL SUMMARY OF EVENTS
1. Food Security/Agriculture
OCHA FU met with Peter Bieder of the Swiss Agency for Development and
Cooperation, Division of Humanitarian Aid (SDC-HA), on 13 January to
discuss SDC-HA activity in Armenia throughout 1998. Mr. Bieder informed
that the Swiss Government has decided to continue its humanitarian support,
in particular to vulnerable refugees and IDPs. SDC-HA is currently
considering the ways of supporting Mission Armenia, a national NGO, in its
continued efforts to relieve hardship for the lonely elderly at homes and
dormitories. Mr. Bieder presented an evaluation report on findings and
recommendations of a food-for-work (FFW) programme in Armenia financed
mainly by SDC-HA and implemented by the WFP throughout 1997. The report
stated that the most important humanitarian problem in Armenia is the
widespread risk of transitional poverty at household level caused by the
economic transformation. There is only a small group of the population
being structurally poor, in the sense that they will be dependent on social
assistance even if the economic situation improves. This group could be
assisted by soup-kitchens, although in the long-term this has to be
addressed within the framework of the country?s social security system. The
assessment revealed that food-for-work is an effective instrument to deal
with transitional poverty in the country. The World Bank approved a credit
of 14.5 million U.S. dollars to support agricultural reform in Armenia. The
credit will be used to increase agricultural productivity by supporting the
development of private sector farming and agro-processing, as well as by
strengthening agricultural institutions and services.

Under agreements signed between Armenia, the World Bank and the
International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) in December 1994, the
irrigation rehabilitation programme (IRP) is currently being implemented in
Armenia. IRP aims at improving irrigation of about 150,000  hectares of
arable lands, preventing the irrigation system from further destruction,
and assisting in economic and financial stability of -Armvodkhoz- state
enterprise. Total cost of the programme is USD 57.15 million. Deputy
Director of the Office for IRP implementation Samvel Ghazarian  reported
that in the last three years particularly 22 km of main and secondary
canals have been reconstructed, and the irrigation system has been restored
on the area of 650 hectares. According to him, this year it is planned to
restore 23 km of main and secondary canals, dig up four new and restore
eight wells. Also it is projected to complete the repairs at hydrotechnical
facilities on Karnut, Sarnakhpiur and Aparan water reservoirs and
restoration of the Mkhchian pumping station. Prior to beginning of the
irrigation season, it is planned to restore 120 km of the secondary
irrigation network, which will ensure irrigation of 8,000 hectares of land.

2. Health and Sanitation
UNICEF has provided all the children?s polyclinic of Ararat marz with
paediatric kits. Health personnel who had received training on well
childcare package have now started monitoring projects on the proper use of
drugs. The Ministry of Health (MoH) was also provided with one-year country
supply of Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS) for treatment of diarrhoea. The
Governments of the Netherlands and Sweden funded the supplies.

In December UNICEF launched a project on training in breast-feeding
promotion practices for  nurses. The trained staff will support the
physicians who also received a similar training. The first training seminar
was conducted for 50 nurses in Yerevan.

3. Education, Training and Child Care
UNICEF is currently assisting the Ministry of Education and Science (MoES)
to collect data on boarding institutions for children to improve the
special education system. UNICEF completed a countrywide distribution of
supplies for boarding institutions. The supplies included towels, shoes,
workshop tools, play and handicraft materials, kitchen supplies, and sewing
materials totalling 185 kits.

UNICEF supported the Armenian Puppeteers Association (APA), a member of the

International Union of Puppeteers (UNIMA), to stage a puppet show to
highlight the condition of Armenian children and to encourage actions to
protect child rights. During winter holidays the show is travelling
throughout the country. After giving 22 free performances, a fee will be
requested to help APA to continue its activities.

The Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) allocated USD240,000 to the
Yerevan City Council for the purchase of heating units for more than 70
schools in Yerevan. Some of the units are already installed and
functioning. Each unit has the capacity of heating 30 classrooms.

Two private donors from the United States, Harold and Josephine Gulamerian,
established a USD 5 million Foundation to benefit children of Armenia. The
donation will be utilised for various programmes targeted children, mainly
orphans and seminary students to be carried out under the auspices of the
Armenian Church. -Christmas to Armenian Children- was the keynote of a
charity gala concert rendered on 4 January by French-Armenian singer
Charles Aznavour at the Paris Palace of Congresses. The concert raised over
USD 1 million. The World Bank (WB) and the Armenian Social Investment Fund
(ASIF) each matched the raised funds, bringing the total from the concert
to over USD 3 million. The raised funds will be used to repair and restore
one hundred schools and several children's institutions in Armenia. The
charity concert attended by the Armenian and French Presidents, culminated
in a series of concerts by Mr. Aznavour, which took place from early
November 1997 at the Paris Palace of Congresses.

On 20 November 1997, the World Bank approved a credit worth USD15 million
to strengthen and improve financing and management reform of Armenia?s
education sector. The project is designed to: a) fund the implementation of
the new strategy for textbook provision, b) assist in targeting funds and
capacity building, and c) support the MoES in policy development,
management, monitoring, and information dissemination and consultation.

UNICEF, with the support of the French National Committee for UNICEF,
sponsored the printing of 63,000 copies of -My First Reading- textbook for
the first grade of primary school. Additional copies will be printed to
meet the needs of all first graders in the countrywide. This is a part of
the textbook rental scheme of the MoES. By the beginning of March, the
textbooks will be distributed to children through school libraries.

The Jinishian Memorial Foundation, Armenia has published an educational
booklet -Bklik?s Walk- as a resource material for the Dental Education for
Children Project. Each of 5,000 copies of the brochure was packed with
toothpaste and a toothbrush. The packages were distributed to first-year
schoolchildren in several towns of the country, as well as to different
orphanages and boarding schools along with the Christmas Packages. Due to
the increased demands for the brochure an additional 7,000 copies will be
distributed throughout 1998.

4. Development Related Activities
UNDP has initiated a programme on Integrated Support to Sustainable Human
Development which aims at constituting an integrated strategy to foster a
social cohesion and welfare among the poor.

The programme has six components: a) building the capacities for governance
in local and regional governing bodies, including the elaboration of
regional development plans, b) restoring social services in education and
health while building their capacities for sustainable operation, c) small
enterprise development, d) agricultural development, e) conducting urgent
forestry rehabilitation, and f) enhancing disaster preparedness. The
government is responsible for the overall supervision and monitoring of the
Programme through the Prime Minister?s Office. The Programme is designed to
allow other UN Agencies and the development community to contribute to and
extend the Programme?s impact.

OTHER ISSUES
On 19 January OCHA met with Grisha Gspoyan, Head of the Department of
Reforms at the Ministry of Social Welfare (MoSW). The Department also
provides support to the Chair of the Humanitarian Assistance Commission
(HAC), the official government body which is coordinating humanitarian
assistance to Armenia. Mr. Gspoyan stated that HAC supported the transition
from humanitarian assistance to development assistance although he
recognised that humanitarian assistance is still needed to address the
outstanding needs of the most vulnerable, such as lonely elderly people,
handicapped, children in difficult circumstances and other groups of
concern. He pointed out that development projects intended to address
longer-term issues should be undertaken in addition to humanitarian relief
assistance. According to Mr. Gspoyan, about 70 percent of the population
could be considered as vulnerable. The highest priority for most of them is
employment creation. He proposed to formulate future humanitarian
programmes within a development context to address such issues as poverty
alleviation.

OCHA held a meeting with UNHCR on 20 January to discuss the strategy of
both organisations for 1998. OCHA briefed on the new structure of the
Office. UNHCR informed that an appeal for the CIS countries has been
launched for activities planned under Special Programmes in 1998. For the
implementation of activities in Armenia planned for 1998 under General
Programmes, USD 1,197,000 is required.

The overall strategy of UNHCR Armenia for 1998 is the following: a)
facilitating and assisting the relevant government bodies in the drafting
and adoption of refugee law, b) promoting and facilitating the application
of the citizenship law through setting-up practical procedures, c)
enhancing public awareness on the rights of refugees and asylum-seekers, d)
establishing joint Government/UNHCR framework for legal councelling,
psycho-social support and assistance to extremely vulnerable cases, e)
monitoring the progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process with a view
to drawing up a contingency plan for the assistance of refugees from
conflict areas, f) strengthening the capacity of national institutions
through the gradual transfer of responsibilities in the assistance
programme to the relevant  local institutions.

UNHCR stated that local integration is the only durable solution for the
majority of ethnic Armenian refugees and, hence, UNHCR?s assistance
programme will be aimed at facilitating integration processes. UNHCR will
continue to provide some assistance to vulnerable refugees and those with
special needs such as the elderly, children without support, disabled,
isolated women and female-headed households, while avoiding long-term
dependency. Assistance will target the following areas: shelter and
infrastructure, health care, education, income generation and community
development.


This report is available on the internet through RELIEFWEB:
http://www.reliefweb.int

United Nations Office in Yerevan, Armenia
Mr. Oliver Lacey-Hall
Humanitarian Affairs Officer
Tel.: (003742) 56 23 55
Fax: (003742) 15 17 49
E-Mail: undha@arminco.com

Inter-Agency Support Branch (IASB) - Geneva
Mr. David Bassiouni - Chief
Ms. Katarina Toll Velasquez
Tel.: (41 22) 788.1403
Fax: (41 22) 788.6386
Registry E-Mail: Abu.Conteh@dha.unicc.org

Complex Emergency Division (CED) - New York
Mr. David McLachlan-Karr
Tel.: (1 212) 963.0226
Fax: (1 212) 963.1388
E-Mail: mclachlan-karr@un.org

Press to contact (OCHA-Geneva)
Ms. Madeleine Moulin-Acevedo
Tel.: (41 22) 917.2856
Fax: (41 22) 917.0023
Telex: 414242 DHA CH
E-Mail: Moulin-Acevedo@dha.unicc.org