World Bank Supports Innovative Social Assistance Project in Armenia

Today the World Bank Country Manager for Armenia Sylvie Bossoutrot and President of the Armenian Association of Social Workers (AASW), Mira Antonyan signed a Grant Agreement for "Promoting Social Inclusion and Self-Reliant Livelihood Activities in Armenia”project. Funds for the project are generously provided by Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF)through a three-year grant of $2.7 million.

Theproject has been designed by the World Bank in partnership with the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of Armeniaand will be implemented by the Association of Social Workers– a non-governmental, not-for-profit national professional representative body of social workers in Armenia.

“We are pleased to sign this Agreement with a civil society organization, as a recipient and implementing agency for this Project supported by a Japanese Grant,” says Sylvie Bossoutrot, World Bank Country Manager for Armenia. “This project will aim to better integrate vulnerable people and help them become active participants of society by improving their employment opportunities.”

"On behalf of Japanese Government, I would like to highlight the extreme importance of this project”, says Yun Yamada, Ambassador of Japan to Armenia. “I am deeply convinced that this project contributes to the enhancement of the life of vulnerable people, especially in the regions of Armenia, through the capacity building of social workers and vocational training for targeted people.”

The project is expected tohelp increase access to social assistance benefits and services and provide self employment support to about 11,000 vulnerable members of society in urban and rural communities in Ararat, Armavir, Kotayk, Lori and Shirak regions of Armenia. Beneficiary selection criteria will favor Family Benefit Program (FBP) recipient households with a disabled member(s), children up to 5 years old, and a working age adult with high motivation.

“The project objectives are strongly aligned with current reform agenda of the Government, especially from the perspectives of encouragement of employment and entrepreneurial initiatives of vulnerable groups as the most reliable way to overcome poverty,” says Zaruhi Batoyan, Minister of Labour and Social Affairs of Armenia. “The Ministry will continue its support to the project implementation to promote beneficiaries’ self-reliant livelihood mechanisms.”

Specifically, this project will support:

• Developing asocial case management system to assess beneficiaries’ needs and refer them to various types of services including, provision of medical assistance, emergency support, access to educational institutions for children, professional and life skills training, psychotherapeutic and social rehabilitation services, as well as legal advice.This innovation will leverage the individualized case management approach to reach out to the most vulnerable and marginalized population, reaching around 6,000 family program recipients.

• Enhancing self-employabilityof around 300 beneficiaries through business training and provision of grants, which could help them graduate out of the Family Benefit Program. The main types of businesses supported will cover areas such asagriculture, production/processing (of food/non-food goods), accommodation and food service, arts and culture, entertainment, and trade.Additionally, this component will support placing FBP beneficiaries in the existing self-employment programs, as well as providing them with capacity building, knowledge sharing, and advice on self-employment opportunities. Overall, this component will support around 5,000 vulnerable members of society.

The proposed activities will strengthen the role of community-based and territorial social workers for improving access of families to available social assistance benefits and services. Under the project 200 social workers will receive methodological support and capacity building to implement effective social case management in target areas.

The JSDF was established by the Government of Japan and the World Bank as a mechanism to provide direct assistance to the poorest and most vulnerable groups in eligible World Bank countries. The aim is to enhance their capacities, strengthen their empowerment and participation in society and economic life.