PRESS RELEASE
Armenia Fund
Governmental Buiding 3, Yerevan, RA
Contact: Lusine Mnatsakanyan
Tel: 3741 56 0106
Fax: 3741 52 15 05
E-mail: pr@himnadram.org
Web: www.himnadram. org
Armenia Fund’s Vision for Rural Armenia
Interview with Raffi Festekjian, Chairman of Armenia Fund USA, Inc., New
York
In January 2007, Raffi Festekjian succeeded Kevork Toroyan as Chairman of
Armenia Fund USA, which was founded in 1992 as the first of Armenia Fund’s
20 international affiliates. For 15 years, Armenia Fund has combined aid,
development and direct investment. By combining the resources of Armenia’s
leaders, its people and the worldwide Diaspora Armenia Fund has promoted
education, created jobs, improved public health and developed
infrastructure, together with meeting other critical humanitarian needs.
Today, Armenia Fund’s contributions to the social and economic prosperity of
Armenia and Karabakh are unparalleled.
Q: They say they are no coincidences in history. Can we say that about both
Armenia, the country, and Armenia, the Fund, celebrating their 15th
anniversary this year?
A. The coinciding anniversaries of the independence of the Republic and
Armenia Fund is not just a coincidence. The establishment of Armenia Fund
was an acknowledgement to ourselves and to the world that, yes, we are
independent and that the Armenian Nation worldwide is ready and prepared to
transform its vision of an independent, prosperous and dignified country
into a reality.
Q: What are the major achievements of Armenia Fund?
A. Our main mission over the last 15 years was to provide critical
socio-economic development through large-scale infrastructure development
with focus on education, public health, access to clean, drinking water,
roads and highways. Many are unaware but Armenia Fund, with all its
affiliates, has invested over $170 million to build 287 miles of highways,
97 schools and kindergartens, 34 hospitals and health clinics, 132 miles of
drinking water pipeline in 70 towns, 30 miles of gas pipeline, 410 housing
projects, 21 sports and cultural facilities, 77 projects in the field of
culture, education and science, and three major electric transmission
networks. What we are also most proud of is our ability to have united the
entire Armenian Diaspora in over 20 countries and five continents under one
mission – rebuilding Armenia and Karabakh and becoming one of the most
trusted institutions that has grown with Armenia since its independence.
Q: Armenia Fund has been a most important part of Armenia’s socio-economic
life since independence. What will be the role of the Fund in the
development of our country in the forthcoming years?
A. Like any other institution, Armenia Fund needs to evolve as the needs of
Armenia change. Today, we find ourselves in a very different place than
where we were 10 or even five years ago. As you know Armenia’s economy has
experienced continuous double-digit growth and has transformed the standard
of living of our people while achieving the highest human development index
in the region. However, this positive development, unfortunately, has not
reached many of our villages and rural communities where people continue to
live in social deprivation, often in an environment of hopelessness. The
eradication of rural poverty and revitalization of villages in Armenia –
that’s where we will be concentrating our development efforts over the next
five years. To be successful, we need to bring multiple organizations’
resources together and create a strategic plan for each cluster of villages.
We are already assessing the needs of these clusters regarding health care,
water, electricity as well as economic needs, to make sure all problems are
tackled. Why the cluster approach? The best way to explain is to provide an
example: imagine that all roads are repaired together, thus cutting down on
costs, imagine that communities share a water supply thus cutting down on
costs again, and that they pool their products and find markets together.
The cluster approach will support our vision for rural Armenia which is not
just to address basic socio-economic needs but also to enable families and
individuals to become self-reliant and self-sufficient. We need to make
sure the next generations of Armenians believe in the future of Armenia. Our
goal is to create the Armenian Dream for our citizens and make it possible
for them to reap results from their hard work so that they come to believe
that work and sacrifice will ultimately pay-off.
Q: You have been with the Armenia Fund USA for some years now and are
familiar with its activities and directions. Do you feel you will go ahead
with what has been the policy of the East Coast Armenia Fund so far or will
you need to explore new ways of doing things, such as fund raising?
A. A successful institution needs to constantly reexamine itself and adjust
its activities with new approaches. I believe for Armenia Fund to grow it
needs to first start to act more as a philanthropic organization vs. a
charitable one. The difference is very important. Charity is an act of
giving as a result of deep understanding of someone’s misery and suffering,
to help an immediate need, while philanthropy focuses on creating a
sustainable long-term improvement in the welfare of fellow human beings.
Also, we need to work closely with other specialized well-performing
organizations and even support them financially if they are within the
mission of the Armenia Fund. We can, together with international donor
agencies, even initiate regional projects and serve as pilots for other
countries. The Fund, as well as our community organizations, need to
understand that we need to move away from the "do it myself" mentality and
start coordinating our efforts. Finally, we need to start broadening our
core constituencies by focusing on the new generation of Armenians in the
Diaspora as they will become the future supporters of our nation.
Q: How successful has Armenia Fund been in attracting funds during the last
five years.
A. The number of our supporters has been growing, and the record $13.5
million pledged during the 2006 Telethon shows that we are moving forward
quite steadily. Overall donations last year exceeded $20 million. We hope
the urgent need for rural development will resonate even more among our
supporters as it is an urgent one.
Q: How do the Fund’s activities support the national economy?
A. Poverty is still real in the rural areas of Armenia. We plan to reverse
this trend, and make Armenia’s villages a thriving place to live and raise a
family. Our Agricultural Initiative in Karabakh, where we have established
Agricultural Development Associations, have created many jobs in over 21
villages, and have increased family income of association member farmers by
at least 50%. I think the Fund’s contribution to Armenia’s national economy
is substantial, especially as it concerns rural development.
Q: Do you see the time when Armenia becomes a member of the European Union?
How would this impact the present close ties with the Diaspora?
A. I will leave this question to policy-makers. What we need to focus on as
a nation is creating a country where there are all the necessary
preconditions to become a member of the European Union. If we are
economically independent and a fully democratic country with rules and
regulations that rival those of the West, it becomes irrelevant whether we
do become part of the EU or not. Let’s just focus on making ourselves
successful and the rest will ultimately become our choice.