PRESS RELEASE
United Nations Development Programme Armenia
Community Development Project
14 Petros Adamyan Str., Yerevan 0010, Armenia
Contact: Zara Amatuni
Tel: 374-10-56-60-73
Fax: 374-10-54-38-11
E-mail: zara.amatuni@undp.org
Web:

December 6, 2007

Community Development Projects Implemented in Bavra Cluster Villages of
Shirak Marz

*On December 5, 2007*, Consuelo Vidal, UN Resident Coordinator/UNDP
Resident Representative and Lida Nanyan, Governor of Shirak marz paid an
official visit to Bavra community of Shirak marz. The delegation was
received by the mayors of Bavra, Saragyugh, Sizavet and Tavshut villages
and residents of the communities. The purpose of the visit was to
observe the development projects implemented in the area, part of which
was the official ceremony marking the launch of an agricultural
machinery pool and presentation of a regional newspaper first ever
established in the district.

Bavra, Saragyugh, Sizavet and Tavshut are among the most socially
disadvantaged rural communities of Armenia. Located in the very northern
Ashotsk sub district of Shirak marz bordering Georgia, the communities
have suffered greatly from the devastating earthquake and socio-economic
hardships of 1990-ies.

The villages have been in the focus of UNDP Armenia since August 2006
when as part of its cross border cooperation initiative UNDP’s Community
Development Project entered the district to address the rural problems
by applying a cluster development approach. In line with the
participatory planning methodology, UNDP has engaged these communities
in the elaboration of an integrated development plan for years 2007-2009
which outlines the common vision, needs and opportunities for the
advancement of the cluster. One of the components prioritized by this
plan has been the establishment of an agricultural machinery pool the
functioning of which has been considered as the major prerequisite to
development of the rural district.

As a result, the pool has been established in Bavra community with
support from the Government of Norway and UNDP Armenia. In the framework
of the project implemented in 2007, the old Soviet-time pool was fully
renovated and a fleet of several brand new machinery units has been
provided including four Belarus-made wheeled tractors, one plough, a
tractor-mounted mowing-machine, a baling press, a potato combine and an
automated potato-planter. Due to the new equipment, many of the
plough-lands which were used previously as natural hayfields and were
not cultivated properly now are available for grain crops and potato
growing. This will significantly increase the per-hectare gross yield,
which will be incomparably higher than the yield from hayfields. The
agricultural machinery pool will serve all the four communities of the
cluster. Primary beneficiaries of the pool are the socially vulnerable
families of the four villages the total number of which makes around one
hundred households.

The agricultural machinery recipient and supervisor is the
Lernajavakhamerdz Fund for Community Development (LEJAME). LEJAME was
founded in June 2007 with targeted support and counseling from UNDP
Armenia in an effort to set up a sound basis for institutional
management. The Fund was formed jointly by four communities of Ashotsk
sub district – Bavra, Saragyugh, Sizavet and Tavshut.

In an effort to mobilize the population and especially the youth of the
cluster villages, UNDP Armenia has supported publishing of the new
periodical. Titled Khachmerouk (Crossroad) this newspaper will be issued
on a quarterly basis and will highlight the most interesting and useful
information on the life of all the four communities.

Answering the questions of journalists, Ms. Consuelo Vidal noted: `We
attach great importance to development projects in this area since first
of all they have been initiated by the request of people living in the
four communities. Together with our partner, the Government of Norway,
we believe that with the new facility it will be possible to promote the
agricultural development, create income opportunities for the population
and overall, improve the level of living in the district’.

For more information on UNDP activity in Armenia, please visit our
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