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RA Government Licenses All Mission Armenia Services and Day Centers

USAID/SPSS Launch Sustainability Program

Yerevan – The Mission Armenia NGO announced that on April 28 the
Government of Armenia has granted full licensing to the organization’s
social and health services and Day Centers.

Established in 1988 in Yerevan, Mission Armenia has grown into a major
provider of community-based services and an advocate of legislative
reforms in the sphere. The organization operates 50 centers in 24 towns
and cities across eight marzes of Armenia. The centers comprise day-care
facilities, health clinics, social-gathering sites, and soup kitchens.

Mission Armenia provides nutrition, healthcare, counseling, referrals,
and training to more than 12,000 vulnerable citizens. Beneficiaries
include incapacitated elderly, disabled individuals, refugees, destitute
families, and the unemployed. A distinguishing characteristic of Mission
Armenia is that it provides nutrition and health services to elderly
citizens both at its facilities and through home visits, with the
purpose of ensuing maximum beneficiary comfort.

Since 2007, a portion of Mission Armenia services have been financed
through the Armenian Government’s Medium-Term Expenditures program as
well as by a number of local-government bodies.

Referring to the government’s licensing of Mission Armenia Day Centers,
Aghvan Vardanyan, RA Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, said, "I very
much appreciate the milestones achieved by Mission Armenia and its
dedicated staff. This organization, which has emerged as an essentially
grass-roots effort, has set the gold standard for altruism and
specifically social-service delivery in the homeland. My ministry is
committed to supporting the continued growth of Mission Armenia, as
Armenian society as a whole stands to gain from improving the lives of
our vulnerable citizens."

With its recognition of the organization’s diverse services as
representing an effective model of social-service delivery, the
Government of Armenia has also expressed commitment to expand its
support in 2009, by partially funding ten Mission Armenia day centers.
In addition, Mission Armenia has concluded cost-sharing agreements with
14 municipalities for the same period.

"This is a wonderful turning point for our organization and
beneficiaries," said Hripsime Kirakosyan, President of Mission Armenia.

"Beginning in 2009, donor organizations that support Mission Armenia
will reduce their funding, based on Armenia’s economic-growth
projections," Kirakosyan continued. "Given this fact, securing the
long-term sustainability of Mission Armenia’s community-based services
has become an urgent matter. As many of our services are unique to
Mission Armenia and as of yet are not offered by the state, a decrease
in donor funding would mean to have to turn away thousands of
beneficiaries and even close several of our centers, which have been
established through major investments."

Kirakosyan went on to say, "As both president of a public organization
and a citizen concerned for the continuity of a community-based service
system that has taken years to create, I express my profound gratitude
to the RA Minister of Labor and Social Affairs. I would also like to
stress that the licensing of Mission Armenia services and structures is
a great advance toward self-sufficiency, as it indicated the willingness
of Armenia’s central authorities and local-government bodies alike to
invest in the social sector and expand collaboration with organizations
offering social services."

According to Kirakosyan, as an advocate of providing systemic assistance
to vulnerable citizens, Mission Armenia not only provides core social
and health services to beneficiaries, but strives to help improve
social-service policy at the national level and develop social-delivery
partnerships. Currently the organization is working with the Government
of Armenia toward the elaboration of a national policy on aging and a
host of legislative reforms. Such collaboration is expected to further
bolster social-service delivery, helping it become institutionally
grounded and better targeted, productive, and sustainable.

Kirakosyan also expressed gratitude to the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID) and its Social Protection Systems
Strengthening Project (SPSS), a long-term development initiative
implemented by TSG International.

"USAID and, more recently, SPSS, continue to have an instrumental role
in the development and expansion of Mission Armenia," Kirakosyan said.
"Their support is not just about financial help, but a high level of
technical assistance which will enable us to become self-sufficient in
the long run."

While USAID has been a major supporter of Mission Armenia, recently the
American agency expanded its assistance through the introduction of a
sustainability program, which will help Mission Armenia further enhance
its organizational capacities and eventually become less dependent on
outside funding.

This month Mission Armenia announced plans to reach out to individual
and corporate donors in both Armenia and the Diaspora, in an effort to
secure wider public involvement in the organization’s growth.

"Today our goal is not only to excel at our services, but expand them
considerably, as the needs of our marginalized population remain
critical," Kirakosyan said. "By promoting corporate social
responsibility in Armenia and reaching out to potential supporters in
the Diaspora, we are aiming to make them an active, powerful part of the
solution."

Kirakosyan added that Mission Armenia centers try to ensure not only the
physical but also psychological well-being of beneficiaries. "What we
ultimately strive to give them are hope, self-esteem, independence, and
dignity," she said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress