During the coming two years, Sweden and Lithuania, will in partnership with the Ministry of Emergencies (MES) of the Republic of Armenia, strengthen emergency preparedness capacity and support development of civil protection within the organization.
The Twinning project “Enhancing Civil Protection in Armenia”, financed by the European Union, is implemented by the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) and the Fire and Rescue Department under the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania (FRD). The overall objective of the project is to make Armenia disaster resilient and ensure significant reduction of various disaster risks to human lives, country’s economy and communities.
The project builds on a long tradition of relationships between the countries and gives a certain association for MSB. In 1988, MSB did its first international rescue mission ever to Armenia after the devastating earthquake in Spitak that hit the country hard. Now, 32 years later, MSB is back together with FRD to continue the cooperation and strengthen the relationship further.
“It is symbolic to announce the launch of this new Twinning project in the sphere of Civil Protection and Disaster Risk Management at this very day of commemoration of the Spitak earthquake. We highly evaluate this collaboration opportunity with our Swedish and Lithuanian colleagues towards resilience building and better preparedness to emergencies in Armenia”, mentioned Colonel Hovhannes Yemishyan, Deputy Director of the Rescue Service of MES.
“I am proud to be part of this mission, Our partner in Armenia, MES, has requested this project, which is an important part for its possibilities to succeed. I am looking forward to this process of mutual learning and development within the important area of Civil Protection”, says Jon Andersen, Resident Twinning Adviser, deployed by MSB to lead the implementation of the project for two years.
The Twinning project consists of three components:
- Enhanced civil protection legal and policy framework
- Improved effectiveness and efficiency of the comprehensive civil protection system
- Improved capacity to ensure effective human resource management and development
The project will run for two years.; it kicked off in October this year. During the two years of implementation, Swedish and Lithuanian experts within the field will cooperate with the Armenian colleagues, to carry out activities aimed to enhance Civil Protection in Armenia. Some of the activities foreseen are support in implementing the legal framework on civil protection, strengthening of the volunteer system, crisis awareness and the Human Resources system within MES and the Armenian Rescue Services.