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INTERIM POVERTY REDUCTIONSTRATEGY PAPER

ARMENIA SOCIAL TRENDS “04

This issue of “Armenia Social Trends” is devoted to the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, which is celebrated around the world on 24 October.

The level of human development in any country is measured by the prosperity of its regional towns and the well-being of the residents who live there. Our aim in this special bulletin is to analyse the socio-economic conditions in small and medium-sized centres and to draw attention to the urgent need for regional programmes aimed at helping the country’s poorest people.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) gives high priority to comprehensive monitoring of poverty and inequality and their underlying causes. To ensure that the factors af-fecting human poverty are analysed in a thorough and appropriate fashion, the “Armenia Social Trends” bulletin is based on assessments undertaken at the community level by mayors and later synthesised by Monitoring and Analysis Units in each marzpetaran. This makes the material particularly valuable since it represents the shared evaluations of two Government branches, lo-cal self-governing bodies and regional Governments.

UNDP is ready to support the efforts of the Government of Armenia to implement targeted programmes aimed at revitalising regional towns. We are committed to working in partnership with municipalities, the private sector and civil society organisations to help vulnerable and dis-advantaged residents.

We are proud that UNDP is one of the first organisations to offer its technical assistance to all marz capitals and we look forward to extending this cooperation, as part of our on-going efforts to reduce poverty and ensure growth with equity, to regional towns throughout the country.

Lise Grande UN Resident Coordinator

UNDP Resident Representative

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SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED TOWNS IN THE REGIONS OF RA

• Small and medium sized towns of Armenia within the context of PRSP • Specifics of poverty factors and human development in Armenia’s small and medium sized

towns (based on the results of “National Human Development Survey”)

Community survey of small and medium towns of RA

• ARAGATZOTN MARZ • ARARAT MARZ • ARMAVIR MARZ • GEGHARKUNIK MARZ • LORI MARZ • KOTAYK MARZ • SHIRAK MARZ • SYUNIK MARZ • VAYOTS DZOR MARZ • TAVUSH MARZ • Problems of small and medium sized towns from the viewpoint of their prominent residents • Urban communities need more autonomy • Rehabilitation of abandoned villages as a poverty reduction measure

AS WITNESSED BY JOURNALISTS

• The town, where people live • The forgotten town • Give us back our status • ANNEX (PDF)

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Small and medium sized towns of Armenia within the context of PRSP

Astghik Mirzakhanyan“Creation of a Social Monitoring and Analysis (M&A) System” Project Coordinator

The selection of the theme for the fourth issue of “Armenia Social Trends” bulletin is not occa-sional. The results of poverty surveys regularly conducted by the National Statistical Service reveal that the urban population, with the exception of Yerevan residents, is the poorest in Armenia. Accord-ing to data from 2001, 19.6 percent of Armenia’s urban population is very poor, while the national indicator is 16 percent, Yerevan 16.8 percent, and rural areas 11.3 percent. Incomes are more unequal in towns other than Yerevan; the Gini coefficient for income concentration is 0.477 compared to 0.458 in Yerevan1.

Poverty reduction processes have progressed to varying degrees in Yerevan and other towns and villages of the country, and as a result there are some specific variations in social trends in small and medium sized towns. Thus, the overall poverty in towns has reduced almost twice slower than in Yer-evan. In 1998-2001, poverty reduced by 15.3 percent in the capital city, compared to the 8.1 percent reduction in towns (including Yuri and Vanadzor). It must be noted that a reverse trend was recorded in income inequality in the same period; in towns with higher levels of income inequality the reduc-tion was 1.5 times more rapid, than in Yerevan, this, however, was a result of reduced incomes and not vice versa.

This conclusion is supported by the comparative analysis of income trends in Yerevan and other towns. Per capita incomes of the poorer Yerevan residents from salaried employment increased by 1.9 times in 1998-2001, while salaries of the poor in other towns actually decreased by 1-2 percent. The same trend is recorded for incomes from self-employment; the per capita incomes of the self-employed poor residents in Yerevan have doubled, while the incomes of the self-employed in towns reduced by one-fifth2.

Thus, residents in country’s small and medium sized towns are obviously more threatened by poverty than the population in the capital city. This “threat” is a result of significant inequalities be-tween Yerevan and other towns in socio-economic development, livelihoods of residents, labor mar-ket tensions, income and human poverty. Unfortunately, the threat is not subsiding. This is confirmed by the results of the National Human Development Survey (NHDS) conducted in all 11 marzes of Armenia, including Yerevan, in spring 2001. The comparative analysis of the key factors of human development and human poverty in Yerevan and Armenia’s small and medium sized towns based on the results of the survey of 6000 households is presented in the article titled “Specificities of poverty factors and human development in Armenia’s small and medium sized towns” authored by UNDP Consultant Nairuhi Jrbashyan. pp. 3 - 8

Within the framework of the joint UNDP and Government of Armenia project “Creation of a So-cial Monitoring and Analysis (M&A) System”, a nationwide survey of small and medium sized towns was conducted in summer 2003 by staffs of central and regional M&A Units in order to determine the root socio-economic causes of the mentioned inequalities. From the total of 48 towns in the country 45 were included in the survey; the exceptions were Yerevan, Gyumri and Vanadzor. The question-naire was developed jointly by the staff of the PRSP Monitoring and Coordination Department of the Ministry of Finance and Economy and UNDP consultants. Survey interviews were conducted directly with town officials. Data on key socio-economic indicators, as well as town officials’ subjective esti-mations of some poverty related phenomena, were collected through the questionnaire. The collected assessments and statistical data were summarized and analyzed for each marz by M&A staffs of marz governments. pp. 9 - 32, 49 - 64

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Other than the questionnaire developed for town governments, the staff of the UNDP “Creation of a Social Monitoring and Analysis System” Project and experts of “PASV” NGO developed yet another questionnaire for the survey of authority figures in small and medium sized towns. Interviews based on this questionnaire were conducted with individuals acknowledged by residents as respect-able and/or authoritative figures in the community. Authority figures were selected from 4 areas of activity: science and culture, public-political, business and governance. In total 517 individuals were interviewed and their views on future development of their respective towns and factors constraining that development are presented in the article “Problems of small and medium sized towns from the viewpoint of their prominent residents” authored by Nelson Shahnazaryan and Silva Abelyan. pp. 65 - 68

David Hambartsumyan, Director of the Department of Management of Budgeting Process of the Ministry of Finance and Economy, raises a number of issues and proposes certain solutions for fund-ing of community development programmes in an interview with him entitled “Current issues of public financing of local self governing bodies” . pp. 69 - 71

Numerous problems pointed out by UNDP consultants, M&A staffs, town officials, as well as towns’ authority figures, of course, need to be solved. Some of these solutions have already been planned in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper approved by the Government of Armenia and the corresponding Action Plan for 2003-2006. Solutions for some other issues, however, are yet to be clearly defined and developed, and the corresponding recommendations should be thought through and seriously discussed, so that they can be formulated into well-justified projects. Examples of in-teresting recommendations, which are the results of the experience accumulated in public agencies through long time cooperation with their beneficiaries and counterparts, are presented in the article “Rehabilitation of abandoned villages as a poverty reduction factor” authored by Gagik Yeganyan, Director of Migration and Refugees Department of the Government of Armenia and Samvel Harutun-yan Deputy Head of Staff of the same department. pp. 71 - 74

It would have been inappropriate if, within the framework of the study of the problems of small and medium sized towns, we had not referred to the specific and extremely difficult socio-economic conditions of the smallest town in the country, Dastakert (with 264 residents). Thus, we requested Andranik Voskanyan, a professional journalist working with the Analytical-Informational Center for Economic Reforms of the Government of Armenia, to pay a visit to Dastakert town, located in former Sisyan region in Syunik marz, and have interviews with residents. His findings are presented in “Town, where people live” article. pp. 74 - 76

As a result of the new territorial-administrative division adopted in accordance with the corre-sponding Act in 1995-1996, the majority of workers towns, which were fairly widespread in the Sovi-et period, was granted village status, or was totally incorporated into lager neighboring communities. The extreme poverty of residents in former workers towns was pointed out repeatedly already dur-ing discussions organized within the framework of the participatory process for PRSP development. Moreover, according to some civil society organizations, the entire population of workers towns can be classified as very poor, since industrial facilities, around which the towns were originally built, are non-operational long since and agricultural lands, as a rule, are not available in their administrative territories. Journalists Tatevik Nazinyan and Rima Yeganyan have depicted the sad realities in some workers towns. pp. 77 - 80

Data on small and medium sized towns collected from town governments have been summarized and presented in the Inserts of this bulletin. pp. 33 - 48

It must be noted that the responsibility for the reliability of data presented in the Inserts and ma-terials of M&A units of marz governments lies with town governments. At the same time, however, it is important to take into account that authorities in small and medium sized towns govern their communities, in effect, based on these data and assessments, regardless of the level of their accuracy. Hence, the extent to which local self-governing bodies, as represented by mayors of small and me-dium sized towns, are aware of the socio-economic situation in their communities and the problems

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of their residents, vulnerable groups in particular, should be a more serious concern than the accuracy of this or that figure.

Since it is precisely the accuracy of this information that predetermines the effectiveness of the governance exercised by mayors, and consequently the extent to which voter expectations are real-ized. And indeed the future well-being of more than one-fifth of country’s population currently living in small and medium sized towns depends on their targeted and realistic policies.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------1 “Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper” (PRSP), Yerevan, 2003, p. 30, Table 2.2. 2 ibid., p. 33, Table 2.4.

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Specifics of poverty factors and human development in Armenia’s small and me-dium sized towns (based on the results of “National Human Development Survey”)

Nairuhi JrbashyanUNDP Consultant

The “National Human Development/Poverty Survey” (NHDS) was conducted in March-April 2003 within the framework of the UNDP project “Strengthening the Capacity of Social M&A System”. The survey was based on an especially designed rapid monitoring methodology. The sampling included 6000 households from all marzes of the country, ensuring the representativeness of the results at marz level. Along with it, the survey of 170 rural communities and small and medium sized towns of the country (except Yerevan, Gyumri and Vanadzor) was conducted within the framework of the NHDS, where a questionnaire especially designed for heads of communities was used. In effect, the NHDS included two different components, a household survey and a survey of heads of communities.

The results of the household survey of NHDS are currently being processed and are not yet final-ized. Nevertheless, considering the theme of this issue of “Armenia’s social trends” bulletin, namely the problems of small and medium sized towns (referred to as towns throughout the article), we found it appropriate to summarize and present the specifics of social and economic developments in those towns based on the results of the NHDS household survey. The summarization is based on the comparative analysis of poverty factors and manifestations of human development for clusters of surveyed households in small and medium sized towns and in Yerevan.

This is a well-justified approach considering the disparities between Yerevan and other towns in level of poverty and its dynamics over the past six years (1996-2001)1. According to official data, poverty levels are significantly higher in towns compared to Yerevan, and although over the men-tioned period the relative numbers of the poor have reduced both in Yerevan and in towns, neverthe-less poverty reduction rates in towns are much slower than in Yerevan2. Thus, comparative analysis of poverty factors and manifestations of human poverty in the two clusters will allow to determine the factors having the largest impact on these distinctly unequal developments.

It must be noted that data relating to all those households in small and medium sized towns, which were included in the sampling cluster of the NHDS (6000 households) were summarized and analyzed. 38 such towns with a total of 1915 surveyed households were included in the NHDS sam-pling. The Yerevan cluster used for comparative analysis included 1000 households. Such numbers of households ensure both the representativeness of each cluster and the reliability of the results of the comparative analysis.

The analysis presented below compares the specifics of poverty risk groups and main poverty factors identified through previous poverty surveys3, as well as specific manifestations of human de-velopment in small and medium sized towns with the corresponding indicators in Yerevan. Indexes and indictors for the monitoring of the Millennium Development Goals4 form the basis for the set of indictors used for the comparative analysis. Thus, we have identified mainly those MDG related manifestations of human poverty which better reflect the unequal and disproportionate developments in small and medium sized towns compared to the capital city.

1. Poverty risk groups and factors related to demographic composition and structure of households

Poverty surveys in Armenia have revealed a direct link between the size of the household and

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poverty, the more members the household has the higher is the risk of poverty. Whereas, children in the family are a significant factor of poverty, and households with large number of children (3 or more) form one of the groups at higher risks of poverty. Analysis of the surveyed clusters shows that the average household in towns is larger than the average household in Yerevan (see Table 1) mainly due to the number of children. The child dependency ratio for towns was 0.31 compared to 0.26 for Yerevan.

Table 1. Main demographic indicators as poverty factors for the surveyed clusters

Compared to Yerevan, there are fewer households with no children (at the lowest risk of poverty) in towns, and on the other hand the share of households with 3 or more children (at the highest risk of poverty) is about 1.5 times more (see Figure 1). Considering that one additional child in the family reduces its living standard by 3.7 percent6, we can conclude that households in towns, due to their demographic composition, are at a higher risk of poverty compared to households in Yerevan.

2. Representation of the unemployed, as a high poverty risk group, in the surveyed clusters

Poverty surveys in Armenia show a close link between poverty and unemployment. Initial com-parisons based on NHDS data reveals that the share of real unemployed among the active working age population (ages 15-64) in towns is somewhat higher than the same indicator in Yerevan (cor-respondingly 24.4 percent and 23.8 percent7). Whereas the age-sex composition of the unemployed is almost identical; in both clusters more than half of them are up to 35 years of age and around 54 percent are women. However, when we calculate (data and calculation methodology presented in Ta-ble 2) the real unemployment rate, disproportions become more illustrious. The real unemployment rate is very high in both clusters, but nevertheless it is 1.1 times higher in towns compared to Yerevan, correspondingly 37.6 percent and 35.7 percent8.

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The official unemployment rates in both clusters are 3-3.5 times lower than the real rates; while again the rate is higher in towns already by 1.2 times, correspondingly 12.1 percent and 9.9 percent.

Thus, unemployment remains to be one of the most serious problems in towns as well as Yerevan; the problem, however, is more serious in towns according to both the official and real unemployment rates.

Table 2. Employment and unemployment among active working age population (15-64)

1 not willing to take up employment. 2 calculated as share of people aged 15-64 who did not have an income generating job, were willing to work, were ready

to take up employment immediately and were actively searching for jobs at the time of the interview and within the preceding week.

3 employed, studying and unemployed. 4 calculated as share of the unemployed in the employed, studying and unemployed working age population. 5 Millennium Development Goal 8 “Establishment of global partnership for development”, indicator for objective 16.

Calculated using the same method applied to the previous one. 6 calculated as share of the officially registered unemployed in the employed and officially unemployed working age

population.

Interestingly, the unemployment rate in the age group of 15-24, which is one of the MDG indica-tors, is notably high in both clusters, while it is somewhat higher in towns at 42.2 percent.

It must be noted that the inequalities in indicators of the labor market would have been wider, if the population in the surveyed towns did not have the possibility to conduct agricultural activities. According to data from NHDS, around 30 percent of households in the surveyed small and medium sized towns have agricultural lands, where around 10 percent of the economically active population is employed. Of course, this significantly reduces the disproportions between labor markets in Yerevan and towns.

It is notable that large differences in the duration of real unemployment are recorded; the average duration of unemployment in towns in about 1.7 times longer than in Yerevan (see Table 2). This shows that a resident in towns left out of the labor market is threatened with long term unemployment, loss of professional skills and qualifications and the subsequent hopelessness.

This significant difference is conditioned by much more limited possibilities in towns for creating new jobs. The internal migration of the labor force is also limited due to numerous factors. First, the unemployed from towns are of the opinion that it is almost hopeless to seek jobs outside their commu-nities, namely in Yerevan with higher rates of economic development. The analysis of the means that the unemployed in towns use for finding jobs shows that only 4 percent use the press and other mass media (which, by the way, mainly reflect job positions available in Yerevan). This can be compared to Yerevan, where around 25 percent of the unemployed try to find jobs through the mass media.

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Second, as the comparative analysis of the education levels of the unemployed reveals, Yerevan has a larger supply of qualified free work force compared to towns. The share of unemployed with higher education is about 2 times larger in Yerevan compared to towns (see Figure 2).

And generally, Yerevan has 50.2 percent of the total number of unemployed with some specializa-tion, i.e. secondary vocational or higher education, compared to 41.9 percent in towns. Considering also the longer duration of unemployment in towns and almost total absence of opportunities for re-qualification, it becomes clear why the migration of the surplus work force in towns is mainly toward the nearby villages basically for construction or agricultural jobs (see articles on marzes in this bul-letin).

Thus, the situation of economic activity and real unemployment is serious in both clusters, but it is nevertheless somewhat more serious in towns.

The most notable disproportion identified is the longer duration of unemployment in towns, which tends to turn into stagnated unemployment.

3. Representation of the hired employees with low salaries, as a high poverty risk group, in the surveyed clusters

According to poverty surveys conducted in the country, employment is not yet a guarantee for avoiding poverty; around 45 percent of the employed are poor.

These are mainly employees of budgetary organizations, who are employed in education, culture, science and arts sectors and receive average salaries significantly lower than the national average. Thus, this group of the employed is also a high poverty risk group.

According to NHDS data, around 25 percent of the working age employed population in both clus-ters are salaried employees. More than half of them, both in Yerevan and in towns, work in budgetary organizations. 48.2 percent of salaried employees in towns receive average monthly salaries lower than the general poverty line; including 15.1 percent receiving salaries lower than the poverty food line9 (see Figure 3).

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In the absence of other employment or source of income, such salaried employees cannot take care of even their own needs, not mentioning their possible dependents.

The share of salaried employees receiving salaries lower than the general poverty line is 1.7 times, and those with salaries lower than the poverty food line 2.1 times larger in towns, compared to Yer-evan.

Thus, salaried employees in towns are at a higher risk of poverty compared to those in Yerevan, due to their higher representation in low salary sectors and lower salary levels.

4. Specifics of the manifestation of a number of human poverty indicators in Yerevan and small and medium sized towns

As already mentioned, the human development concept is at the basis of the NHDS. According to this concept, poverty is a wider phenomenon and encompasses more than the low level of material well-being. It defines poverty as limitation of possibilities for human development and fulfilling of basic human needs, using the term human poverty. Human poverty is the absence of opportunities (in physical and material terms) for satisfying the fundamental needs necessary for a decent living. The most important characteristics of human poverty are lack of access or limited access to education, healthcare and drinking water, social isolation and exclusion, lack of a permanent dwelling or its un-favorable conditions, etc. The most unequal manifestations of the main indicators of human poverty in Yerevan and small and medium sized towns are presented below.

4.1. Access to the Education and Healthcare Systems

According to NHDS data (see Table 3), the most notable disproportions between Yerevan and towns related to access to the educational system are:

a) indicators of enrollment of the age group of 3-6 in the pre-school educational system; the indica-tor is 1.2 times smaller in towns. The enrollment of children of the same age group in arts, sports, and school subject groups is even more unequal; it is 4 times lower in towns.

b) indicators of enrollment of the age group of 18-22 in the tertiary education (college, vocational school, university); the indicator is 1.2 times smaller in towns.

c) indictors of enrollment of the age group of 18-22 in universities; it is 1.7 times smaller in towns.

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Table 3. Enrollment in the educational system, including the educational indicators of MDG in Yerevan and small and medium sized towns

These disproportions are related to more limited access to these educational services in towns compared to Yerevan, and also longer travel distances for using those services.

The MDG indicators for universal enrollment in primary and secondary educational system, as well as literacy rate in the age group of 15-24 (Goal 2, indicators 6, 8), as well as indicators for gender equality in the educational system (Goal 3, indicators 9 and 10) have already been achieved in both clusters10.

The most notable difference between health indicators of the clusters was recorded in the share of disabled children in the total number of children (see Table 4). Disabled children are 2.8 times more in towns compared to Yerevan. Although morbidity indicators are identical in towns and in Yerevan, but the frequency of visits paid to doctors, especially in case of children, is lower in towns compared to Yerevan. Whereas, the main reason mentioned by 92 percent of households for not seeking doctor’s help when they needed medical assistance was that they could not afford to pay for the services.

The most notable difference between Yerevan and towns was recorded for the share of up to one year of age mortality in the total number of births within the last 3 years, which is one of the most im-portant human poverty indicators. As presented in Table 4, the mentioned indicator is 5 times higher in towns compared to Yerevan.

Table 4. Healthcare indicators, including those of the MDG in Yerevan and towns

* Characterizing Millennium Development Goal 4 related to infant mortality and Goal 5 related to maternal mortal-ity.

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4.2. Access to drinking water, dwelling and facilities

Access to safe drinking water is one of the main components of human poverty included in the list of MDG indicators. Thus, it would be interesting to compare access to safe drinking water for households in Yerevan and towns.

The majority of the surveyed households (around 95 percent) in both clusters receive drinking wa-ter from municipal water supply networks, either inside their apartment or in the yard of their house. And this is logical since the urban population has had access to municipal water supply infrastructures already from Soviet times. The issue here is the operational conditions of these infrastructures and the extent to which they are able to ensure access to drinking water. Despite the existing water supply network, the main sources of drinking water for 7.2 percent of households in towns (their share in Yerevan is 0.3 percent) are water taps far from the house, water brought by tankers or wells, which are not very safe sources of drinking water (see Figure 4).

On the other hand, the share of those having water every day is 1.2 times smaller in towns com-pared to Yerevan, correspondingly 73 percent and 84 percent of the surveyed households.

With regard to dwellings, the majority of the surveyed households live in their private apartments and houses. However, the number of households living in dormitories or temporary dwellings (cot-tage, wagons, basements, garages) is 5 times higher compared to Yerevan (0.4 percent in Yerevan and 2 percent in towns). This disproportion is possibly explained by the fact that a number of towns have refugee residents and are in the area struck by the earthquake in 1988.

There are some inequalities related to another indicator as well. The average per capita living space for households living in apartment buildings in towns is 0.5 sq m. less compared to Yerevan (compare 12.5 sq m to 13 sq m). In addition, dwellings in towns are in much poorer conditions. Dwellings of the surveyed households in Yerevan underwent repair and maintenance works correspondingly 15 and 9 years ago, while the same indicators for towns are 20 and 11 years. Possibly this is the reason that 32.1 percent of households in towns have evaluated the conditions of their dwelling poor or very poor (compared to 25.4 percent in Yerevan).

4.3. Access to telecommunications and information

Indicators of access to telecommunications and information characterize one of the most important aspects of human poverty, namely participation in social life. The NHDS has provided the possibility

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for calculating a number of interesting indicators in this regard, some of which are among the MDG indicators. The comparison between Yerevan and towns (see Table 5) shows that residents in towns are more isolated compared to Yerevan residents. The largest gap, to the disadvantage of residents in towns, was recorded in the number of households using computers, cellular phones and the internet.

Thus, the comparative analysis presented in this article reveals that, in general, there are significant disproportions in main indicators of human development and poverty factors between residents in small and medium sized towns and Yerevan. Consequently around 30 percent of country’s population living in small and medium sized towns is at higher risk of poverty and there is a need for including measures for reducing these disparities in regional poverty reduction programs.

Table 5. Access of households to telecommunications and information

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1 See “Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper”, Yerevan-2003, page 30, Table 2.2.”Poverty in 1998/99 and 2001” 2 According to the results of “Living standard surveys” conducted by the National Statistical Service, 55.2 percent of

Yerevan residents and 61.7 percent of residents in other towns were poor in 1999. In 2001, poverty levels in these clusters were correspondingly 46.7 percent and 56.7 percent. See “Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper”, Yerevan-2003, page 30, Table 2.2.”Poverty in 1998/99 and 2001”

3 See “Social Snapshot and Poverty in Armenia”, NSS 1998, 2001, 2002. 4 In September 2000, 189 countries, including Armenia, adopted the Millennium Declaration and the Millennium De-

velopment Goals. See “Human Development Report 2003.Millennium Development Goals: A compact among nations to end human povert”, United Nations Development Programme, New York , 2003

5 The ratio of children aged 0-14 to the working age population (aged 15-64), i.e. number of children per one working age person.

6 See “Social Snapshot and Poverty in Armenia”, NSS, Yerevan 2001. 7 According to the results of the survey of labor force in urban areas of Armenia conducted by NSS in 2001 using the

same methodology 24 percent of people in this age group were unemployed. See “Labor Force in the Urban Settle-ments of RA”. Report, NSS, 2003. http://www.armstat.am/Publications/2003/Ashxatuj-02-ang-het

8 According to the results of the survey of labor force in urban areas of Armenia conducted by NSS in 2001, the unem-ployment rate was 42.7 percent. See “Labor Force in the Urban Settlements of RA”. Report, NSS, 2003. http://www.armstat.am/Publications/2003/Ashxatuj-02-ang-het

9 According to the results of the last “Integrated living standard survey”, the general poverty line was determined at AMD12,273 and the poverty food line 7,525. See “Social Snapshot and Poverty in Armenia”, NSS 2001.

10 See Human Development Report 2003. Millennium Development Goals: A compact among nations to end human poverty, United Nations Development Programme, New York , 2003

11 It must be noted that the represetativeness of women in their fertile age who had childbirth within the last three years is fairly small.

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Community survey of small and medium towns of RA

ARAGATZOTN MARZ

Diana PogossyanAragatzotn marzpetaran’s Monitoring and Analysis Specialist Tel. 0-32/3-55-59

Three towns, Ashtarak, Aparan and Talin, were included in the survey of urban communities of Aragatzotn marz. All three towns are former regional centers. Ashtarak is the marz capital from 1995. The administrative territory of Ashtarak includes also Mughni village.

Specifics of employment among marz‘s urban population

Aragatzotn is one of the smallest marzes in Armenia. Its population constitutes only 4.3 percent of country’s total population (according to 2001 census), and the majority of its population, or 76.3 percent, live in rural areas. The marz produces only 1 percent of the national GDP. Agriculture, espe-cially livestock production, is the predominant economic sector in the Marz. This fact also determines the direction of development in marz’s towns. All three surveyed communities have large areas of ag-ricultural lands, a significant part of which is the private property of towns’ residents (see Table 1).

Table 1. Data on agricultural lands in towns of Aragatzotn marz, according to town govern-ments, 2002

Working on private agricultural land has become the main economic activity for the majority of residents in Ashtarak, Aparan and Talin. Around 2/3 of residents are involved in agricultural activi-ties, whereas Ashtarak has the smallest share of such residents estimated by town authorities at 60 percent, and Talin has the largest share at 80 percent.

The composition of economy, and consequently job distribution by sectors, used to be somewhat different in marz’s towns. Ashtarak in particular, where 1700 people were annually employed in the industrial sector in 1988-1990, has changed significantly. However, all these facilities together have just 268 employees. Thus, the number of industrial jobs decreased by 6 times during the transition pe-riod, amounting to less than 10 percent of the total number of job positions (in 2002 according to town officials). The situation is the same in other two cities of the marz as well, although changes were not as radical in Aparan and Talin, since they have always had the informal status of “village town”.

Industry in Aparan and Talin is represented mainly by 5-6 enterprises. These enterprises are:

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Aparan • “Nig” equipment parts production • “Arev” factory • Branch of Yerevan “Haygorg” group • Cheese factory • Bread factory

Talin • Cheese factory • Bread factory • Asphalt factory • Small factory of Swiss gold watches • “Shant” dairy factory • “Diamontec” diamond processing factory1

Interesting changes in the composition of economy have taken place in Talin. “Diamontec” dia-mond processing factory, which has around 500 employees, is the largest employer among the men-tioned enterprises. In effect, the absolute number of emloyees in the industrial sector in Talin with only 5000 residents is the largest in the marz (see Table 2).

Table 2. Data on operational industrial facilities in towns of Aragatzotn marz and number of their employees, according to town authorities, 2002

At the same time, as presented in Table 1, 94 percent of households in Talin have agricultural land, or 1.2ha per household. As a result, the mayor estimates the share of agricultural employment at around 80 percent.

Considering the employment situation in marz’s small and medium sized towns presented above, unemployment rate estimations made by mayors seem to be somewhat unusual} The official unem-ployment rate, according to regional employment services, is very low and does not exceed 2 percent in all 3 towns, while mayors estimate the unemployment rate at 80-90 percent (see Figure 1). Town officials justified the 45 times “deviation” of their estimations from official figures based on the fol-lowing arguments:

Figure 1. Unemployment rate in marz’s towns, %

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a) not all households owning land are involved in agricultural activities; b) privatized land is not irrigated due to lack of irrigation water and pipeline worn out condition; c) residents, who used to have jobs in other sectors cannot reconcile with the thought of “being

employed in the agricultural sector”; d) incomes from employment, that is salaries and agricultural incomes, are too low and conse-

quently people do not consider themselves as fully employed; e) some employees working in towns’ enterprises, in particular “Diamontec” in Talin, are from

neighboring villages; f) employment services do not register town residents with private land as unemployed, even if the

land is not cultivated. These arguments explain why ”unemployment” was the unanimous response of all the mayors to

the question “What causes poverty in your town?”. Issues of drinking water and better access to quality healthcare services were also mentioned.

Economic and social infrastructures of towns

Urban streets in all three towns are in poor conditions, since there has been no construction or re-pair work for a long time. Patching street pavements allows for a more or less normal vehicle traffic. Thus, town officials are of the opinion that roads should be brought to normal conditions. The only constraint is financing, since road construction projects are costly, and town governments do not have the necessary funds.

Large scale housing construction has not taken place in the last ten years. The only notable project was the repair of dormitory No. 25 in Ashtarak, which was implemented in 2002 jointly by Aragat-zotn marz government and the UNHCR. The 48 renovated apartments were distributed to 10 local and 38 refugee families as their private property.

Roofs, drinking water networks and sewerage systems in almost all apartment buildings need to be repaired and renovated.

A local heating system was successfully tested in one of Aparan’s apartment buildings in 2002. It is planned to install such systems in other apartment buildings of the town this year. In all three towns, water supply is scheduled, and water is provided for 2-4 hours per day.

Town authorities are not satisfied with the conditions of the telephone network and quality of tel-ephone connections.

Other means of communication, the press for example, are available to marz’s urban population al-most every day. The geographical specifics of towns limit the possibilities for watching TV programs; residents can only “catch”, and not all the time at that, 4-7 TV channels. Ashtarak town tries to solve the problem through paid cable network services, but the number of subscribers is still very limited.

Poverty assessments and means for its eradication

According to assessments by town officials, 10 percent of the urban population in Aragatzotn marz is very poor. At the same time, Ashtarak and Talin authorities estimate their non-poor population at 30 percent, while according to Aparan town officials the town has 3 percent very poor residents.

In addition to material poverty, town official attach importance to moral poverty as well, which is a result of cultural isolation and social vulnerability of people in the marz.

The following programs were recommended by mayors for solving the existing problems and re-ducing poverty in Aragatzotn marz:

job creation; - re-operation and refurbishing of former factories; - improvement of drinking water supply; - improvement of housing stock;

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- establishing markets for agricultural goods; - ensuring markets for processing and sales of agricultural products. The mentioned programs are yet to be developed and included on the list of officially planned

projects, while the ones below have already been included in three-year community development plans:

- installation of local heating systems; - repair of drinking water supply and irrigation networks; - improving municipal services to apartment buildings; - repair of sections of rural roads; - city planning - improving education and cultural life.

Here is some brief information on marz’s towns.

ASHTARAK

Ashtarak is situated at 1175m above sea level, on Kasakh river, 20km north-east of Yerevan, at the intersection of Yerevan-Gyumri and Yerevan-Spitak roads. It is the marz capital from 1995.

The radio-physics and electronics research institute of the National Academy of Sciences is in Ashtarak. The town has inherited a developed social infrastructures network from the former Soviet system: 5 secondary schools, 1 boarding school, 1 special school, 3 kindergartens, as well as music, arts and sports schools, one private university, sports stadium, library, culture club, teachers club, numerous museums and scientific centers.

APARAN

Aparan (called Bash-Aparan until 1935) is the second largest town of Aragatzotn marz by popula-tion. It is situated at 2010m above sea level. It was redesigned in 1967. The housing stock includes 1513 single-family houses, as well as 27 apartment buildings. Houses are mostly built using local tuff.

Main ethnic groups in the town are Armenians and Yezdis. Residents are mainly involved in livestock production and farming. A large number of people leave for seasonal work outside community.

Aparan is famous for its tasty drinking water, which comes from Yeznak spring. The social infrastructure in Aparan consists of the following facilities: 3 secondary schools, 1

college, 1 music school, 2 kindergartens, sports, arts center, culture club, folk theater, one library, telephone switching center, hospital, polyclinic, a number of drugstores.

TALIN

Residents in Talin are mainly the decedents of Armenians from Kars, Nakhijevan, Bayazet, Alashk-ert, Sasun and Mush regions of Greater Hayk, who immigrated in 1828-1830.

The town has two secondary, one sports and one music school, crafts center, culture club, national heritage museum, hospital, drugstore, as well as 3 kindergartens sponsored by the Armenian Apos-tolic and Armenian Adventist churches, etc.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------1 It must be noted that the “Diamontech” company cares for the education and improvement of technical skills of its em-

ployees. Around 500 people are currently participating in training courses in order to work in the new positions soon to be opened in the company. The overall number of employees will soon reach 1000. The factory supports town’s teachers by providing AMD5000 per month to each teacher.

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ARARAT MARZ

Shoghik ArustamyanArarat marzpetaran’s Monitoring and Analysis Specialist Tel: /0-35/ 2-10-64

This survey revealed the specifics of socio-economic and human developments in 4 small and medium sized towns of Ararat marz. The overall picture emerging from the survey shows that a seg-ment of marz’s urban population do not participate in human development processes because of their poverty. Previous surveys identified the vulnerable groups of population, which are more prone to poverty in general and human poverty in particular.

Thus, information on the representation of vulnerable groups in towns of Ararat marz, is a good measure of the level of poverty risk marz’s urban populations face (see Table 1).

Table 1. Representation of vulnerable groups among the urban population of Ararat marz by towns

As presented, the most important problem for Artashat town is its large share of pensioners (22.4 percent), for Masis the relatively large share of refugees (6.2 percent), for Ararat and Vedi the large share of families receiving benefits (15.5-15.7 percent).

Demographic indicators are as follows: In 2002, the highest natural growth rate was recorded in Ararat town at 27.6 per thousand residents, which is 2-3 times higher than the rate in other 3 towns of the marz. The largest number of marriages was recorded in Artashat at 12.1 per one thousand resi-dents, and Vedi has the lowest divorce rate ate 0.2 per one thousand residents.

Employment is a serious problem in all towns of the marz. First, there is a very low level of non-farm activities, which is particularly important for the urban population. Among marz’s towns only in Ararat the number of people employed in industry exceeds those working in other sectors; 43.4 percent of all the employed according to town authorities. In the other three towns the employed are mainly concentrated in the agricultural sector, where their share is 65-81 percent (see Figure 1).

Employment data should be considered carefully, especially for a marz like Ararat, where settle-ments are mainly in Ararat valley.

First, a large number of urban households in the marz have private land plots, and consequently are involved in agricultural activities. At the same time, however, some of them also work in industries, construction or services. There are also people who work in a number of sectors at the same time.

This is a problem for statistical data collection, since it is not clear under which sector these people ought to be registered as employed.

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Second, who should be considered employed (or not unemployed); can a person with non-agricul-tural higher education, who is unemployed but has land, be considered unemployed? Or, how do we evaluate town’s level of employment? By the number of workplaces, or by the actual place of resi-dence of those employed in workplaces? For example, half of the staff of marz government located in Artashat is from out of town. And finally, in Ararat valley people are employed in the agricultural sector for only 5-6 months of the year, and in the remaining months these so called “employed” peo-ple have nothing to do and do not have any incomes.

Of course, in current difficult socio-economic conditions in small and medium sized towns it is still very important to provide land to the urban population, however agriculture cannot be considered a promising sector for their future prosperity.

While today, in some cases, there are more agricultural lands within the administrative territories of towns than in some villages, and the share of urban households with private land reaches 42-43 percent, see Table 2.

Table 2. Share of households with agricultural land in marz‘s towns

Thus the reason behind the majority of the employed, or 84-89 percent, being in the private sector is that they cultivate their own private land.

Nevertheless, in some former industrial towns, especially Ararat and Artashat, there is a high rate of unemployment at 16.4 and 10.7 percent correspondingly. The rate is higher in Ararat since it has almost no agricultural land.

The unemployment picture in marz’s towns is presented in Table 3.

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Table 3. Unemployment rate in towns of Ararat marz, 2002

This large 3 to 10 times’ difference between assessments of the unemployment rate have their own logical explanation: the real unemployed do not register at regional employment services (although these are accessible in all towns), since:

• monthly unemployment benefits are very small, not more than US$5; • even when it is granted (and it is granted only to 10-15 percent of applicants), it is not for a long

period, i.e. a maximum of 6 months; • there is little hope for finding employment.

The only advantage of registering as unemployed is that it increases the possibility of inclusion in the family benefit system, but nevertheless if other conditions are already met this unemployment status does not increase chances much.

Infrastructures contributing the most to the development of towns are roads and communications. Roads in marz’s towns are in more or less good conditions, with the exception of the 0.5km roads linking towns to central highways. All towns have public transportation to and from the capital city costing AMD150-350. All towns (except Ararat) have taxis with a AMD500 per km fee.

All towns have telephone lines. Local and long-distance telephone communications are of average quality.

One of the specifics of poverty in Armenia is that the poor should have at least a shelter, be it permanent or temporary. Data on housing stocks and numbers of households in marz’s towns are presented in Table 4.

Table 4. Housing stock in Ararat marz

Numbers of families living under temporary shelter are not considerable in neither of the towns. Whereas, in Artashat and Masis, due to emigration, numbers of dwellings exceed those of the house-holds, while there are dwellings in Vedi with more than one family (which, by the way, is a very common practice in the country); A number of families being close relatives live under one shelter: parents with their children, brothers and sisters each with their families, etc.). This means that the number of dwellings is not necessarily identical with the number of households.

The main bulk of the housing stock has been built more than 10 years ago and has not been

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renovated since. A majority of households, more than 80 percent, are connected to water supply and sewerage networks, and gas is currently supplied only to single-family houses. The harsh winter in 2002 damaged water supply and sewerage systems in residential apartment buildings; in almost all buildings sewage water spills out into basements. The average price of apartments in marz’s towns does not exceed US$100 per sq m.

Water is supplied to towns for on average 1.5 to 4 hours per day. The fact that artesian water is supplied to apartment buildings in Artashat and Masis is enough to turn drinking water into an urgent problem for marz’s towns.

The effectiveness of secondary school education is determined, among others, by the share of students continuing their studies in universities. In this regard, as presented in Figure 2, the situation is better in Artashat and Vedi, where 37-38 percent of school graduates continued their studies in uni-versities. The lowest effectiveness was recorded in Ararat schools at only 8 percent.

Another important indicator, especially from the viewpoint of the optimization of the educational system and transferring financial management of secondary school education to communities, is ex-penditures from town’s budget per student in 2002. Expenditures on the school system are 1.5 to 3 times higher in Masis and Ararat towns than in Vedi and Artashat; correspondingly AMD12600, 8500, 7000 and 4200 annually. The last two towns, however, have higher rates of university admis-sions than the first two (see Figure 2).

In recent years, television has become the main source of information. Towns (except Artashat) do not have local newspapers, radio lines, local TV stations. Both marz and national newspapers are nevertheless available in towns.

According to estimations made by local authorities, the highest poverty rate at 96 percent (includ-ing 30 percent very poor) was recorded in Artashat, and the lowest rate at 65 percent (including 10 percent very poor) in Masis (see Figure 3). Such spread of poverty in Artashat, which is the marz capital and where at least 1/3 of the residents have 4,000 sq m of land on average, is somewhat pe-culiar. In our opinion, criteria for well-being and poverty in Artashat are very different from those in other towns of the marz.

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Figure 3. Evaluations of poverty levels in towns of Ararat marz estimated by town officials, %

ARARAT

The town was established in 1950s around a cement factory. Has an altitude of 840m above sea level, is 45km far from Yerevan and 22km far from marz capital. More than 40 percent of all the em-ployed work in cement and gold factories.

Ararat has serious environmental problems. The cement factory operates without filters, for which it is constantly fined. But the factory prefers to pay penalties instead of installing expensive filters. Waste from the gold factory, cyanide in particular, spills out and contaminates the environment, espe-cially pastures, causing damages to livestock production. At least this is how town residents explain the rise in meat prices.

Supply of drinking and irrigation water is of utmost importance for the town; water pipelines are worn out, and one of the two pumps is not operational.

“Mission Armenia” NGO provides free meals to 100 elderly five times a week in a facility renovat-ed by funding from the local government. Member of the NGO also take care of 102 disabled elderly, providing constant medical supervision at home and free medicine, as well as ensuring their hygiene by bathing them, doing their laundry and ironing, cleaning the house and doing the shopping.

VEDI

The majority of residents live in single-family houses. Agriculture is the main employment area with more than 80 percent of the employed. Households having land plots complain that because of mistakes in land inventories they have to pay higher taxes for land plots larger than the ones they actually have. Only 14 percent of the employed work in the public sector.

Roads connecting Vedi town to marz capital (48km) and Yerevan (19km) are in good conditions. The necessary funds for renovating urban streets were allocated this summer. The re-operation of electrical devices factory and establishment of a processing factory for travertine limestone can have a significant impact on job creation.

Two out of three drinking water reservoirs of the town are operational. The drinking water is of low quality. Other than two public agencies providing social services, the local Red Cross has started its active involvement led by Doctor Zemphira Malkhasyan. By the sponsorship of “Vedi Alco” com-pany, the Red Cross feeds the single elderly one day a week and they can spend their free time in the

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hall provided by town government throughout the year. The existence of “Vedi Alco” company and the numerous social programs implemented by its

management (director Manvel Ghazaryan) have their undeniable role in preventing emigration from the town, and contribute to the maintaining of more or less adequate social structures. “Mission Ar-menia” NGO too provides free social services to refugees and other vulnerable groups.

ARTASHAT

A large number of Artashat town residents have emigrated to other places in Armenia, or other countries. In addition, the majority of these emigrants were working age residents. The most unfa-vorable impact of this emigration is the disruption of the sex-age composition, which is primarily reflected in the large share of pensioners among residents at 22.4 percent. This means, that almost every fourth resident is of economically non-active age. We will have a better understanding of the level of social tension in the town if we also consider the unemployment rate among working age residents, which is 10.7 percent according to the regional employment service and around 60 percent according to town authorities.

The social tension is diminished due to a number of important factors. First, 31 percent of house-holds in Artashat have received agricultural land, and as a result more than 70 percent of the employed work in the agricultural sector. Second, marz branches of central governmental agencies, as well as the marz government offices are located in Artashat as the capital city of the marz, which ensures jobs in the public sector for 11 percent of the employed. Seasonal industrial jobs are available mainly by the canned food factory.

Targeted social programs are implemented for non-working age, disabled and single elderly in-cluded on the beneficiary list of “Mission Armenia” NGO. Soup kitchens, free healthcare services, especially organized cultural events, etc. are available to them in both Ararat and Artashat.

One of the most serious problems in the municipality is the high level of ground waters swamp-ing houses. The sewerage is in poor conditions; its pipelines have not been cleaned since 1970s and are overstuffed with sludge. As a result, sewage water in 126 apartment buildings spills out into the basement. And 10 percent of single-family houses are not even connected to the sewerage system. 98 percent of households are connected to the water supply network, but the system, nevertheless, is in very poor conditions. The town does not have a septic plant. 14 wells providing water for apartment buildings are collapsing gradually. Supply of both artesian and drinking water is the number one problem in Artashat.

The second important issue is the poor conditions of the 70 km long urban streets, which were as-phalted for the last time in 1968. It is already a long time that garbage is not removed from the town; residents dump their garbage in an open filed at a 2km distance from their houses.

MASIS

The town is distinguished by the large number of refugees (6.2 percent of residents) and the large share of absent population (20 percent). Only 15.5km of the total 40.8km of urban streets are as-phalted. Roofs, as well as water supply and sewerage systems in all 88 residential apartment buildings need repairs.

Formerly being an important railroad station, Masis was famous for its large storage facilities, which are now empty. Re-opening of the railroad will result in re-operation of these facilities and will create new jobs, which is very important for residents who are mainly unemployed or have seasonal agricultural jobs.

According to the Ministry of Health, there is a malaria risk in Masis, and cases of malaria surface once in a while. Due to supply of artesian drinking water cases of dysentery and poisoning are fre-quent. Garbage is not removed from the town, which increases the risk of various disease outbreaks.

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ARMAVIR MARZ

Hermine HovhanissyanArmavir marzpetaran’s Monitoring and Analysis Specialist Tel. (0-37) 6-31-48

All three urban communities of Armavir marz, that is Armavir, Vagharshapat and Metzamor, were studied within the framework of the survey of small and medium sized towns in the country. The analysis presented summarizes data obtained during the survey, which were mainly collected by a special questionnaire completed by town authorities.

Various projects relating to re-operation of production facilities, drinking water supply, gas sup-ply, basic education, preschool education, healthcare and other areas, which have a direct impact on population’s living standard, have been implemented in marz’s towns by active participation of inter-national, national, marz and local organizations over the last five years.

Unlike rural communities, which were studied through a similar survey conducted in the fall 2002 (see “Armenia Social Trends” 3rd issue, December 2002), the three surveyed urban communities of the marz had three-year development programs (2003-2005); and the data included in these programs served as one of the main sources of information for completing the questionnaires.

It must be noted that data on indicators obtained from town authorities might be different form data provided by other agencies officially in charge of tracking those indicators. However, the data provided below is the very information used by town officials for making decisions on development priorities for towns.

Armavir – (formerly Hoktemberyan) marz capital was established on June 26, 1931. Is 48km far from Yerevan and has an altitude of 880m above sea level. The majority of residents are ethnic Ar-menians. Despite being the marz capital, it has only marz’s second largest population and number of households after Vagharshapat (see Table 1).

With regard to demographic indicators, the town is notable for its large share of households receiv-ing benefits at 14.1 percent, which is 1.5-2.5 times more than in Vagharshapat and Metzamor.

Table 1. Some demographic indicators of towns in Armavir marz

Armavir residents live mainly in single-family houses; the housing stock includes 142 apartment buildings and 5979 single-family houses (see Table 2). 35 percent of apartment buildings were built 21 to 50 years ago, 58 percent were built 20 years ago, and the remaining 7 percent were built in recent years. Taking into account the “average age” of apartment buildings at 21.8 years, it is only natural that 122 buildings, or 86 percent, need repairs, and 12 buildings are actually unsafe. Accord-ing to data from home sale transactions, the price of 1 sq m of living area in the town in the last month amounted to US$61.

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Table 2. Residential buildings and municipal services in towns of Armavir marz 2002

There are no registered condominiums in the town. Currently, 92 percent of town’s households are connected to water supply and sewerage networks.

Almost none of marz’s communities, however, have operational central heating systems any more. Extension of central gas supply systems is welcomed warmly by the population; currently around

50 percent of households have access to natural gas supply systems. The process continues. 65 per-cent of households are connected to the telephone network, but both local and long distance connec-tions are of poor quality.

The official unemployment figures for the town are presented in Table 3.

Table 3. The unemployed registered at Armavir town’s employment service

In effect, the majority of the unemployed registered at Armavir town’s employment services in 2001 and 2002 were women, mainly with secondary education. The growing number of the unem-ployed with higher education, more than half of whom are women, is a cause for concern.

It must be noted however that women find jobs through employment services more often than men. In 2002, 59 unemployed women and 48 unemployed men found jobs, form whom 57 women and 14 men through Armavir town’s employment services. Nevertheless, the figures presented show the limited possibilities of employment services in finding jobs for the unemployed.

The “benefit for work” program, which is implemented by including the unemployed registered at employment services, has a significant role in creating temporary employment.

According to Armavir town’s employment services the unemployment rate in 2002 was 5 percent, while the mayor estimated the real unemployment rate at 40 percent (see Figure 1); according to the mayor this is the result of very few available jobs for town’s unemployed.

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Figure 1. Unemployment rate in marz’s towns 2002, %

Because of the very few available jobs, the unemployed in Armavir town, in order to provide mini-mum subsistence for their families, often take up seasonal work in villages of the marz or small land plots (on average 0.09ha) within the town, where they grow food for their families. But this does not satisfy their needs, and in addition it is not even considered as a form of employment (see Table 4).

Table 4. Distribution of the employed in town’s of Armavir marz by economic sectors (according to town authorities), %

In 2003, one of the forgotten sectors, namely public transportation, was revived in Armavir town. Minibus lines (AMD50 per passenger) and taxis (AMD100 per 1km) are operational again. Urban streets are 86km long, including 78km paved with average quality asphalt. The road connecting the regional capital to Yerevan is 48km long, and is relatively in much better conditions. There are four departures every hour from Armavir town to Yerevan.

The town has all the necessary social infrastructures; there are 8 post offices, 12 kindergartens (administered by town government), 10 formal basic education schools, a number of music and sports schools. In the previous academic year (2001-2002), 171 graduates out of a total number of 533 (or 32 percent) were admitted to various universities of the country. It must be noted that all formal basic education schools have their own computer classrooms.

The central marz hospital is in Armavir, there are also 3 polyclinics, 15 drugstores, 5 private dentist clinics. With regard to the public sector, a local employment and social services center operates in Armavir town as well.

The private sector is represented by 3 branches of Yerevan banks, 2 credit institutions, 2 internet service providers, tens of recreational facilities (cafes, restaurants, sports facilities, etc.) The fact that Armavir is the marz capital plays a decisive role in the availability of infrastructures, since almost all communities in the marz use these institutions.

Armavir residents have access to daily national press. In addition, a regional newspaper called “Hayrenakanch” is published once a month (there are no town newspapers). Town residents have the possibility to watch more than 20 TV channels.

Town authorities mention unemployment as the main factor causing poverty. Thus, according to town officials, only job creation (or re-opening existing workplaces which are currently idle), and

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preferably in the industry sector, would mitigate town’s poverty problems, improving the tense so-cio-economic and moral-psychological environment. The town government is ready to participate in programs for poverty reduction.

According to Armavir’s three-year development program (2003-2005), the three main directions for development are:

• urban development and city planning; • land-development; • ensuring continuous operation of pre-school institutions; • renovation of cultural facilities.

Allocations from the community budget have already been made for the mentioned purposes.

Vagharshapat – (former Ejmiatzin) is the spiritual capital of the country and the largest town of the marz. Vagharshapat, with its ancient and rich history, is 30km far from the marz capital, and at a 20km distance from the capital city. 9.9 percent of households, are included in the family benefit system. Vagharshapat has the highest share of the disabled and pensioners among urban communities of the marz, correspondingly 3.9 and 17.1 percent.

According to regional employment services, town’s unemployment rate in 2002 amounted to only 2.2 percent (which is the lowest in the country). The share of women among the unemployed is also very low at 37.2 percent. 20 people, including 12 women, found jobs through the employment serv-ices in the last year.

According to data from Vagharshapat town government, 53 percent of the employed are women. Only 10 percent of the employed work in the public sector. The main areas of employment are church services and processing of agricultural products, which provide jobs for around 80 percent of the employed (see Table 4).

Agricultural land area within the administrative territory of the town is the largest, compared to the other 2 towns (see Figure 2). However, only 21.7 percent of households in Vagharshapat have private land, whereas, such households in Armavir constitute 55.4 percent. Compared to Armavir, residents in Vagharshapat, with a less tense labor market, have more job opportunities in sectors other than agriculture.

Figure 2. Agricultural land in town’s of Armavir marz

16 factories and production lines provide industrial jobs in the town. Services sector is represented by 302 shops, 29 drugstores and 9 libraries. There are 53 restaurants and other recreational facilities, and 5 facilities belonging to the Armenian Apostolic Church, the largest of which is the cathedral of the Holy See of the Armenian Church.

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Urban streets are 90km long, 75km of which has an asphalt pavement of average quality. Public transportation linking the town with marz capital has 3 departures per hour, while there are 4 depar-tures to the capital city per hour, and the fee is the same for both at AMD250. The town has public buses, minibuses and taxis, with the same fees as in Armavir.

Ejmiadzin residents also live in single-family houses (see Table 2). Many of the town’s apartment buildings need roof repairs, elevators in 2 buildings are not operational, and nearly all of them need entrance repairs and yard refurbishment. Since Ejmiadzin is near the capital city, it has the highest price per sq m of living area among marz’s towns at US$120.

Unlike other towns of the marz, there are 7 registered condominiums in Vagharshapat, at least 3 of which are operational.

As a former regional capital, this town has various social and recreational infrastructures. There are 11 formal basic education schools with 8157 students and 727 teachers (86 percent with higher education). More than 1000 children attend 10 kindergartens. In 2001-2002, 42 percent of the 797 school graduates were admitted to universities. There are numerous, cafes, bars and other recreational facilities in the town.

The priorities stated in the three-year development program, according to Vagharshapat town gov-ernment, are development of tourism, processing of agricultural products, development of grape and fruit production and expansion of canning industry based on the latter. At the same time, it must be mentioned that town’s budget is too limited for the implementation of the mentioned programs; more than half of the budget (56 percent) is formed by subsidies of around AMD247 million.

Metzamor – the town was established in 1969, as a temporary settlement for builders of the nucle-ar power station. It was granted workers settlement status in 1972, and town status in 1992. Metzamor is 8km to the north-east of marz capital Armavir and 40km far from the capital city. The network of urban streets is 7km long, and all streets are asphalted.

According to employment services, the unemployment rate in Metzamor in 2002 was 4.2 percent, and there were 850 registered unemployed as of January 1, 67 percent of whom were women.

The majority of residents live in apartment buildings, and 46 families live in cottages with back-yards. Construction activities started in Metzamor in 1970, and the majority of buildings, or 61 per-cent, are 21-30 year-old. Today, these apartment buildings have numerous problems related to roof repairs (38 percent of buildings), absence of sewerage or its poor conditions (28 percent), poor con-ditions in basements, etc. The absence of a sewerage and wastewater treatment plant creates serious problems, such as the stink in town’s air.

As a young town, built in accordance with typical soviet city design, Metzamor has had all the nec-essary social infrastructures from the beginning. It has 3 secondary schools, 3 kindergartens, music and sports schools. The healthcare sector is represented by a hospital with120 beds and operations, pediatrics, general medicine, infectious diseases and obstetrics departments, a polyclinic, 2 drug-stores and a number of private dentists. The telephone station with automatic exchange equipment and 4000 lines started operation in 1980. There are 2 post offices in Metzamor. Around 50 percent of families have phone connection.

The town has libraries, numerous recreational facilities, internet connection and a church.

The Armenian Nuclear Power Plant plays a large role in ensuring employment for Metzamor resi-dents. Currently, around 62 percent of the 1659 employees of the power plant are from Metzamor. And thus, 60 percent of employment in the town is in the public sector.

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The town of energy specialists prioritizes gas supply, repair of roofs and basements and general city planning in its three-year development program.

The distribution of Vagharshapat residents by living standard, according to estimations of town authorities, is as follows: non-poor 10 percent, poor 70 percent and very poor 20 percent. Again em-ployment has been mentioned as the main factor causing poverty in the town; according to the mayor the actual unemployment rate is around 30 percent. Job creation, financial investments in various economic sectors, active involvement of the Church and development of tourism were mentioned as the most effective measures for combating poverty.

Development of tourism, processing of agricultural products, development of grape and fruit pro-duction and expansion of canning industry based on the latter are included in the three-year develop-ment program as the most important measures. It must be mentioned, however, that town’s budget is very limited for the implementation of the mentioned measures; currently more than half of the budget (56 percent) comes from subsidies amounting to AMD247 million.

Town’s authority figures underline a number of important measures, which will contribute to pov-erty reduction. Such as introduction of cheap energy sources, repair of power plant infrastructures, use of local high quality labor force in these activities, creation of an industrial complex, stabilization of town’s moral-political atmosphere, etc.

The mentioned measures are common for the three towns of the marz and even for other towns of the country. We really hope that the necessity of implementing the PRSP will transform the well-known motto “Our town is our home” into a common mentality and approach. According to marz’s mayors, levels of poverty in towns are as follows:

Figure 3. Distribution of urban population in Armavir marz by level of poverty, %

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GEGHARKUNIK MARZ

Valerik MinasyanGegharkunik marzpetaran’s Monitoring and Analysis Specialist Tel: (0-64) 2-40-47

The survey of small and medium sized towns in Gegharkunik marz included its all 5 towns, where human development and poverty problems, as well as prospects for community development, were studied. The objective was to identify specificities and use the results in the PRSP implementation phase.

Socio-demographic indicators of urban communities

The 5 towns included in the survey are: Sevan, Gavar, Jambarak, Martuni and Vardenis. The survey was conducted through interviews with mayors. The questionnaire included questions on so-cio-demographic indicators, such as actual population, actual number of households, family benefit receivers, households living under temporary shelter, refugees, IDPs, the disabled and pensioners.

These indicators are summarized in Table 1.

Table 1. Some socio-demographic indicators of towns in Gegharkunik, as of January 1, 2003

As presented in the table, the most unfavorable socio-demographic situation is recorded in Sevan, where the share of pensioners in the actual population is 30 percent, share of the disabled 10 percent, and every fifth family is classified as extremely poor and receives state benefits. Town’s demographic situation worsened especially during the transition years by emigration of more than 1/3 of the resi-dents because of difficult socio-economic conditions.

IDPs live only in Jambarak and constitute 21-22 percent of town’s population. The largest share of households living under temporary shelter is recorded in Martuni, at 14.4 percent of actual number of households.

Refugees have relatively large shares in Vardenis at 6.1 percent of actual population, and Jam-barak at 4.4 percent. Since the marz has taken in large numbers of refugees from the earliest days of Karabagh conflict, it would be interesting to follow the dynamics of their numbers, which is presented in Figure 1.

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Figure 1. Dynamics of the number of refugees living in Gegharkunik marz1996-2003 (as of January 1 of each year), people

The threefold decrease in the number of refugees in 1996-2003 (as of July 1) is explained by two main factors: their intensive emigration and implementation of a targeted naturalization policy.

Agricultural activities in urban communities.

Gegharkunik marz has an underlined agricultural profile. As a result, even towns have consider-able areas of agricultural lands, the majority of which is allocated to the urban population. Table 2 includes data on agricultural lands in towns.

Table 2. Indicators of agricultural lands in Gegharkunik’s towns, assessments of town au-thorities, 2002

Calculations show that 17,000 out of a total of 31,000 households, or 55 percent, have agricultural land, with an average per household land area of 0.9ha. The picture differs largely by towns; it varies from 0.1ha (in Sevan) to 6.4ha (in Jambarak, see Table 2).

It is only natural that agriculture, with 64 percent of the total number of the employed (assessment of town authorities), is the main employment sector for marz’s urban population. Share of the em-ployed in other sectors is as follows: industry 4.6 percent, construction 3 percent, services including trade 15 percent, and other sectors 13.6 percent.

Economic and social infrastructures of towns.

Only two of marz’s 4 towns, Sevan and Martuni, have daily public transportation which connects them to marz capital Gavar. All 5 towns have daily transportation to and from the capital city.

Residential apartment buildings in all towns have similar problems, including roofs, sewerage, entrances and windows in common areas; elevators in 16 apartment buildings in Sevan also need to be repaired.

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Duration of daily water supply varies in towns; in Sevan 1 hour per day, in Jambarak 1 hour, in Martuni 1.5 hours, Gavar 3 hours and Vardenis 10 hours.

Social and economic infrastructures are relatively more developed in marz capital Gavar and in Sevan (see Table 3).

Table 3. Number of social and economic facilities in marz’s towns

Employment situation. Unemployment rates in various regions of the marz have been declining in recent years (see Figure 2). In January 2003, the unemployment rate in marz’s towns was around 6-7 percent, which is much lower than the national average (9 percent). Unemployment rate is high only in Martuni reaching almost 10 percent, while in Gavar it is 6.4 percent. It must be noted that these are official unemployment figures.

Figure 2. Dynamics of unemployment rate in Gegharkunik in 1996-2003, % (at January 1st of each year)

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The unemployment figures in the marz mainly reflect the unemployment among the urban popula-tion; Figure 3 provides data on the latter.

Figure 3. Unemployment rate in marz’s towns 2002 , %

As presented in the figure, 3 towns Jambarak, Vardenis and Gavar have 4-5 times lower official unemployment rates than those assessed by mayors. In Sevan this difference is 2.2 times. Only in Martuni, the mayor has evaluated the actual unemployment rate as 1.7 times lower than the official figure. In our opinion, this is the result of widespread hidden employment, particularly in the fishing industry and due to seasonal work outside community.

Poverty and programs for its eradication. The levels of poverty differ widely in towns of Gegharkunik marz. According to mayors, these differences are particularly notable in the ratio of the very poor to the non-poor. In Sevan, for example, 43 percent of residents are non-poor, while 12 percent are very poor, and in Martuni this ratio is just the opposite constituting 10:40. On the other hand, shares of the non-poor and the very poor are almost equal in Gavar at 15-20 percent, the share of the poor, however, has been evaluated to be very high at 65 percent. Distribution of population by living standards is presented in Table 4.

Table 4. Poverty in marz’s towns according to mayors, %

All mayors attach importance to poverty eradication issues, and measures included in the three-year development programs will target urgent social issues. Direct assistance from the state, however, is necessary for the implementation of long term and costly measures, such as:

• repair of drinking water supply and sewerage networks, construction of an irrigation network in Sevan;

• SME development, re-operation of a number of existing facilities, construction of drinking water supply network in Jambarak;

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• gas supply to apartment buildings, repair of urban streets, completing unfinished buildings in Mar-tuni;

• financial investments for establishing and developing productions, development of agricultural support services in Gavar;

• construction of sewerage, road repair, construction of a hotel in Vardenis.

Town governments are ready to participate in the implementation of the PRSP within the limits of their possibilities. It is necessary to involve international development agencies and humanitarian organizations in this process as well.

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LORI MARZ

Irina GrigoryanLori marzpetaran’s Monitoring and Analysis Specialist Tel. (0-51) 2-36-62

The survey of small and medium sized enterprises in Lori marz included Stepanavan, Alaverdi, Tashir, Spitak, Akhtala, Tumanyan and Shamlugh towns. Four urban communities are in Tumanyan region (Alaverdi, Akhtala, Tumanyan, Shamlugh). Three of them, Akhtala, Tumanyan and Shamlugh are former industrial towns. Characteristically, in the previous survey Stepanavan, Tumanyan and Shamlugh were classified by experts among the 10 poorest communities (see third issue of “Arme-nia’s Social Trends”, December 2002).

Besides their commonalities small and medium sized towns have individual specificities as well, which are the focus of the analysis presented below.

Vulnerable groups in small and medium sized towns of the marz

Spitak was the epicenter of the devastating earthquake in 1988, where a large number of families receive benefits (see Figure 1). It can be stated that extreme poverty is widespread in the town, which is primarily a result of around 50 percent of households not having permanent housing. Spitak does not have notable representations of other vulnerable groups of the population (see Table 1).

Table 1. Share of vulnerable population in urban communities of Lori marz, %

Figure 1. Share of families receiving family benefits in the actual total number of households, %

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According to regional employment services the unemployment rate is very high in Stepanavan, which also has a large share of families receiving benefits. It must be noted, however, that around 52 percent of households have private land and 34 percent of residents are involved in agriculture.

In the neighboring Tashir, however, the unemployment rate is very low, and notably the official unemployment rate coincides with the assessment of the mayor. Around 72 percent of the households in Tashir town have agricultural land (on average 1.16ha per family) and according to the mayor 55 percent of the population are involved in the agricultural sector.

The share of pensioners is the largest in Shamlugh at 24.3 percent. And in two towns Alaverdi and Akhtala every fifth resident is a pensioner. The share of the disabled in the largest in Spitak at 4.9 percent, which is, of course, a result of the earthquake. Alaverdi also has a large share of the disabled at 4.6 percent; here the main causes of disabilities are occupational diseases related to the difficult work conditions in copper smelting factory.

Akhtala, Tashir and Shamlugh have the largest shares of refugees correspondingly 6.8 percent, 4.6 percent and 4.1 percent. As presented each town of the marz has its specific problems related to the larger representativeness of various vulnerable groups of the population. Consequently, poverty fac-tors in these towns are also different, and there is a need for a differentiated approach in developing poverty reduction measures.

Employment in marz’s small and medium sized towns

The only problem, which is equally serious for almost all small and medium sized towns in Lori marz, is unemployment (see Figure 2). In 6 of the 7 surveyed towns, the official unemployment rates are higher than the national average (10 percent in 2002), varying between 11.8 percent (Alaverdi) and 40 percent (Stepanavan).

Figure 2. Unemployment rates in towns of Lori marz in 2002, %

Mayors’ assessments of unemployment rates are very different from the official data, with the highest assessments in Spitak and Tumanyan at 90 percent. The exception here is Tashir, where the assessment by town officials is 12 percent, which is nevertheless twice as high as the 6.2 percent un-employment rate provided by regional employment services.

The remaining 4 mayors, almost unanimously, estimated the unemployment rates in their respec-tive towns at 60-70 percent.

Official data on the vulnerable groups of the population and unemployment are in accord with the share of households included in the family benefit system (see Figure 1 and Table 1), and this is logical, since being in a vulnerable group and having the status of unemployed directly contribute to

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inclusion in the benefit system, while mayors’ assessments of unemployment are directly reflected in their assessments of the distribution of the population by living standards (see Figure 3).

Figure 3. Distribution of the population by living standards assessed by mayors, %

In effect, the simple analysis of the presented indicators and assessments reveals that the main cause of poverty in the surveyed communities is the real unemployment, which naturally underlines the urgent need for job creation. This is the important conclusion, which is true for all small and medium sized towns of the marz. At the same time, each town has its own specificities of socio-eco-nomic situation, which are presented below.

Stepanavan

Aramais village is also in the administrative territory of the town. A very important road, the Va-nadzor-Tbilisi highway, connecting Armenia to other CIS countries passes through Stepanavan.

The town is included on the list of earthquake-stricken settlements as a community severely dam-aged by the 1988 earthquake. The population is in poor social conditions mainly because no measure has been taken for rehabilitating the industrial potential of the town after the earthquake. The only operating enterprise is the hydroelectric power plant.

Small and medium sized businesses started for develop in the transition period, especially in late 90s. For example, macaroni, lemonade, stone and wood processing enterprises offer some employ-ment. Nevertheless, the major share of employment at 31 percent is in the services sector. 62 per-cent of the employed are in the private sector and the majority of the employed, or 68 percent, are women.

Prospects for economic development of the town are mainly linked to turning Stepanavan into a recreational zone, which means that a comprehensive action plan should be developed and the corre-sponding infrastructures should be established. Housing construction and more frequent recreational and cultural events are considered to be important factors in improving the socio-psychological con-ditions of Stepanavan residents.

Spitak

Spitak was granted town status in 1960. The territory of the settlement is mountainous and also seismically active, with high probability of destructive earthquakes (9 and more point on Richter scale). Spitak was the epicenter of the 1988 earthquake, with the resulting highest rates of destruction

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of both the housing stock and social and economic infrastructures. As a result, the share of households living under temporary shelter, amounting to 49.9 percent, is very high in this town.

Accordingly, housing construction is one of the most important issues in Spitak. 1554 dwellings were constructed here in 1989-Aug 2002, including 54 dwellings for refugees. Nevertheless, proper housing is ensured only for 27 percent of the population.

The town, losing its entire industrial potential as a result of the earthquake, is currently trying to revitalize its economy through the development of small and medium sized enterprises. These enter-prises are established mostly in the services sector. And consequently, the largest share of employ-ment, or 53 percent, is in the services sector. The majority of the employed are women (58 percent). 62 percent of the employed are in the private sector.

Spitak town has 3598 ha of agricultural land in its administrative territory, but only 3.4% percent are currently owned by the population. Surveys reveal that the difficult economic conditions of a part of households limit their possibilities for agricultural activities. The rate of land privatization which is still in process is slow since many willing households cannot afford it. The climate, on the other hand, often hinders agricultural activities; droughts, hale, etc. occur frequently. And crop producers often lose almost 50-60 percent of their harvest. As a result, more than 80 percent of families prefer state family benefits to farming.

Town authorities mention job creation, housing construction and ensuring higher levels of educa-tion for adults with regard to modern professions and entrepreneurial skills as priority poverty reduc-tion measures.

Tashir

Kalinino was renamed Tashir and was granted town status in 1996. Residents in Tashir are mainly involved in agricultural activities, especially livestock production. There are also some small process-ing factories.

The town is notable for still maintaining its state-owned economic sector, which provides jobs for 60 percent of the employed. The other important characteristic is the large share of those leaving for seasonal work outside community.

There are difficulties in organizing agricultural production due to the shortage of irrigation water. Wheat, barley, alfalfa, potato, cabbage and other vegetables are the main crops produced, but the har-vest largely depends on the surprises of the climate. Livestock producers produce milk, meat, wool, eggs and honey. Tashir is famous for its cheese production. But the population is not satisfied with the price of milk, namely AMD70-80 per liter. It is a joke told among residents that mineral water is more expensive than milk.

Unlike towns in the earthquake-stricken zone, apartment buildings in Tashir were built 11 and more years ago. Consequently, there are problems with roofs, sewerage, entrances and basements. In November 2002, 16 refugee families received keys to apartments in a building built for them through financial support from UNHCR.

According to mayor’s estimation, only 20 percent of residents are poor and very poor, and the real unemployment rate at 12 percent is lower than in other towns of the marz. Incomes from seasonal work outside community have a large role in reducing poverty in the community.

Improvement in housing conditions, re-operation of former industrial enterprises and support to agriculture are important poverty reduction measures. In particular, Tashir residents are of the opin-ion that it is absolutely necessary to establish two agricultural products markets near the border with Georgia. Protection of human rights is also considered by Tashir residents to be important.

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Alaverdi

Alaverdi is on the highway linking Armenia with Georgia and other CIS countries. As a result, by the established external economic ties the town is closely linked to Georgia. The road to the largest re-tail-wholesale market of the three trans-Caucasian republics in Bagratashen-Sadakhlo passes through Alaverdi, and the market itself is close to the town.

Traditionally Alaverdi is an industrial town. The copper smelting factory was established here already in 1770, which later become a large mining-metallurgical factory, one of the largest in the former Soviet Union. Around 5000 people worked in town’s industrial complex. Light industries were also developed. Because of economic difficulties and the blockade (railroad closure) sewing and textile factories are not operational. Currently, town’s almost all industrial enterprises, the textile factory, factories for electrical condensers, lamps, bread, beer and other alcoholic beverages, as well as copper smelting factories have been privatized.

The “Armenian Copper Program” CJSC is operating on the basis of the former mining-metal-lurgical factory, which produces mainly black copper. The “Powder Metallurgy” enterprise operates based on the same factory and produces zinc-aluminum alloys. Another 200 small and medium sized enterprises operate in the town.

Sanahin and Akner villages are also included in the administrative territory of Alaverdi, where residents mainly produce vegetables, cereals and livestock products, the volumes of which, however, do not meet the demand in Alaverdi. The development of agriculture is constrained by irrigation prob-lems, underdeveloped agricultural support infrastructures such as supplies, financing and credit, and insurance, or their total absence, as well as low prices, etc.

Town officials, comparing the situation with the Soviet times, mention that the majority of popula-tion, or more than 90 percent, are still poor, and the real unemployment rate is not the official 1.8 per-cent, but rather reaches 70 percent, since many of the privatized factories are not operational. The few operational enterprises provide jobs for only 10-15 percent of town’s population. Other than scarcity of jobs, town’s poverty, according to the mayor, is also conditioned by its distance from other com-munities of the country (physical isolation of the town from the rest of the country), the unfavorable sex-age composition and inadequate use of natural resources.

Important measures which can reduce poverty effectively are city planning, development of small and medium sized businesses, development of truism. The industrial prospect for the town is the ex-pansion of copper production by means of processing the local raw material. It is planned to establish a modern stone and wood processing factories.

Shamlugh

Shamlugh town of Lori marz is one of the oldest copper smelting centers. The town is in north-eastern Armenia and near to Georgain border. Being situated on the slopes of Lalvar, it is surrounded by forests, and its drinking water comes from cool water springs of Lalvar. Its natural and climatic conditions are favorable for livestock production.

Pensioners constitute a large share of the population amounting to 24.3 percent. Refugees and the disabled make up around 4 percent of the population. Emigration from the community has reached large proportions. Shamlugh residents receive significant support from their former Armenian as well as Greek residents now living abroad.

According to the mayor, 60 percent of the population is poor (unemployment is estimated at 66 percent). The data from the regional employment services, according to which the unemployment rate is 12 percent, are not reliable (according to the mayor), since the town does not have an employment services center and Shamlugh residents should register as unemployed in Alaverdi, which causes un-justified costs. The share of working age residents is very small, only 28 percent, and moreover only

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1/3 of them are employed. The majority of the employed are men (60 percent). The largest share of employment is in the

agricultural sector (55 percent), in particular in livestock breeding. 93 percent of apartment buildings in Shamlugh were built 21 and more years ago, when the work-

ers town was being established around the copper smelting factory. Buildings are in poor conditions, roofs and sewerage systems need to be repaired and there are many other problems as well. Everyone in the town is provided with housing.

The town is isolated from the marz capital and other nearby towns. The able bodied work force has emigrated. And for the pensioners, forming a large share of the population, the main problem is the lack of access to healthcare services.

Job creation, improvement of transportation and telecommunication services and more frequent cultural events are mentioned as the most important poverty reduction measures.

Akhtala

The employment situation in Akhtala is similar to Shamlugh; the regional employment services center is in Alaverdi and only a fraction of the unemployed are officially registered (the unemploy-ment rate is 12 percent). In actual fact only 27 percent of the working age population, which accord-ing to the mayor amounts to 60 percent of the total number of residents, is employed and the real un-employment rate is 6 times higher at 70 percent. The majority of the employed are men (73 percent). The largest share of employment is in the industrial sector (61 percent). The majority of the employed (70.4 percent) are in the private sector.

Until 1990, the town had developed industries, and the prominent industry was mining. From among the industrial enterprises only the mining factory and copper powder production are currently operational. Town’s sewing, canned food and construction materials factories are not operating, but are maintained in good conditions.

Similar to Shamlugh, Akhtala also has an emigration problem. As a result a large number of pri-vatized apartments are empty.

According to the mayor, 70 percent of residents are poor or very poor. Poverty factors in the town are unemployment, isolation of the town, poor conditions of roads and transportation difficulties, emigration of specialists, inadequate access to healthcare services and drinking water.

The most important poverty reduction measures are job creation, development of small and me-dium sized enterprises and financial investments.

Tumanyan

Tumanyan town was established in 1950s around the fire resistant brick factory as a workers town.

Until 1990, town’s economy had an industrial orientation. The fire resistant brick factory of Tu-manyan developed rapidly in the Soviet period, but it stopped operations after privatization. As a result, unemployment increased in the town. 1980Г. The clothing factory, which provided jobs for many women over a 14 year period, was also closed down after privatization. Unemployment in the community reached larger proportions. The number of people leaving for seasonal work outside com-munity also increased.

The community does not have agricultural land. Backyard land plots are used for cultivating veg-etables. There are livestock production farms, which produce milk, meat and honey for their own consumption.

Summarizing assessments made by town officials, it can be stated that Tumanyan residents are the

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poorest compared to other towns of the marz; 58 percent residents are poor and another 40 percent very poor, and the real unemployment rate is 90 percent.

The most important poverty reduction measures mentioned is job creation, particularly through establishing a berry processing factory.

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KOTAYK MARZ

Simon HovhAnissyanKotayk marzpetaran’s Monitoring and Analysis Specialist Tel. (0-23) 2-44-84

All seven urban communities of Kotayk marz: Hrazdan, Charentsavan, Abovyan, Yeghvard, Nor Hajn, Byureghavan and Tzaghkadzor resort

town, were included in the survey of small and medium sized towns. In the Soviet period, all these towns (except Tzaghkadzor) were prominent industrial centers, with around 50,000 workers in the industrial sector alone (1998-1990). The picture is totally different now; the majority of industries are not operational, and production in the few ones operating is far below capacities (10-15 percent). In 1990, industries in the marz produced 11-12 percent of the national GDP, and the primary industries were machinery production and power generation.

During the transition period, production volumes reduced by half throughout the country and also in Kotayk marz. In 2001, the marz produced 17.8 percent of the total volume of national production, but this was mainly due to the gold jewelry factory of Nor Hajn with a small number of employees. While, blue-collar workers of machinery production and power generation companies, who have been inoperative already for more than ten years, have reoriented themselves toward agriculture.

Five of the 7 surveyed towns have agricultural lands. It is unfortunate that Hrazdan, the 4th indus-trial town in Armenia, which produced 6-7 percent of the national gross production in Soviet times, has the largest area of agricultural lands among marz’s towns, and 1/3 of its households sustain them-selves by cultivating these lands.

The brief analysis presented below is based not only on official information obtained from town governments, but also the subjective assessments of town officials.

Employment.

Mayors participating in the survey consider shortage of jobs and unemployment to be the most serious problem in small and medium sized towns.

According to mayors, the real unemployment rate in towns is much higher than the official data presented by employment services (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Unemployment rate in towns of Kotayk marz, %

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Differences in rates have resulted from different interpretations of unemployment. According to mayors, every adult person who does not have a permanent job and a stable income should be consid-ered unemployed. From this standpoint, seasonal, partial and temporary jobs, especially in agricul-ture, are not seen as stable sources of income.

Based on this interpretation, Hrazdan mayor estimates the unemployment rate in the town to be 45 percent, while according to data from the employment services the rate is 13 times lower, or 3.5 percent, since the latter takes into account only the officially registered unemployed, and the registra-tion strictly follows regulations stipulated in the Employment Act.

Employment problems in small and medium sized towns are simple and understandable. For ex-ample, prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union around 23,000 people were employed by industries located in Hrazdan. The transition period was accompanied by mass privatization of enterprises, with some participation (especially within the framework of the voucher system) of factory workers. The privatization process ended up in the closure of almost all factories in the town. While new owners are trying to find markets, workers of factories are inoperative already for ten years.

In effect, enterprises actually exist as legal persons, but they are not operational nonetheless. Work-ers prefer not to give up their jobs, hoping that some day the factory will start operations again. Thus, their personal employment record books are kept by factory administration, and consequently, being de facto unemployed, they nevertheless cannot be officially registered as one (according to regula-tions the personal employment record should be provided with the application for registration).

Despite the fact that a number of workplaces have reopened in some towns of the marz, the overall industrial employment rate for Hrazdan remains very low, and according to town authorities only 17.5 percent of the employed work in factories (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. Share of industrial employment in marz’s towns, %

Returning to the issue of unemployment, it must be noted that people apply to employment serv-ices not so much to find jobs, but rather hoping to be included in the family benefit system, since the status of unemployed is a significant factor in determining the level of poverty of the family. This is why there are large numbers of women among the registered unemployed (see Table 1).

Table 1. Official unemployment in towns of Kotayk marz

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Unemployed men, finding various jobs on a day by day basis (paid services of various nature), very rarely apply to employment services to be officially registered as unemployed.

At the same time, all mayors mentioned the widespread hidden employment in their respective towns. Charentsavan residents, in particular, take up employment in neighboring villages, Hrazdan residents work in Tzaghkadzor during the vacation period, etc.

Education has a long history in Armenia and has always been considered as an important factor in forming and maintaining our national identity. The first level of formal basic education is the pre-school education. All towns of the marz have pre-school institutions and all of them provide only paid services. However, not all kindergartens are operational, since the number of children attending is far below their capacities. This is explained by the large numbers of unemployed and non-working women, who have enough time to take care of their children themselves. Another reason behind the small number of children in kindergartens is the poor socio-economic conditions of the population, which limits their possibilities to afford daycare services.

The picture is the opposite in schools. Almost all school-aged children are enrolled in the formal basic education system. Only about ten children do not attend school because of their families cannot afford it.

According to mayors, a lot still needs to be done in the school system. In particular, upper second-ary education does not give the knowledge necessary for being admitted to universities. Almost all school graduates who wish to be admitted to universities fill the gaps in their knowledge by using the services of private tutors. There is a shortage of qualified professionals in the formal basic education system. Schools are not refurbished. And the new school financing mechanism introduced limits their possibilities for solving these problems.

The community budget is formed by local taxes and duties, in particular land and property taxes, as well as rentals of leased community lands. The community budget has a significant role in the im-plementation of socio-economic development programs in the community. Planned budget revenues were not fully collected in any urban community of the marz in 2002. Budget expenditures in the surveyed towns are far lower than the planned expenditures (see Figure 4). In other words, collected annual revenues in all towns (except Hrazdan) exceed expenditures. This means that a significant part of the planned programs has failed because the planned budget expenditures were not made or col-lected revenues, for some reason, were not spent.

Figure 3. Share school graduates admitted to universities in academic year 2001-2002, %

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Figure 4. Actual revenues and expenditures of town budgets as percentage of the planned figures, %

Assessments of poverty by mayors (see Figure 5), have no correlation with data on actual execu-tion of budget revenues and expenditures. In Hrazdan, with the lowest rate of budget revenue collec-tion (62.4 percent), the poverty level is estimated at 60 percent, including 5 percent very poor, while Charentsavan, which collected 99 percent of planned revenues, according to the mayor, has a poverty level of 75 percent (including 16 percent very poor). This means that budgets, as one of the most ef-fective management tools, are not yet targeted to poverty reduction programs.

Figure 5. Distribution of urban population in Kotayk marz by poverty groups, assessed by mayors, %

It must be mentioned, however, that the picture of poverty in small and medium sized towns of Kotayk marz varies greatly. Large numbers of non-poor residents were recorded in Tzaghkadzor (82-83 percent), Nor Hajn (80 percent) and Abovyan (70 percent), which is explained by the high level of real employment in these towns. While the difficult socio-economic conditions in Charentsavan and Yeghvard, resulting from high unemployment rates (especially in Charentsavan, see Figure 1) and low incomes (especially in Yeghvard), are reflected in the high levels of poverty evaluated by town officials. 75 percent of residents in these two towns are poor, including 16-17 percent very poor.

Extreme poverty is evaluated as very high in Byureghavan at 20 percent, which is a result of non-operational industries and absence of agricultural land. Whereas, it can be stated that extreme poverty

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has been eradicated in Tzaghkadzor and Nor Hajn, since according to mayors it amounts to 0.4-1.0 percent only. The re-operation of the touristic complex in Tzaghkadzor and expansion of diamond processing factory in Nor Hajn have had a positive impact on poverty reduction.

The survey questionnaire included questions on the numbers and directions of social projects im-plemented in communities within the last five years. It was revealed that the majority of these projects were implemented through support from international organizations, or direct financing by Armenian benefactors abroad.

Numerous projects were implemented in Hrazdan, Tzaghkadzor, Charentsavan and Nor Hajn mainly in the following areas: road construction (5 programs), gas supply (5), formal basic education (5) and healthcare (4). It is notable that housing construction projects were implemented only in one town, namely Byureghavan. The UNHCR Armenia and the Migration and Refugees Department of the Government of Armenia have built cottages for refugee families.

In addition to the above mentioned, two other projects were implemented, one church building project in Tzaghkadzor, and one irrigation network project in Yeghvard. Projects for re-operation of production facilities were implemented in three towns: Hrazdan, Charentsavana and Nor Hajn.

Information on directions for future development of towns was obtained from three-year commu-nity development plans. Town officials naturally have their own approach regarding development in their respective town. But, these differences in approach are so distinct from town to town that they might as well be presented in a separate table (see Table 2).

Table 2. Main directions for development of towns in Kotayk marz

It must be noted that not all communities have allocated financial and human resources to the im-plementation of planned projects.

In addition to the above-mentioned projects, the central government will continue to finance the “Benefit for work” project already being implemented in communities, which contributes to creation of temporary jobs. As a result of the implementation of such projects unemployment is somewhat reduced, but it still continues to be one of the priority problems in all communities, and according to mayors the solution would require active intervention by the central government.

It must also be noted that assessments and information provided by mayors are not comprehensive, since almost no town government has an information and analysis department. This means that data on the community are scattered in various departments, are not checked and verified, it often happens that they are contradictory and there is no responsible department, which will collect, compile, sum-marize and provide comprehensive information on the town. Thus, because of indifference toward information and poor conditions of records and absence of a comprehensive data base, it is difficult for mayors to have a comprehensive picture of the situation and problems in the town and their mag-nitude. Consequently, without reliable and comprehensive information it is difficult to devise socio-economic development programs.

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SHIRAK MARZ

Andranik GevorgyanShirak marzpetaran’s Monitoring and Analysis Specialist Tel. (0-41) 3-18-09

A survey of small and medium sized tows was conducted in Shirak marz within the framework of the joint project of Government of Armenia and UNDP “Creation of a social monitoring and analysis system”. The survey included Artik and Maralik towns, Pemzashen former urban settlement, Amasia and Ashotsk villages, as former administrative-territorial centers. It must be noted that in Shirak marz only three settlements have town status, Gyumri, Artik and Maralik, while the remaining former regional capitals and large workers towns were granted village status in 1995. However, consider-ing that based on the living conditions of their residents these communities have a “half town-half village” status, it was decided to include some of these communities, namely Amasia, Ashotsk and Pemzashen, in the survey.

The survey has been conducted based on two questionnaires prepared in advance, one for town officials and one for authority figures in towns.

Information collected by the first questionnaire is presented below.

Specifics of unemployment in towns of Shirak marz

Officials in all five surveyed communities mention the stable situation gradually being formed in communities as the main distinguishing feature in the last two years; a conclusion based on the main socio-economic indictors. The positive trends in unemployment rates are underlined in particular; the rates are reducing, but still at a minimal pace. Positive demographic trends have also been recorded in these communities.

Nevertheless, according to mayors, unemployment remains to be the most alarming issue (see Figure 1). Although the unemployment rates estimated by mayors in their respective communities are very different from the official data provided by employment services.

Figure 1. Unemployment rates in the surveyed communities of Shirak marz in 2002, %

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The large differences in data from town governments and the official data are mainly a result of the different interpretations of the term “unemployed” by local self-governing bodies and the central government.

According to town authorities, only an individual receiving regular salary from an organization through performing duties which are visible and recognizable for all can be considered employed. From this point of view, agricultural and other similar works conducted within the household for self-consumption purposes are labeled as activities not having social benefits. And as a result, all women, who do not conduct work with “public benefits”, and even those who take care of their families on a daily basis by doing various tasks, are classified as unemployed.

Another important specific feature of unemployment in the surveyed urban and “semi-urban” communities is the large share of women among the officially registered unemployed (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. Share of women in the surveyed communities of Shirak marz, %

This phenomenon has its own explanation.

First, hidden or temporary employment is more widespread among men; they have better possibili-ties for seasonal work abroad, or outside the community, or taking on any other temporary employ-ment.

Second, facilities built in soviet times in small and medium sized towns of Shirak marz were mainly light industries, especially regional branches of textile production factories, where the major-ity of workers were women. Because of the closure of these enterprises a majority of their employees have received the status of unemployed.

Third, women, taking care of their households and children, nevertheless apply for receiving the status of unemployed, which neither helps them financially (the unemployment benefit is very small, around US$5-6 per month), nor increases their chances for finding jobs (number of people finding jobs via unemployment services is very small), but rather improves their chances for being included in humanitarian projects implemented by the state or international organizations.

Fourth, the official status of unemployed has almost no advantage, neither financial nor legal, for an unemployed man, who is more willing to find a real job and seeks employment more actively both within and outside community. As a result, the majority of unemployed men actively seeking employ-ment do not see any prospect in receiving the status of “unemployed”, other than ending up in the intricate complexities of bureaucratic red tape.

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Specifics of employment in towns of Shirak marz

Shirak marz has favorable natural and climatic conditions for livestock production and cereal cul-tivation. Consequently, agricultural activities are common not only in villages, but also in towns and urban settlements. According to estimations by heads of the surveyed communities, around 70-80 percent of the employed work in the agricultural sector.

This type of employment is particularly prevalent in Amasia, which has the largest area of ag-ricultural lands (2300 ha) compared to other communities, the majority of which are mountainous pastures. Accordingly, more than 70 percent of households in Amasia have private lands, and 90 percent of employment is in the agricultural sector, primarily livestock production. At the same time, the lowest level of agricultural employment is estimated in Artik at only 40 percent, since there is a preferable employment alternative in this town, i.e. work in stone mines and processing factory of “Artik-tuff” industrial complex (see Table 1 and Figure 3).

Figure 3. Distribution of the employed in the agricultural sector

Table 1. Indictors of agricultural land in the surveyed communities of Shirak marz, assess-ments of town authorities, 2002

According to data presented, an “urban” structure of employment has been formed only in Artik, where despite the large area of agricultural land amounting to 1800 ha, only 19-20 percent of house-holds have private land. While Maralik, which also has town status, by the total area of private land amounting to 1660 ha and the share of households owning land at 66.5 percent, as well as the 1.4 ha average per household land area, is more agriculture oriented than the other non-urban communities. As a result, there is a large employment in the agricultural sector at 70 percent.

Thus, there are no significant differences regarding sectors of employment in Shirak marz between settlements with town status and those not having that status. It remains only to understand the prin-ciple, based on which only two settlements of the marz (with the exception of Gyumri) have had “the honor of being a town”.

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Problems of the educational system in the surveyed communities

Despite the difficult socio-economic conditions, the majority of school-age children are enrolled in the educational system in all five communities. This fact is testimony to strong traditions of Arme-nians regarding education, when parents, regardless of difficulties, make financial investments in the fostering of the future generation. From among the 6467 school-age children in the surveyed commu-nities only 0.5 percent do not attend school. The 10-grade, and even more so the 8-grade, education is in effect accessible to almost all social groups, with a very small exception.

While the situation of enrollment in the formal basic educational system is satisfactory, the same cannot be said about the quality of education. The quality of education and teaching, skills of teachers and their qualification and facilities in formal basic education schools of the surveyed communities are lower than the national average. One argument proving the above statement is that form among 4630 school graduates in the academic year 2002-2003 in Shirak marz only 6 received “gold medals” (acknowledging excellent progress in studies) and all of them from marz capital Gyumri.

Figure 4. Share of those continuing their studies in school graduates of the surveyed com-munities in Shirak marz in the academic year 2001-2002, %

It must be noted that regardless of the knowledge received, a majority of schoolchildren are willing to continue their studies after graduation from school. As presented in Figure 4, more than 40 percent of school graduates in Artik and Ashotsk, and 26-33 percent of graduates in Amasia, Pemzashen and Maralik enter universities or other post-school educational institution such as vocational schools, col-leges, etc.

Poverty and its eradication issues in the surveyed communities

Referring to the difficult socio-economic conditions, heads of communities assessed living stand-ards of the population in their respective communities as follows (see Table 2).

Table 2. Distribution of the population in the surveyed communities by living standards, %

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Dividing the population conditionally into two social groups, the picture we have from the subjec-tive assessments by heads of communities is that about 20 percent of the population has a more or less favorable living standard, while the remaining 80 percent is not able to overcome the poverty line. The situation is relatively the worst in Pemzashem; here the ratio of the non-poor to the very poor is 1 to 6. Maralik has the largest share of the poor at 60 percent, and at the same time the smallest share of the very poor at 20 percent.

The distribution of Artik’s population by poverty is relatively the most balanced; each of the 3 liv-ing standard groups has included 1/3 of the population.

Unemployment is mentioned by heads of communities as the most important poverty factor. Thus, alongside other poverty factors, which need to be addressed for poverty reduction, unemployment is the number one factor to be addressed. In this regard, head of communities ascribe the key role to the state, which, in their opinion, should take appropriate measures for re-profiling and/or modernization of former industrial facilities. Moreover, considering the difficult economic situation in the marz, heads of communities ascribe the exclusive responsibility for making investments in the rehabilita-tion of the industrial potential of towns to the state.

Development prospects for communities

Over the past 5 years, community programs, as a rule, were implemented through the financial support of international or other no-governmental organizations. A larger number of implemented projects were related to road construction (except Pemzashen). Projects for repair of drinking water networks were implemented in Artik, Ashotsk and Pemzashen. Projects on re-operation of production facilities and housing construction were not implemented in any of the surveyed communities.

Communities become frustrated during the design of their socio-economic development plans, first of all because of not having the necessary financial-economic means. Thus, even the main meas-ures of the three-year community development plans, presented in Table 3, will remain on paper if there is a lack of necessary means for their implementation.

Table 3. Main directions of community development according to three-year programs for 2003-2005

Heads of communities did not mention the “Benefit for work” program implemented in their com-munities in 2002, which provided 1715 temporary jobs for the population.

And generally, 32 projects were implemented in 21 communities of the marz costing AMD37.1 million, including:

• in Artik 4 projects AMD10.277 million • in Pemzashen 1 project AMD616,000 • in Maralik 2 projects AMD2.499 million

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• in Amasia 1 project AMD1.381 million

The exception was Ashotsk, where such projects were not implemented. From the local self-governing point of view, heads of communities have a number of difficulties

outside their control, the solution of which will contribute significantly to a more flexible community administration and a more rapid response in case of problems.

This, first of all, refers to the necessity of having a data base. It is difficult to understand the rea-son behind communities having limited authority in areas of formal basic education, healthcare and urban planning. Of course, the state has a large role in solving problems of national significance and the necessity for implementing a unifies state policy is well justified, but it is also very important for community authorities to be involved and participate directly in processes taking place in the com-munity and to have as much information on those processes as possible.

As local self-governing bodies, community governments are often deprived from the possibility of regularly receiving the necessary information from government agencies outside the jurisdiction of community governments.

Local authorities in all five communities did not have access to information on important so-cio-demographic indicators, such as numbers of disabled, pensioners, births, mortalities, marriages, divorces in the community, as well as data on unemployment and sex-age composition of residents. Taking into account that it is difficult to “guess” these indicators in urban communities, where the population is much larger compared to villages, it is necessary to plan the development and introduc-tion of mechanisms for regulating statistical and administrative information flows and ensuring their availability.

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SYUNIK MARZ

Rafik GhazaryanSyunik marzpetaran’s Monitoring and Analysis Specialist Tel. (0-85) 6-69-10

Syunik marz occupies the entire south-east area of Armenia’s territory and is the largest marz by land area. The marz was established on 1 January 1996 by joining former administrative divisions of Kapan, Goris, Sisyan and Meghri.

With its strategic and geopolitical significance, rich natural resources, huge production potential inherited from the previous system, as well as developed and educated human capital, the marz has its own place in the national economy and is one of the largest administrative and economic regions of the country. It must be noted, however, that Syunik is one of the most sparsely populated (36 people per sq km) and, compared to its potential, least developed marzes.

Since 1950s Syunik has been the most urbanized marz of the country (second only to Yerevan); more than 2/3 of the population lives in cities. In this regard, the survey conducted in towns of Syu-nik marz is of special importance, since the socio-economic problems identified by the survey are relevant for the majority of marz’s population.

The marz has 7 towns; and all of them are classified as small and medium sized. A brief reference on urban communities of the marz is presented below.

Brief information on towns of Syunik marz

Kapan

The marz capital is situated at the lower slopes of Khustup mountain. Mining is the leading eco-nomic sector. Kapan copper mines were famous even in middle ages. From 1864 until the Soviet times copper mines were exploited by private French companies.

In 2002, 27 factories and production lines and 86 shops and restaurants were operational, includ-ing: 75 shops, 9 cafйs and restaurants, 1 consumer goods retailer and 1 agricultural produce market. Social infrastructures include 14 formal basic education schools, 4 music, 1 arts and 3 sports schools, 3 vocational and 3 higher educational institutions (one of them public), 14 kindergartens, 4 cultural facilities, 17 libraries, 3 hotels, etc.

Kajaran

The town is the center of nonferrous metallurgy based on huge reserves of molybdenum and cop-per. It was formed in 1951 based on exploitation of rare mines.

In 2002, 3 factories and production lines, 75 shops, as well as 5 formal basic education schools, 1 music school, 4 kindergartens, 3 cultural facilities, 7 libraries, etc. were operating in the town.

Goris

The town was established in 1870 as the capital of Zangezur region. Processing industries used to be a large part of town’s economy, in particular food processing, including beverages, as well as textile and sewing factories. Equipment production and power generation were also developed.

In 2002, 13 factories and production lines, 56 shops were operating in the town. Social infrastruc-tures consisted of 6 formal basic education, 2 music and 1 sports schools, 2 secondary vocational and

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3 higher educational institutions (one of them public), 7 kindergartens, 6 cultural facilities, 5 libraries, etc.

Sisyan

The economy of the town was mainly specialized in non-metallic mining and light industries (such as food production, textile and sewing factories).

In 2002, 3 factories and production lines, 66 shops were operating in the town. The town also had 5 formal basic education, 1 music and 1 sports schools, 3 secondary vocational and 4 kindergartens, 3 cultural facilities, 5 libraries, etc.

Dastakert

It is the smallest town in the country. It was established in 1952 based on molybdenum mine dis-covered near Lernshen village.

In 2002, 2 retail shops, 1 formal basic education school, 1 kindergarten and 1 library were operat-ing in the town.

Meghri

Earliest references to Meghri fortress date back to the year 1083. In 2002, the main sectors of town’s economy were food and beverage production, which was concentrated in 1 factory. The town had 29 shops. It also has 2 formal basic education, 1 music and 1 sports schools, 1 secondary voca-tional institution and 1 kindergarten, 2 cultural facilities, 2 libraries, etc.

Agarak

It was established in 1963 based on the mining factory built for the exploitation of copper-molyb-denum mine discovered near Agarak village. The border post with Iran, the customs checkpoint and wholesale border market are in Agarak.

In 2002, 4 factories and production lines, 30 shops were operating in the town. The town has 1 formal basic education, 1 music schools, 1 kindergarten, 1 cultural facility and 2 libraries.

Demography of marz’s urban population

Marz’s urban population started to grow in 1950s, when Kajaran, Agarak and Dastakert towns were artificially established.

The rural population living in or around those settlements became urban population, without even changing their place of residence. All towns of the marz have basically maintained their industrial profile, except Dastakert, which has turned into a community with small number of residents and no industry, and thus carries the title of “town” only formally. As a consequence, problems of this town are essentially different from those of the other ones. Hence, Dastakert was studied separately (see Andranik Voskanyan’s article titled “The town, where people live”), and is not included in the analysis presented below.

The overall picture of the vulnerable groups of population in marz’s towns in 2002 was as follows (see Table 2).

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Table 1. Vulnerable groups of towns in Syunik marz

According to data in Table 2, the vulnerability of the population and, even more so, the character-istics of their vulnerability differ widely from town to town. The most serious demographic problem for Meghri and Kapan is the “aging” of the population, since around one fifth of the population are pensioners. The extremely small amounts of their pensions increase the threat and spread of poverty in these two towns. It is logical that Kapan in particular, where in addition to pensioners, the disabled and refugees also constitute a large share of the population (7.2 percent), was identified as one of the 10 poorest communities of the marz in the previous survey (see “Social trends in Armenia”, 3rd issue, December 2002).

Almost every third family in Goris is included in the family benefit system, since the share of families living under temporary shelter, at 7.1 percent, is 3 to 7 times higher compared to other towns. The smallest share of families receiving benefits is recorded in Agarak and Kajaran, at 10-12 percent. This is a result of the relatively high living standards in these two towns, due to jobs in mining and metallurgical industries and higher salaries compared to other sectors.

Employment situation in towns of Syunik marz

The registered unemployment rate in almost all the towns of Syunik marz (except Agarak and Ka-jaran) is 2-3 times higher than the national average. It is especially high in 3 largest towns of the marz; Goris 29.9 percent, Kapan 26.8 percent and Sisyan 21.6 percent. Based on the assessments made by town authorities we can conclude that the unemployment situation is the worst in Meghri with 56 per-cent, Sisyan and Kapan with 40-45 percent. If we also consider the almost total unemployment of able bodied residents in Dastakert, we can conclude that marz’s labor market has very serious problems, i.e. every third urban resident is unemployed.

Unemployment rate among women is particularly alarming. According to official data, the unem-ployed women constitute 61.1 percent of the total number of the registered unemployed in the marz, and in Agarak and Kajaran their share reaches even 81.2 and 97.4 percent. This is explained by the predominance of mining and metallurgical industries, where jobs are primarily suited for men. Never-theless, not only authorities of these two towns, but those of other towns as well underlined the need for creating jobs especially for women.

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Table 2. Employment in marz’s towns

Such large share of employment in the public sector is fully understandable considering that min-ing and metallurgy sectors are still public monopolies, and public social services are widely acces-sible in the mentioned towns (see Table 1). In some towns, such as Agarak, Kajaran, Kapan public sector employment amounts to 60-80 percent of total employment.

The largest share of employment is in the agricultural sector was recorded in Sisyan, Goris and Kapan, correspondingly 67.4, 57 and 50 percent. And this is only logical, since other towns have almost no agricultural land.

Physical isolation and poverty of towns in Syunik

Demographic, socio-economic and all other problems are more complicated in Syunik marz, due to the fact that it is the remotest marz in the country. The marz capital is 316km far from Yerevan and the bus fare is AMD3500. Agarak and Meghri are much farther from Yerevan than the marz capi-tal. Not only the majority of the population, but even small businessmen cannot afford the price of transporting goods. Transportation within the marz itself is also in poor conditions. There is no direct public transportation between the marz capital and Sisyan or Meghri.

Nevertheless, road links between communities can be evaluated as acceptable, whereas the urban streets are totally inadequate.

Telephone connection was evaluated as excellent only in Goris, due to the new equipment recently installed in the town.

Residential buildings in two of the surveyed towns were damaged during the Karabagh conflict. In Kapan, for example, 8 unsafe buildings need to be reinforced and 12000 sq m should be cleared from mines. Moreover, from among a total of 605 residential buildings in the marz, 464 need roof repairs, elevators in 80, sewerage in 31, entrances in 207 buildings should be repaired. And according to Mayors, only 4 of the total 21 condominiums in towns are operational.

In this context, town authorities have prioritized at least a partial solution to problems related to housing stock maintenance, road repair, repair of drinking water networks, etc.

The main factors behind poverty in Syunik marz are unemployment, unfavorable demographic

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indicators, poor conditions of urban housing and municipal infrastructures, as well as negative con-sequences of physical isolation.

Data presented in Figure 1 are yet another proof that unemployment is the most important factor among the above-mentioned ones, since it has a higher correlation with population’s living standard.

Figure 1. Distribution of urban population in Syunik marz by living standard, according to town authorities, %

As clearly seen in Figure 1, Kajaran and Agarak have been evaluated as having the better living standards, which is undoubtedly conditioned by mining factories operating in these two towns. It is notable that inadequate access to healthcare services was mentioned in these two towns as the most important factor causing poverty.

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VAYOTS DZOR MARZ

Tsoghik BabayanVayots Dzor marzpetaran’s Monitoring and Analysis Specialist Tel. (0-81) 2-47-42

Vayots Dzor marz has 3 towns; marz capital Yeghegnadzor, Vayk and resort town Jermuk. In ef-fect, the survey was conducted in all towns of the marz, since all three are classified as small and medium sized towns. Staffs of town governments filled out a questionnaire provided to them. As necessary, additional information on other governmental structures in the marz were collected by the M&A unit of the marz government.

Brief information on towns is presented below.

Earliest references to Yeghegnadzor as a settlement date back to the fifth century, at the time of Vardanants war. Yeghegnadzor was granted town status in 1995, and became Vayots Dzor marz capi-tal in 1996.

Currently, none of the former industrial enterprises is operating today; a factor causing social tension in the town. Re-operation of agricultural marketing and processing companies is important for town’s development. At the same time, agricultural development can have a significant role in increasing residents’ incomes, since more than half of the households have private land.

Jermuk is situated at 2070m above sea level, and with its medicinal hot mineral springs used to be a mountainous resort of national significance. Since Jermuk is known for its health resorts and resort hotels, local authorities link the future development of the town primarily to the year-round operation of these facilities. Importance is also attached to increase in volumes of mineral water production and export, which will create jobs. The mentioned measures will stimulate rapid growth not only for Jermuk, but also for the entire marz.

Vayk (former Azizbekov) is 137km far from Yerevan. The former regional capital was granted town status in 1995. It is located in the administrative territory of Azatek village and does not have agricultural land, with the exception of backyards which amount to 32ha in total. In the Soviet period, Vayk was a purely industrial town with a number of factories producing carpets, plastic, construc-tion materials and mineral waters. The only prospect for developing the town is the re-operation of industrial enterprises, which, according to authority figures in the town, is necessary for stopping the wave of emigration from the town. While Yeghegnadzor shows some signs of development, due to its role as the marz capital, and Jermuk is developing rapidly as a resort center, Vayk is fast losing whatever prosperity and dynamism it once had and is turning into an abandoned and extremely poor settlement.

A more detailed analysis of the socio-economic conditions in these towns is presented below.

Vulnerable groups of population in marz’s towns

16-17 percent of the population in marz’s towns receives family benefits. 0.2-0.3 percent of fami-lies in Yeghegnadzor and Vayk live under temporary shelters, while there are no such families in Jer-muk, despite the fact that refugees constitute 7.5 percent of its population. Vayk has the largest share of pensioners at 12.7 percent (their share in Yegegnadzor and Jermuk is around 9 percent). Data on the representation of vulnerable groups in the urban population of the marz is presented in Table 1.

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Table 1. Share of vulnerable groups in Vayots Dzor towns in 2002,

Demographic indicators for marz’s urban population regarding births, mortalities, marriages and divorces were studied. The results revealed that Vayk has the most favorable demographic dynamics. Despite the large share of pensioners in this town (see Table 1), 2.4 births for each case of mortality were recorded in 2002 (in Yeghegnadzor 1.9 and in Jermuk 1.6), and for every divorce 34 new fami-lies were formed (in Yeghegnadzor and Jermuk 7.2).

Housing stock and access to municipal services

Residential apartment buildings are prevalent in Jermuk only. The major part of the housing stock in Yeghegnadzor and Vayk consists of single-family houses (see Table 2).

Table 2. Housing and municipal services in towns of Vayots Dzor marz

Apartment buildings were constructed more than a decade ago, and some even 50 years ago. In the last ten years only 2 apartment buildings were constructed, one in Yeghegnadzor and one in Jermuk. Almost all apartment buildings have serious problems with heating, roofs, renovation of common areas and in Yeghegnadzor also with drinking water supply. Buildings in Vayk and Jermuk have a 24 hours per day drinking water supply, while in Yeghegnadzor water is supplied only for 2 hours per day, which has naturally caused discontent among the residents. This is further exacerbated by the worn out pipelines and the resulting daily accidents in buildings’ networks.

2 condominiums have been formed only in Yeghegnadzor, and according to our information they are just formally registered and do not function.

Data on real estate trade in the last month reveals that the prices of 1 sq m of living area were as follows: US$83 in Yeghegnadzor, US$ 60 in Vayk, US$100 in Jermuk. According to Jermuk resi-dents, apartment price rises in the town are a sign of town’s rapid growth rate. Residents have high hopes that Jermuk can be developed as a resort area for international visitors.

Conditions of economic and social infrastructures in marz’s towns

From among towns in Vayots Dzor Jermuk has the best urban streets; 34km from a total of 38km of streets have asphalt pavement and town authorities evaluate town’s urban streets as satisfactory. Urban streets in Vayk and Yeghegnadzor are in poor conditions. Mayors of these two towns have applied for assistance from international organizations. Until then, it is planned to fill ponds in the streets using funds from town’s budget. Yeghegnadzor and Vayk have taxi services, while Jermuk has minibus services as well.

All three towns have postal services, which deliver daily national and local newspapers to the pop-

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ulation. Marz newspaper is published not more than once a month and town governments do not have their own local newspapers. Yeghegnadzor town government is trying to solve this problem through assistance form Eurasia Foundation, and Yeghegnadzor will have its own newspaper within a year.

Funds from municipal budgets in all three towns are used for operating kindergartens. One kinder-garten in Yeghegnadzor is included in the “Step by step” project of the Open Society Institute. Towns have the needed number of secondary formal basic education schools; they have music and sports schools too. Town authorities are satisfied with the available professional staff at schools, and are totally convinced that all children attend school.

Only Vayk has a branch of a private university, which has not yet earned the trust of residents, and young people in Vayots Dzor prefer to study in Yerevan universities.

Jermuk does not have any financial institution providing credits. The only institution is a branch of Armsavingsbank, which is not able to provide development credits. Local authorities consider this to be unacceptable in a town developing at such rapid rates. And Jermuk residents, in their turn, com-plain about not having a church in the town. It is surprising that the church building trend, which has already become customary among wealthy people, has not yet reached Jermuk.

Agriculture as a means of survival for urban population

Yeghegnadzor and Jermuk have correspondingly 1310ha and 1774ha of agricultural land, whereas Vayk without its own administrative territory (as already mentioned, the town is in the administrative territory of Azatek village), naturally does not have its own agricultural land either. It only has 32ha of backyards.

Problems related to agricultural activities in these towns are rather specific. First, although the total area of agricultural land in Jermuk is the largest, but only 11 percent of town’s households have participated in land privatization, since there are alternative employment possibilities in the resort industry and mineral water production. At the same time, farming in Jermuk, which is a mountainous area, is not very profitable, and livestock production is almost impossible, since the majority of the population lives in apartment buildings.

As a result, Jermuk authorities, based on the preferences of residents, consider mineral water pro-duction and year-round resort operations more promising.

Contrary to Jermuk, the further development of Yeghegnadzor, and consequently higher living standards for its residents, is closely linked with agriculture as the predominant economic sector in the town. It is only natural that more than half of town’s residents, or 50.5 percent, have private lands with a total area of 492ha. The town is known for its sweet fruits, wine, livestock products, especially cheese and large variety of dried fruits, which are in demand in international markets. However, while the areas near the town can be irrigated by pumps, it is necessary to establish a special irrigation system for areas at higher altitudes. Due to the absence of the latter, owners of rainfed lands are not cultivating their land.

Measures for solving the irrigation problems are included in the three-year plan of Yeghegnadzor town government, which, according to preliminary calculations, will cost around US$89 million.

The absence of agricultural land in Vayk creates difficulties related to availability of food for resi-dents.

Employment issues

Regional employment services operate in all three towns of Vayots Dzor, and their data on local employment rates reveal that numbers of the registered unemployed have not changed much in 2001-2002, and the share of women in the total number of the unemployed, at 70 percent, continues to be large.

Notably, improvement in job provision for the unemployed was recorded in Jermuk in 2002, 21

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percent of the unemployed found jobs through the employment service. This is explained by the need for additional labor related to booming construction activities and opening of the vacation season.

At the same time, data from employment services are significantly different from the assessments of unemployment rates made by town authorities (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Unemployment rate in towns of Vayots Dzor 2002

In Yeghegnadzor and Vayk the assessments put the unemployment rate higher than the official one, while in Jermuk the official rate is 2 times lower than the one assessed by town officials. Jermuk of-ficials explain the difference by hidden employment, which is manifested in occasional shortages of labor in the town.

Employment situations in two of the three towns, i.e. Yeghegnadzor and Vayk, are similar; accord-ing to town officials the main areas of employment are agriculture and services, with 70-75 percent of the employed. The majority of the employed, or 60 percent, are men. In Jermuk the situation is totally different; first, 85 percent of the employed work in industry, services and construction. And second, due to the specifics of food production and services, more than 60 percent of the employed are women.

Distributions of the employed by sectors were assessed by town authorities and are presented in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Distribution of the employed by economic sectors, %

Subjective assessments of population’s living standards

A special section of the questionnaire submitted to town officials was devoted to subjective evalu-ations. This section was based on evaluations of population’s living standards, and the results are presented in Figure 3.

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Figure 3. Level of poverty in Vayots Dzor towns, %

The following were mentioned as factors causing poverty in the town: • the high rate of real unemployment (especially in Yeghegnadzor and Vayk); • absence of agricultural land (especially in Vayk); • emigration of professional labor (Yeghegnadzor and Vayk).

Town governments have developed some measures for improving the situation. The three main focus areas in three-year development policies are:

Yeghegnadzor. job creation, repair of irrigation and drinking water systems, establishment of agri-cultural marketing and processing enterprises.

Vayk. job creation, improvement of urban development and housing stock, solutions to educa-tional and cultural issues.

Jermuk. job creation, develop and implement certain privileges for Jermuk town, better application of laws.

It must be noted that all 3 Mayors of the marz were elected for a second term in office, which is a sign of the trust people have in them.

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TAVUSH MARZ

Nelly KamalyanTavush marzpetaran’s Monitoring and Analysis Specialist Tel. (0-63) 3-61-30

The survey of urban communities in Tavush marz included all of its towns and the marz capital. The brief description of marz’s towns is presented below.

IjevanCapital of Tavush marz situated in the valley of Aghstev river. 10 factories, 40 shops, 6 formal

basic education schools, 1 music, 1 arts and 1 sports school, 3 higher educational institutions, includ-ing 1 public, 3 pre-school institutions, 1 culture club, 1 library, 14 recreational facilities, etc. operate in the town.

DilijanDilijan is the most famous resort town of the marz. 6 factories, 80 shops, 8 formal basic education

schools, 1 music, 1 arts and 1 sports school, 2 higher educational institutions (1 public), 8 pre-school institutions, 1 culture club, 1 library, 5 recreational facilities, etc. operate in the town.

NoyemberyanIs a border town. 3 factories, 44 shops, 3 formal basic education schools, 1 music, 1 arts and 1

sports school, 1 higher educational institution, 2 pre-school institutions, 1 culture club, 1 library, 4 recreational facilities, etc. operate in the town.

BerdIs a border town. 3 factories, 35 shops, 5 formal basic education schools, 1 music, 1 arts and 1

sports school, 2 pre-school institutions, 1 culture club, 1 library, 5 recreational facilities, etc. operate in the town.

The fact that Tavush marz is a border area adds numerous problems to those already existing throughout the country. Non-cultivated land areas, shelled houses, landslide area, and in Noyembery-an region also communities damaged by earthquake, etc. Naturally all the mentioned problems are at the center of programs implements by marz government as the regional administrative body.

Some corresponding measures have already been taken by the central government. For example, the Parliament passed a law, according to which residents having land plots in unsafe and mined borer areas were freed from land tax and penalties and fines. Or, the minesweeping center has started clear-ing mines in non-cultivated and mined lands of Tavush marz.

State assistance to vulnerable families

Regional Social Services Agencies (RSSA) have been established in all four towns of the marz in order to provide financial support to poor families. 32 employees of these centers, including 28 inspectors, serve 16,476 families in 62 villages and towns of the marz. According to RSSA data, the number of families receiving family benefits has reduced by half within the last two years. At the same time the number of families receiving one time monetary support has doubled (see Figure 1).

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Figure 1. Dynamics of number of families receiving family benefits and one time monetary support in 2001-2003

The sharp decline in the number of families receiving benefits is a result of changes in the state family benefit system (in accordance with the corresponding Government Order from 2002), which mechanically excluded around 1400 families from the system. Representation of urban families re-ceiving family benefits in towns of Tavush marz as of July 2003 is presented in Table 1.

Table 1. Numbers of families receiving benefits and monetary assistance in towns of Tavush marz in January 2003

It must be noted that the number of families in marz’s towns which submitted applications for receiving benefits was much higher. On average around 1/3 of applicant families registered at RSSA (2003) were not included in the family benefit system.

Town governments have developed their own measures for improving the family benefit system and better targeting of families needing benefits. Monthly reports on benefits paid are required from RSSAs, which are submitted by communities and together with the lists of families receiving ben-efits. In this way RSSAs and marz governments have reliable data on the real number of families receiving benefits in each community. In addition, all organizations and enterprises of the marz are required to submit quarterly reports on their job positions; and heads of communities regularly sub-mit the number of livestock owned by those involved in agricultural activities. As a result of all these measures the effectiveness of RSSAs has increased.

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Figure 2. The disabled and pensioners in urban communities of Tavush marz, %

The marz capital Ijevan is in the worst situation among the urban communities of the marz as regards to the share of the disabled and pensioners. According to data from town government, pen-sioners constitute 23 percent of the population and the disabled amount to 8 percent. Ijevan is dis-tinguished by the relatively large share of urban refugees at 1.2 percent. There are no refugees in Noyemberyan, and their share in Berd and Dilijan is only 0.4 percent.

More detailed information on refugees and programs targeting them is presented below.

Housing construction problems in towns of Tavush marz

According to official data from 1997, Tavush marz had 12,000 refugees, who had settled in almost all communities of the marz. Their numbers, however, are not large in towns amounting to 373 people in total, of whom 40 percent live in Ijevan. Naturalization of refugees is being conducted in the marz since June 1999, and as a result Armenian citizenship was granted to 61 percent of urban refugees.

In addition to the naturalization process, housing construction projects have been implemented in 4 towns of the marz aiming at improving housing conditions for refugees. Two apartment buildings were constructed in Ijevan for 34 refugee families living under temporary shelter by the initiative of Migration and Refugees Department of the Government of Armenia and financial assistance from the UNHCR.

Housing is needed not only for refugees, but also for families in Noyemberyan who lost their homes as a result of the earthquake of 18 July 1997. The marz government did not have the real picture of the consequences of the earthquake until last year. Under direct instructions of the President of the Republic the issue was reviewed and the costs of elimination of consequences were revised. Extents of damages to houses were determined through expert evaluations, resulting in the official assessment of 1941 houses made by “Hayseismshin” and the research institute for construction maintenance.

Allocations from the state budget of 2003 have been made for reconstruction of single family houses destroyed during the Noyemberyan earthquake, which will be transferred to the marz on a quarterly basis. Assistance will be provided to single family house owners in the form of grants pro-vided in two phases. In the first phase, assistance will be provided to residents of collapsed houses or those3 subject to demolition, and in the second phase to owners of unsafe houses which need to be repaired.

Employment issues in marzes towns

Mayors of all four towns prioritized unemployment as the most important poverty factor. Accord-

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ing to data from regional employment services, the highest unemployment rate in 2002 was recorded in Ijevan at 24.7 percent. At the same time, according to the mayor, the unemployment rate is very high in Berd, where about a half of the employed population is involved in agricultural activities (see Table 2). As mentioned repeatedly by mayors, urban residents do not see farming as real employment. Especially when land plots are small, in Berd for example the average size is 0.34 ha per household, and are mainly backyard plots cultivated for own consumption.

Figure 3. Unemployment rates in towns of Tavush marz, %

Assessments of unemployment by mayors, however, are very different not only from official fig-ures, but also from each other. Ijevan mayor estimated the unemployment rate in the town at 60 percent, based on the fact that the majority of workers in large industrial enterprises inherited from Soviet times (Ijevan carpet factory, wood processing factory, wine factory, etc.) are on administrative leave and hidden unemployment is very common in the town. And Berd mayor, mentioning that many of the town’s working age residents are involved in agricultural activities, nevertheless includes them in the ranks of the unemployed.

Table 2. Distribution of the employed in towns of Tavush marz by economic sectors, assess-ments by mayors, %

Noyemberyan mayor has included all those, who do not have land, and consequently, do not have the theoretical possibility for self-employment, among the unemployed. More than 90 percent of the 1032 ha of agricultural land within the administrative territory of the town has been privatized to town’s residents. Since these lands were privatized to only 77 percent of town’s households, the working age members of families not receiving land have been included in the official ranks of the unemployed. As a result, the unemployment rate in Noyemberyan is estimated at 30 percent.

In Dilijan, those having seasonal work, i.e. temporarily working in health resorts, resort houses and participating in activities organized for summer vacation season, were considered unemployed.

Thus, varying interpretations of unemployment result in large differences in estimations. While state employment services register mainly those who do not have land or temporary jobs

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and are officially dismissed from their former jobs as unemployed. And these are mainly women as presented in Figure 4.

Figure 4. Share of officially registered unemployed women in 2002, %

Level of development of urban infrastructures in the marz

Preconditions of economic development are different in marz’s towns, based on physical infra-structures and specifics of population’s employment.

As already mentioned, households in Noyemberyan and Berd have mostly agricultural orientation and thus importance is attached to the rehabilitation of irrigation systems and installation of new ones. The social support fund of the World Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Devel-opment are involved in the development of irrigation systems. Through technical assistance from the mentioned organizations, project offices have been established in marz’s towns, including Noyem-beryan and Berd, which together with the relevant governmental agencies implement activities for improving the intra-farm irrigation networks, construction of water pipelines and establishment of water users unions.

Since Tavush marz is a border area, improvement of irrigation systems require intergovernmental agreements on some issues. Debedavan water canal in Noyemberyan region, for example, is used jointly with some communities in Georgia.

The next important infrastructure for the economic development of the marz is roads and transpor-tation, especially considering the remoteness of the marz and the fact that it is a border area. Tavush marz has 150.4 km of international, 260.9 km of national, 376.6 km of local (including 293.9 km under marz government responsibility and 84.7 km under communities’ responsibility) and 876 km of rural roads. Roads connecting towns are in satisfactory conditions. However, urban streets in Berd and roads connecting it to other towns are in extremely poor conditions.

In May 2001, through funding from Lincy Foundation, the construction of Sevan-Dilijan road tun-nel and Dilijan-Ijevan-Mayisyan road (which is a part of an international road) has restarted.

Today, there are operational transportation organizations in all 4 towns. These organizations have 87 buses and microbuses in total, of which 67 are operational. Transportation is available between Ijevan and Dilijan (fee for one passenger AMD500), and between Ijevan and Noyemberyan (AMD700), while Ijevan-Berd transportation is not operational due to inadequate number of passengers. There are regular buses and microbuses on Ijevan-Yerevan (AMD2000), Berd-Yerevan (AMD2500), Noyem-beryan-Yerevan (AMD2000), Dilijan-Yerevan (AMD1000) and Ijevan-Vanadzor (AMD1000) routes. City transportation is available only in Ijevan and Dilijan.

The magnificent nature of Tavush marz and its temperate climate impose the issue of rehabilitat-ing the infrastructures necessary for the development of health resort1 and tourism industries. The first steps in this direction have already been taken; an urgent action plan for further operations of resort houses and health resorts of the marz belonging to various agencies, as well as programs for

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development of each health resort have been devised. It must be noted, however, that the fact of resort hotels and health resorts being owned by various agencies and ministries is a major constraint to their development. This does not allow for attracting foreign credits and their effective use. In addition, for further development of tourism in the marz, it is necessary to repair roads to Makaravank (12.2 km), Haghadzin (6 km), Goshavank (3 km) and Varagavank (5.5 km).

Telephone connections are satisfactory in all 4 towns. This is, however, true for long distance phone connections, while town authorities evaluated the local network to be unsatisfactory. 80 to 95 percent of households in towns have phone lines.

In Tavush marz, 18 communities have gas supply networks, including all urban communities. Gas supply networks in Ijevan, Dilijan, Berd and Noyemberyan have been expanded in 2002.

Access to information is very important for the population in Tavush marz. “Tavush” marz news-paper is published from 2003 with 5 issues already produced. Although it is printed in limited copies, but nevertheless “Tavush” is able to inform marz’s population about important local events. Dilijan town government also started the republication of its “Dilijan” newspaper early this year. And ear-lier, “Ijevan” and “Ijevan student” newspaper were already being published. If we add Noyenberyan “Kamut” and Dilijan “RTV” TV stations, which have always been operational and fairly active, to the picture, we can state that the number of mass media has increased significantly within the last year. However, information provision in the marz is not comprehensive yet. In order to close this informa-tion gap, the marz government, through its Information Department, has very close cooperation with national mass media working in Tavush, such as “Haylur”, “Noyan Tapan”, “Armenpress”, “Lurer” program of the public radio, etc. 2

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------1 Dilijan is particularly famous for its health resorts, which used to be a resort of national significance in Soviet times.

Nevertheless, in 2002 around 6000 visitors from inside Armenia have spent time in resort hotels. 2 It must be noted that “Shen” charity NGO is implementing the “Newspapers for border communities” project, the

beneficiaries of which are 32 communities in Tavush marz.

For the further expansion of information provision and ensuring access to information it is particu-larly necessary to establish a TV station in the marz capital. It must be noted that Dilijan and Noyem-beryan already have TV stations.

Data on economic and social infrastructures currently operating in marz’s towns are presented in Table 3.

Table 3. Main socio-economic facilities operating in towns of Tavush marz, as of June 2003

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Poverty

Based on the main objective of the survey of towns was to identify problems related to human poverty and summarize the viewpoints of town officials on measures necessary for its eradication, the focus was on indicators characterizing human poverty related areas, such as education, healthcare and access to drinking water.

As social infrastructures inherited from the previous system, the networks of educational and healthcare systems are fairly developed and physically accessible for towns residents. As presented in Table 3, all towns have formal basic education schools, kindergartens, even music, sports and arts schools.

Each town has one polyclinic and one hospital. In addition, drugstore networks are fairly devel-oped in small and medium sized towns; Ijevan has 10 drugstores, Noyemberyan 6, Dilijan 4, and Berd 3. Private doctors are available in all towns, 2-3 of them in each one at that, with the exception of Dilijan.

All towns have water supply networks, and 65 percent of households in Berd are connected to the network, 75 percent in Ijevan, 90 percent in Noyemberyan and 100 percent in Dilijan.

The situation of human poverty in marz’s towns is more or less adequate, while income poverty is still a very serious problem. According to estimations by town authorities, a majority of residents are still in poverty. The distribution of marz’s towns by poverty groups is presented in Figure 5.

Figure 5. Poverty levels in towns of Tavush marz, estimations of town authorities

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Problems of small and medium sized towns from the viewpoint of their promi-nent residents

Nelson ShahnazaryanPh.D. in Psychology

Silva AbelyanUNDP “Creation of a social monitoring and analysis system” Project Assistant

Every group of people, including rural and urban communities, has a pyramidal structure. This structure takes an official form in communities, as represented by mayors, community councils and administrative authorities. At the same time, however, there are vertical influences within the com-munity, through so called “non-formal” channels, when some members of community, who often do not have an official position of power, are able to have significant influence on economic, social and political life of the country due their personal authority, knowledge and experience, social activism, and last but not least, financial capabilities.

This study was an attempt to collect and analyze opinions of authority figures in small and medium sized towns of Armenia on development prospects and poverty reduction in their communities.

The study was conducted by marz M&A units in 45 small and medium sized towns of the country. Three well-known figures were selected in each community in each of the following four fields of activity:

a) science/culture; b) social-political; c) business; d) administration.

Thus, 12 people were to be interviewed in each town. They were selected based on expert as-sessments. Eventually, 517 people in total were interviewed. Notably, authority figures in small and medium sized cities were mainly middle aged (on average 47.6 years old) men (79.5 percent of the total number of respondents). Very few young people (27 respondents) had been able to gain authority before the age of 30.

The majority of authority figures (86.8 percent) are married, ethnic Armenians (only two of them were not ethnic Armenians) and have higher education (83 percent). 57.3 percent are salaried em-ployees, 16.6 percent are employers and 15.3 percent are self-employed, the rest are pensioners and students. 10 authority figures were unemployed at the time of interviews.

We would like to start the presentation of survey results by the most impressive fact that was re-vealed. Contrary to the results of numerous previous surveys, only 1.4 percent of the representatives of this important group of society are willing to emigrate from Armenia, while according to previous surveys this figure varies from 5 to 12 percent. It must be noted that another 1.5 percent would like to move to another place of residence within Armenia. Nevertheless, the majority of respondents are clearly determined to continue to live and work in their hometown.

Based on the assessment of socio-demographic characteristics of the elite in small and medium sized towns in all marzes of Armenia, we can state that the significant potential with regard to knowl-edge and skills, and also number of people capable of becoming leaders, has not yet decreased. Their age, commonly acknowledged to be the most productive years of one’s life, stability of their families, their high level of education, and the determination of the majority of them to continue to live in their hometowns are notable. It must be noted that every fifth non-formal authority figure in communities

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is a woman. It is true that their number is still 4 times smaller than the number of men, but this is a higher percentage share than the one we see in senior governmental structures.

Authority figures assessed the level of poverty in their communities as follows.

Figure 1. “What is the distribution of your community’s population by standard of living?”

In effect, according to respondents’ assessment, the living standard of 1/3 of the population in Armenia’s small and medium sized towns is average or higher than average, while every 20th fam-ily (5.1 percent) has a high living standard. Of course, the next group (“Lower than average” can, with some reservations, be added to this one and thus we can conclude that the situation of more than half of the population (57 percent) in the most vulnerable communities of the country, i.e. small and medium sized towns, is not alarming. 43.2 percent are poor, while every eight family (13.4 percent) is very poor.

It would be interesting to compare these assessments with National Statistical Service’s official poverty data for towns in the country (except Yerevan), according to which 44.3 percent of the popu-lation outside Yerevan is non-poor, 55.7 percent is poor and 19.5 percent very poor.

To be fair we have to mention that this survey was conducted in summer 2003; 2.5 years after the large-scale NSS survey, and the methodologies used were totally different as well. Nevertheless, as-sessments of authority figures are more optimistic, the poor are 43.2 percent, of whom 13.4 percent are very poor.

Population’s mind-set, i.e. whether they are optimistic or pessimistic regarding current and future processes, is very important for not only the studied communities, but also for the overall develop-ment potential of the country. This is especially true for authority figures, i.e. leaders.

It would not be an overstatement to say that the overall optimism of respondents regarding the future is quite encouraging.

Figure 2. “In your opinion how the living standard of your community’s population has changed within the last year, and how would it change in the next year and the coming three years?” (average point)

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Note. Calculated based on the mean value of evaluations of selected responses. For the coming three years, 23.4 percent of responses were “do not know”.

The share of pessimistic responses regarding the next year was 10.2 percent, and regarding the coming three years less than 7.1 percent. While the share of “will improve significantly” response for the next year was 1.7 percent and for the next three years 9.8 percent.

The results reveal that despite the difficult current situation in small and medium sized towns, people have high expectations for improvements in the coming three years.

What is the opinion of authority figures on factors influencing the socio-economic development and poverty reduction in small and medium sized towns of Armenia?

In order to study these opinions, respondents were asked to evaluate influences of 15 factors on development by a 7 point scale (1- not important at all; 4- fairly important; 7- very important).

Table 1. “In your opinion, which factors are important for the socio-economic development of your town?” (average point)

As presented, the four most important problems needing urgent solutions are: Create steady jobs – 6.83 points Protection of human rights, ensuring democracy -5.60 Improve access to and quality of healthcare services -5.55 Improve formal basic education -5.33 Lesser importance was attached to the following: Improve housing conditions -4.31 Improve road links with regional center and/or capital city -4.28 Eliminate consequences of natural disasters -4.27 Allocate agricultural land to the population -3.65

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These results help us understand the problems of small and medium sized towns, which are sum-marized below.

First, the main problem in Armenia’s small cities continues to be unemployment (job creation re-ceived almost maximum points: 6.83 from a maximum of 7). This is fully understandable; Branches of large industries in these cities were the first ones to shut down after the collapse of the Soviet in-dustry.

Of course, it is difficult to find solutions for these problems, but solutions exist and they should be identified developed and implemented. The PRSP, for example, which is based on not only economic, but also social priorities, can be a comprehensive solution to this problem.

Second, from among the numerous surveys conducted in the transition period, this is the first time that the public has attached such importance to “protection of human rights and development of de-mocracy”. In our opinion, this is explained, first of all, by the specificity of the group of respondents; authority figures, most probably, deal with such issues more frequently, where they are required to get involved in the solution of such problems often occurring in their circles of acquaintances.

The other reason, in our opinion, is the period in which interviews were conducted, i.e. immedi-ately following three elections: local (October 2002), presidential (March-April 2003) and parliamen-tary (May 2003) elections.

Third, more importance was attached to healthcare and education, than road construction, drink-ing and irrigation water, etc. This is yet another proof that the human development component has the highest priority in poverty reduction. In this regard, our results are in line with the priorities of the PRSP, where human development measures have the central role.

Fourth, notably, allocation of agricultural land and housing conditions, in effect, were not consid-ered as urgent issues for the socio-economic development of small and medium sized towns. The low importance attached to these problems is more or less explicable. First, the urban population, particu-larly scholars and authority figures, most probably would not link their livelihood to land cultivation, which needs specific skills and requires a totally different way of living. Regarding improvements in housing conditions, the fact of the matter is that apartments in small and medium sized cities are so cheap that they are easily affordable for middle class residents. Renovation needs, however, is a dif-ferent issue, which has been studied separately and presented in Nairuhi Jrbashyan’s article “Specifics of human poverty in small and medium sized towns”.

What directions do authority figures prioritize for solving poverty eradication and socio-economic development issues? Respondents almost unanimously mention two priority directions: job creation, especially by developing SMEs and ensuring the rule of law.

Table 2. “What are the measures which would have the largest impact on reducing poverty in your town?” (%)

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The high level of satisfaction with administrative and professional skills is a cause for concern; only 1 percent mentioned that there is a need for improvement. Maybe it is the result of this low im-portance attached to effective governance, which is one of the main factors in ensuring development, that small and medium sized cities lag behind in their socio-economic development due to the lack of the corresponding skills among their leaders and professionals. In our opinion, considering contem-porary challenges, the administrative, professional and entrepreneurial skills of people representing various groups of population in our country are not adequate at all.

How do authority figures evaluate the capacity of their corresponding communities in ensuring socio-economic development and overcoming poverty? From whom they expect support?

Again, the results are encouraging.

Figure 3. “Is the town ready to participate in development measures you propose (financially, with labor, etc.)?” (%)

Only 15.7 percent of authority figures are not sure of their community’s potential, and around 2/3 is convinced that the financial and human resources available in the community are adequate for solving the problems it faces.

In our opinion, this is an extremely important signal for the society. This confidence is also con-firmed and explained by the next table.

Table 3. “Evaluate please the contribution of the following structures and/or representatives, when your town faces a crisis situation.”

(7 point scale: 1- insignificant, 4- fairly important, 7- very important)

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As revealed, in case of difficulties small and medium sized cities rely on their own capacity. Whereas, since the civil society has not yet been established as a powerful force, the main responsibil-ity remains with the town government (4.92), and the role of society, as represented by businessmen and NGOs, was evaluated as insignificant (correspondingly 2.85 and 2.25). The role of the Church is unacceptably unimportant, rated the lowest with 2.12 points. Throughout the entire Armenian his-tory, the Church has been the only support during crisis situations and in difficult conditions. It is unfortunate that today, even in the opinion of Armenian scholars, the Church has lost its role as an indispensable part of our spiritual life.

In recent years, the human factor, the so called human potential and social capital, is mentioned more frequently by specialists as the main precondition for development.

What characteristics do authority figures in small and medium sized towns ascribe to an ideal person? What human characteristics are necessary for ensuring effective development and positive relationships within the community?

Table 4. “Evaluate the importance of the following human characteristics in ensuring the future development of the standard of living in you town.”

(average point: 1- insignificant, 4- fairly important, 7- very important)

It must be noted that while analyzing the data one should take into account that the list presented includes only positive human characteristics, and naturally all of them received high evaluations.

Nevertheless, the following psychological qualities are mentioned as the most important ones: I. Being hardworking- 5.93 points II. Being disciplined- 5.66 points III. Entrepreneurial abilities- 5.49 points

In our opinion, these criteria for an ideal person are fairly healthy and promising (how much the respondents themselves follow these values is, of course, another issue).

On the other hand, we think it is very important to note that the following factors, which have a significant role in ensuring favorable moral-psychological environment for development within the community, had very low evaluations:

VI. Ability to understand people and cooperate with them - 5.01 points VII. Economical spending, economizing, ability to control consumption - 4.67

It must be noted that this last characteristic, reserved attitude toward consumption is considered to be one of the main preconditions for the intensive development of western civilizations (Max Web-ber).

Concluding the presentation of the results of this small, but worthwhile sociological survey, we

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have tried to summarize its benefits for development and poverty reduction in small and medium sized towns of Armenia.

First. Despite the economic crisis, which severely struck the vivacity and livelihoods in Arme-nia’s small and medium sized towns, authority figures have maintained their optimism, considering the potential of their respective communities for socio-economic development. Moreover, authority figures and influential people themselves have favorable socio-demographic and psychological char-acteristics.

Second. It is indisputable that economic development is the most important means for poverty reduction; a fact mentioned by authority figures in urban communities as well. At the same time, it is notable that importance was attached to the development of democracy and rule of law, as well as access to and quality of education and healthcare, which ensure sustainable human development.

On the other hand, it must be noted that the importance of mentality, administrative and profes-sional knowledge and skills is not yet recognized by prominent figures in small and medium sized towns.

Third. The result regarding one of the main problems of small and medium sized town are also very clear and convincing, i.e. the inadequate use of the social capital. And in our opinion this is the most valuable and crucial conclusion, which was made based on the following results of the survey:

• Protection of human rights and development of democracy was the second important factor in urban communities (see Table 1). This means that the moral-psychological environment is also a factor constraining citizens’ initiatives and synergy between communities;

• In these conditions it is logical that businessmen and NGOs have a fairly small participation in and contribution to important processes taking place in communities (see Table 3);

• Ability to understand people and cooperate with them is in the second last place in the clas-sification of most important human characteristics (see Table 4), but, it is admittedly the fundamental precondition for developing the social capital. This means that if appropriate measures are not taken, the present problem of social capital will continue to remain a serious one in small and medium sized towns.

Seemingly, this is the most important potential of Armenia’s small and medium sized towns, which is not being tapped today, and, unfortunately, is neither considered to be important by authority fig-ures.

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Urban communities need more autonomy

The establishment and consolidation of local self-government has a relatively short history in Armenia. Local self-government was introduced in Armenia thorough the local elections of 1996. There are more than 900 local self-governing bodies in the country, including 47 urban communities. Characteristically, Armenia has never had any experience with local self-gov-ernment throughout its historical development. The local self-government system is primarily regulated by the Local Self-Government Act.

The financial and economic aspects of the operations of local self-governing bodies is the sub-ject of the interview with Davit Hambartsumyan, Director of Budgetary Process Management Department of the Ministry of Finance and Economy, conducted by journalist Rima Yegan-yan.

- Mr. Hambartsumyan, revenues of community budgets are typically formed by various types of resources. Do the communities have the possibility for raising resources by borrowing in order to finance the necessary community expenditures?

- Local Self-Government Act and Armenia’s Budgetary System Act stipulate that in case of tempo-rary community budget deficit for the necessary community expenditures, communities are allowed to borrow from sources sanctioned by the law. Such sources are the state budget, banks, legal and natural persons. Borrowings can take the form of loans, credits and issuance of community bonds. Regulations for providing communities with loans and credits from the state budget are approved by the Government of Armenia, but regulations for issuing community bonds are still being developed.

Considering the weak financial basis of the majority of communities and the various needs they have, the law has defined a fairly rigid system of regulations for credit provision and its use. In partic-ular, the law defines a mechanism for determining the maximum limits of credits provided annually. Heads of communities are authorized to make credit agreements with any creditor in order to receive credits only if the relevant community council and the authorized body of the Government of Armenia (currently the Minister for Regional Government and Coordinating the Operations of Infrastructures) have agreed to that. The law also defines that the head of community together with the authorized body of the Government of Armenia, according to regulations defined by the latter, should develop a plan for gradual repayment of credits received. For its implementation period, the mentioned plan becomes the basis for making the community budget. The body authorized by the Government of Armenia exercises control and supervision over the implementation process of the mentioned plan. This supervision is conducted in order to protect communities from financial disorders.

- Are deficits characteristic to community budgets? If yes, who reduces the deficit and how? - Yes, the law defines that community budgets can have deficits, that is budget expenditures can

exceed its revenues. There are a number of restrictions on borrowing for reducing budget deficits. On the one hand, the law determines maximum permissible community budget deficits, and on the other hand community budget deficits are limited by the already mentioned possibilities for borrowing in order to finance deficits. Another possible source for financing deficits is the deductions made from revenues resulting form the privatization of state owned property (except land) located within the ad-ministrative territory of the community. It must be noted, nevertheless, that among various measures for addressing deficits, better revenue collection and optimization of expenditures are to be prioritized by local self-governing bodies during the making, discussions and approval, as well as implementa-tion of community budgets.

- In case of a so called “planned deficit”, what leverages are used by the Government for regu-lating the issue?

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- The question is probably on cases, where the community council approves a budget with deficit. If the “planned” deficit really exists, it should include a full account of financing sources. Otherwise, problems related to budgetary arrears might arise during budget implementation. For example, a number of measures are planned with the corresponding allocations in the community budget. If these measures are taken but are not financed by the community budget, because of budget shortfalls, budg-etary arrears would inevitably result, and the continued accumulation of these arrears could cause disruptions in the normal functioning of the community and its partners. It must be noted that the state does not have any direct leverages for preventing such cases, other than the mentioned mechanism for state control over the process of debt repayment (with the exception of certain methodological and advisory support, as well as the legal supervision over decisions made by community council or head of community), and local self-governing bodies should be very cautious while making decisions on the making, approval and implementation of budgets with deficits.

- What is the overall picture of the volumes of parity subsidies provided to local self-governing bodies allocated from the state budgets of 1998-2003?

- Amounts of parity subsidies allocated from the state budget increase every year. This trend is clearly demonstrated by the following figures.

Incidentally, it must be noted that the Government of Armenia has no accumulated arrears relating to allocation of the mentioned subsidies to communities.

- Are there any special considerations regarding any town, village, border areas or earthquake-stricken zones during the making of the state budget?

- With regard to calculations made for the distribution of the total amount of financial parity subsi-dies by communities, there are no distinctions made in the Financial Parity Act which regulates these calculations. Such distinctions are neither made in the Local Self-Government Act, which defines the mandatory responsibilities of communities, although, in my opinion, there is a need for these distinctions, since their assessment will help us to determine the extent to which the community is financially self-reliant. Moreover, each community has its specifics related to its geographical loca-tion, material and human resources, physical accessibility and appeal. On the other hand, already for a number of years, within the framework of governmental projects for the rehabilitation of the earth-quake-stricken zone and development of border areas, allocations are made from the state budget for various investments in individual communities.

- What support does the Government provide to local self-governing bodies with budget short-falls?

- If the community budget is planned with deficit, then based on the corresponding application submitted by the head of community, when community development plans are at stake, the Govern-ment can discuss the appropriateness of and possibilities for providing the community with a letter of guarantee so that credits will be provided to the community from the state budget, or it can receive credits from any bank. If there are possibilities, the Government can also support the community by additional subsidies, as well as strictly targeted grants in the form of subventions.

- Do you consider the self-financing mechanisms of local self-governing bodies to be effective? - It can be stated that basically there is no self-financing in the majority of communities. For the

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majority of communities the subsidies from the state budget are the main source of income and means of survival. This situation has partially resulted from the low rate of revenue collection in communi-ties. The total potential revenues form taxes levied on the lands and properties within the administra-tive territories of communities, according to data from state tax services of the Government, amounts to AMD9.3 billion, however the actual amount collected in 2002 was only AMD4.6 billion or 50.5 percent less than the total calculated amount.

- In what cases does the Government have the authority to exercise control over the implementa-tion of community budgets?

- Cases for such control are defined by the law. In particular, the Government controls the im-plementation of the community budget when targeted allocations from the state budget (subven-tions, amounts deducted from the privatization of state property in accordance with regulations and transferred to community budgets, funds provided to the community in order to finance expenditures related to responsibilities delegated by the state to communities) are used, as well as in cases where borrowings from the state budget or other sources sanctioned by the law are used and when their repayments plan is being implemented. This control in conducted in accordance with regulations defined by the Government by the authorized governmental body.

- Local self-governing bodies have three-year community development plans. How comparable are the three-year programs of a small village and a large city?

- That is a serious issue. According to the law, the head of community should submit the three-year development program to the community council. The program should serve as the most important document for further activities of community officials, including the making and implementation of the community budget; by the way preparing a development program is not as easy task; communi-ties are in need of qualified specialists, who can do the job. It must be noted that communities hav-ing qualified specialists have notable development. Unfortunately, there are problems in this regard, particularly in small communities. At the same time it must be noted that various training programs for heads of communities, council members and specialists working in community governments are implemented by the Government with support from international and local organizations, where, among others, the methodology for preparing three-year development programs is also discussed.

- Is there a clear mechanism for relationships between local self-governing bodies and govern-mental agencies?

- These are two levels of governance, independent from each other and interlinked at the same time, which function within the framework of authorities invested in them by the law. The state can-not interfere in the activities of local self-governing bodies (with the exception of individual cases de-fined by the law), or impose anything upon them, but the state can recommend, support, or encourage communities as required by national interests. On the other hand, despite the mutual independence of local self-governing bodies and central authorities from each other, both have the same ultimate goal, namely to ensure a decent living standard for Armenia’s population and to protect of their rights.

- In your opinion, which general problems should be prioritized? What are the means to im-prove the situation?

- I prioritize professional capacity building for staffs of community structures. This will contribute to a stronger basis for program activities in communities, as well as their financial consolidation due to targeted and effective use of limited budgetary resources. In particular, this would mean regular wide-scale training for specialists, the development and publication of the corresponding training manuals and methodological guidelines.

Although a lot has been done in recent years for creating and further expanding and improving the legal framework for local self-governing bodies, it nevertheless needs further elaboration (for exam-ple legislative acts regulating the implementation of mandatory responsibilities of communities and those delegated to them by the Government are missing).

In my opinion, 930 communities for a country like Armenia are far too many. Obviously, small

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communities, which constitute the majority of country’s communities, do not have the capacities necessary for implementing strategic development programs and providing quality and diverse com-munity services to the population. It is already 4 years that the issue of combining communities’ potential through enlarging communities by their amalgamation, or formation of inter-community associations, is being discussed. Such possibilities are even stipulated by the law. I think that optimal solutions for these issues should be found through further elaboration of the legislations and also en-couraging these processes in communities.

By resolving the mentioned issues we will be able to have a better evaluation of the capacities and needs of communities, existing and needed additional resources for improvements and the ways for acquiring those resources.

On the whole, it can be stated that local self-government, as an institution, has been established in Armenia. Local governments, understandably, are taking their first steps. Hopefully, these steps will become firmer in the future.

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Rehabilitation of abandoned villages as a poverty reduction measure

Gagik YeganyanDirector of Migration and Refugees Department of the Government of Armenia, Ph.D. in Economics

Samvel HarutunyanDeputy Head of Staff of Migration and Refugees Department of the Government of Armenia

Experience shows that in all countries the worsening of socio-economic conditions is accompa-nied by the migration of the urban population to rural areas, which allows them to cultivate land, the source of all riches, and solve the problem of their daily bread. Armenia today faces a similar situa-tion, where 50.9 percent of the population is poor or very poor; whereas, the share of the very poor in urban areas in 2001 was 8.3 percentage points larger than in rural areas (compare 19.6 percent and 11.3 percent, PRSP, p. 29, Table 2.2). One possible means to reduce the numbers of the very poor population in urban areas, small and medium sized towns in particular, is their resettlement in rural communities. In a wider sense rehabilitation of abandoned villages and increasing the population in a number of upland and mountainous villages can have a significant role in poverty eradication.

This is a complicated, but nevertheless resolvable issue. Such conclusions can be drawn from the socio-economic situation created over the last decade and

the resulting migration patterns in Armenia. High unemployment rates in small and medium sized towns on the one hand and the slow progress of measures taken for their reduction on the other do not contribute to the rapid solution of the problem. Consequently, certain groups of population will con-tinue to demonstrate strong migration trends, which can be channeled to rural areas, especially since our professional experience shows that such intention exists and there is no need to make a special effort in that direction. Related studies give us some understanding of certain groups which can be potentially included in such migration flows.

The workforce necessary for the rapidly developing industry in the Soviet period was recruited mainly from among the rural population. As a result of this long-term process, the ratio of rural and urban populations changed drastically and the results were apparent already in 1950s; the urban popu-lation in 1913 constituted 10.4 percent of the total population, in 1959 it reached 50 percent and in 1989 up to 67.7 percent.

Numerous factors influenced the growth of the urban population, and these factors are analyzed in detail in the fundamental work of V. Y. Khojabekyan “Reproduction and migration of Armenia’s population”.

Table 1. Urban population Growth in 1913-1989 (thousand people)

Source: V. Y. Khojabekyan “Reproduction and migration of Armenia’s population”

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It is obvious, however, that this growth took place at the expense of the rural population. The natu-ral process of urbanization in Armenia was accompanied by the inappropriate state policy conducted within the framework of central planning, as a result of which the normal development of the network of settlements was disrupted.

This, in its turn, resulted in the disappearance of numerous rural communities, especially in upland and mountainous areas.

As presented in the table, the urban population increases until 1970, mainly as a result of immigra-tion from rural settlements; the share of the latter in the growth of urban population was 61.4 percent in 1926-1939, 63.3 percent in 1939-1959, and 43.5 percent in 1959-1970. The natural growth of the urban population has become a predominant factor in the total urban population growth only from early 1980s, and its share amounted to 86.5 percent in 1989.

According to “Armenia’s vanished settlements (1830-2000)” reference book prepared by S. Haru-tunyan, around 530 settlements in Armenia were abandoned in 1920-1990; numbers of abandoned settlements by decades are presented in Table 2.

Table 2. Numbers of Armenia’s vanished settlements 1920-1990

As presented in Table 2, 517 settlements had vanished by 1980. Of course, vanished settlements were not only towns. New rural settlements were founded in valley areas and/or a number of rural communities were enlarged at the expense of vanished settlements. Radical changes in the economic system in 1990s revealed the negative impact of the mentioned processes on the development of rural areas.

Settlement network policies based on national interests have not been implemented in Armenia since the loss of statehood. Whereas, the network of settlements is one of the most important lever-ages at the disposal of the government for effective implementation of state policies through combin-ing strategic and economic interests.

Throughout centuries foreign invaders have expelled the ethnic population of Armenia from their settlements and lands and have resettled foreigners in the freed settlements and areas.

In 1804 only, 20,000 Armenians were driven from the Armenian territories of Russia and trans-ported deep into Persia, and Persians and Kurds were resettled in freed areas. Persian king Shah Ab-bas and others had done the same thing earlier.

This persecution of ethnic Armenians was elevated to state level in Armenian territories under Turkish rule, which resulted in the Genocide of 1915 and the elimination of ethnic Armenians from Western Armenia.

The longtime absence of statehood in Armenia until the third decade of the 19th century has not allowed for dealing with these issues at a national and state level. Only after Eastern Armenia became a part of Russia, the process of resettlement of abandoned communities and establishment of new settlements in the current territory of the Republic of Armenia started at state level. Although a large number of Armenians were resettled, nevertheless this process was not a national one, since it aimed at serving the strategic interests of the Russian Empire.

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In order to implement this policy, settlements inhabited by ethnic Russians were established in areas with key strategic significance for the Empire and the best lands of neighboring Armenian vil-lages were allocated to these settlements. Moreover, Russians settlers had much more privileges than resettled Armenians.

The normal development of the network of settlements in Armenia was hampered by the First World War and the ensuing ethnic clashes in Southern Caucasus. Some of small upland villages, not being able to fight the enemy by themselves, were often abandoned by their residents, who fled to larger and more defendable nearby villages in order to organize their self-defense. As a result their original settlements were destroyed and some were not rebuilt in the aftermath.

The normal development of settlements was not ensured even during the Soviet period. Programs developed and implemented in conditions of planned economy used to serve the future political plans and were often detached from reality and ignored local specifics.

Assessments of settlement policies implemented in Soviet Armenia are contradictory and there is a need for comprehensive scientific study of the issue. We are nevertheless convinced that the normal development of the network of settlements was disrupted and the process was channeled in a way that brought it to a dead-end as a result of changes in social relationships and the formation of the independent Republic of Armenia.

The re-establishment of Armenia’s independent statehood provides a unique opportunity for devel-oping and implementing policies which would ensure the development of the network of settlements in accordance with the fundamental interests of the Armenian people. Paradoxically, difficult socio-economic conditions play a positive role in this regard; the costs of implementation As presented in Table 2, 517 settlements had vanished by 1980. Of course, vanished settlements were not only towns. New rural settlements were founded in valley areas and/or a number of rural communities were enlarged at the expense of vanished settlements. Radical changes in the economic system in 1990s revealed the negative impact of the mentioned processes on the development of rural areas.

Settlement network policies based on national interests have not been implemented in Armenia since the loss of statehood. Whereas, the network of settlements is one of the most important lever-ages at the disposal of the government for effective implementation of state policies through combin-ing strategic and economic interests.

Throughout centuries foreign invaders have expelled the ethnic population of Armenia from their settlements and lands and have resettled foreigners in the freed settlements and areas.

In 1804 only, 20,000 Armenians were driven from the Armenian territories of Russia and trans-ported deep into Persia, and Persians and Kurds were resettled in freed areas. Persian king Shah Ab-bas and others had done the same thing earlier.

This persecution of ethnic Armenians was elevated to state level in Armenian territories under Turkish rule, which resulted in the Genocide of 1915 and the elimination of ethnic Armenians from Western Armenia.

The longtime absence of statehood in Armenia until the third decade of the 19th century has not allowed for dealing with these issues at a national and state level. Only after Eastern Armenia became a part of Russia, the process of resettlement of abandoned communities and establishment of new settlements in the current territory of the Republic of Armenia started at state level. Although a large number of Armenians were resettled, nevertheless this process was not a national one, since it aimed at serving the strategic interests of the Russian Empire.

In order to implement this policy, settlements inhabited by ethnic Russians were established in areas with key strategic significance for the Empire and the best lands of neighboring Armenian vil-lages were allocated to these settlements. Moreover, Russians settlers had much more privileges than resettled Armenians.

The normal development of the network of settlements in Armenia was hampered by the First World War and the ensuing ethnic clashes in Southern Caucasus. Some of small upland villages, not being able to fight the enemy by themselves, were often abandoned by their residents, who fled to

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larger and more defendable nearby villages in order to organize their self-defense. As a result their original settlements were destroyed and some were not rebuilt in the aftermath.

The normal development of settlements was not ensured even during the Soviet period. Programs developed and implemented in conditions of planned economy used to serve the future political plans and were often detached from reality and ignored local specifics.

Assessments of settlement policies implemented in Soviet Armenia are contradictory and there is a need for comprehensive scientific study of the issue. We are nevertheless convinced that the normal development of the network of settlements was disrupted and the process was channeled in a way that brought it to a dead-end as a result of changes in social relationships and the formation of the independent Republic of Armenia.

The re-establishment of Armenia’s independent statehood provides a unique opportunity for de-veloping and implementing policies which would ensure the development of the network of settle-ments in accordance with the fundamental interests of the Armenian people. Paradoxically, difficult socio-economic conditions play a positive role in this regard; the costs of implementation will be much higher in the future, and we will not be able to produce the results which are perfectly feasible today.

A majority of former rural residents, who have become unemployed urban residents, would prefer to be involved in farming, rather than to wait for the opening of industrial jobs and in the meanwhile ensure their livelihood by taking on temporary employment. And understandably towns are not suit-able for intensive agricultural activities. It is appropriate here to present an excerpt of a letter sent to us by a freedom fighter living in Yerevan:

“… we are a number of freedom fighters who wish to live in Dastakert, Suflu and Tsghuni com-munities of Syunik marz and start farming and livestock production businesses, but we need finan-cial support of around US$2800-3200 per family. We have prepared business plans for farming and livestock production activities, and knowing the location very well we are convinced that we will have good results very soon, which will ensure better living for our families, and at the same time we can also help families of our killed and disabled friends.”

During land privatization in small towns, which mostly had neighboring collective and soviet farms, land was privatized to workers of these state farms and/or those who were registered in towns before 1930. This means that very small number of people could benefit from land privatization, since the main population growth in these towns has occurred, as already mentioned, in 1950-1980 parallel to the expansion of industries. As a results, thousands of families in towns are in extremely difficult conditions today, since industries do not operate and they neither have land to cultivate. It is not real-istic to hope that the issue of unemployment will be solved in the near future.

According to former economic policies, mainly daughter enterprises of large factories operating with imported raw materials and semi-finished products were established in these towns. Today, when mother enterprises are not operational and economic relationships have changed radically, it is not realistic to expect the re-operation of the above-mentioned enterprises.

The majority of people who have been unemployed for more than ten years, originally being farm-ers themselves, have not lost their connection with the land and if certain conditions are met they can return to villages and establish farms. We see this trend in our everyday work at the Migration and Refugees Department. Residents of Yerevan, Charentsavan, Abovyan, Gavar and other towns apply to us for support in resettlement. The majority of these applicants are those who would like to resettle in the Nagorno Karabagh Republic in response to the appeal of its government. It must be noted that the majority of these applicants are originally from Nagorno Karabagh.

Around 300,000 newly formed families can be seen as a group of population that has not been cared for in the past decade in Armenia. The majority of these families, living with their parents, face a number of problems after some years; a number of families are formed under one roof, children are born and having a separate dwelling becomes an imperative at a point. Moreover, as revealed by

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poverty surveys, such large households are the most vulnerable to poverty. The slow growth rates, however, and the overall low incomes make it impossible to have savings,

which could have solved the problem of housing and forming a separate household. This phenom-enon has an impact on the housing market as well. Looking at the housing market, it is easy to see that some of the houses are sold so that the vendor can buy at least two smaller houses. And those who cannot solve their housing problems, even by this method, are faced by the decision on where to go, and not receiving appropriate support they emigrate from the country. Our contacts with people show that a majority of them are getting ready for moving to rural areas.

Another important issue is the fact that it is not yet totally clear how the stratification of the rural population would change, when the land markets start to operate in practice. One thing that is clear is that we will have a large number of people without land and not all of them can earn their daily bread by working as paid labor. Some of them, in our opinion, will join the ranks of those willing to resettle.

Generally, in areas of the country with dense rural population, such as settlements near Yerevan and those in Ararat valley, there is already a land shortage. Tension in urban labor markets, low rates of wage increases and inadequate transportation will make the flow of the rural population to nearby urban communities impossible or economically unviable. This can also be a contributive factor in channeling the migration trends among the rural population living near urban centers to the above-mentioned direction.

Studies of the network of settlements reveal that it has always expanded in conditions of low eco-nomic growth, when subsistence was only possible through farming and livestock production. People try to stay near their land plots in order to cut the costs of agricultural production, which, in its turn, results in the establishment of small villages.

Such trends can be seen today as well, when the private land plots of one household are not only far from each other, but also from towns and villages. Temporary settlements have already been formed in summer pastures or areas relatively far from settlements. With some support, these tempo-rary dwellings can become permanent settlements. The state should not ignore these settlements and should try to encourage and support their consolidation in every possible way.

A large number of Armenians living abroad are farmers. Some of them as well would return to cultivate their ancestral lands if they receive support and encouragement from the state.

The rehabilitation of abandoned settlements will provide the opportunity for the unemployed in urban areas to earn their living through agricultural activities. This will reduce the number of poor residents in urban areas and will ease the social tension in towns. It will promote agricultural development on the other hand and will contribute to the realization of government’s food security strategy.

This solution will be less costly than creating industrial jobs for the same number of people. It is commonly acknowledged that an investment of US$5000 is needed for creating one job in an average industrial enterprise. According to our calculations, and investment of up to US$8000 is needed for establishing one farm within the framework of the resettlement program. In some cases, farms can be established with much smaller investments (see the excerpt from the letter of freedom fighters who were willing to go to Syunik). The exact amount of the investment depends on the specifics of the program to be implemented for an individual settlement. And one farm in Armenia creates around 2.5 jobs.

The support package provided to farms should include housing, land, agricultural equipment and supplies, as well as some tax privileges in the initial phase of activity, for example the first year. The cost of this support package, as already mentioned, would be around US$8000. The major bulk of this amount goes to housing. In a number of upland and mountainous villages the housing problem can be solved by purchasing abandoned houses, which will reduce the costs by half. Our studies of villages in former Meghri region in 2001 revealed that such houses are available. The same is true

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for other areas as well. We should also take into account that all expenditures, or part of them, can be provided in the form of long-term credits. The repaid amounts can be used for ensuring the continuity of the program.

Generally, in our opinion, it is not justified to have 872 rural communities in Armenia. Their number should be reduced as much as possible. In our opinion, the development of rural settlement should take place as networks of settlements and farms within the administrative territories of larger communities serving as area capitals. The area capital should have developed social infrastructures, which should be accessible for all settlements included in that area. Here there is a need for develop-ing communications and ensuring access to them.

In our opinion, natural development will lead us to this option. The role of governmental agencies is to support and encourage these processes.

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AS WITNESSED BY JOURNALISTS

The town, where people live

By the initiative of the PRSP Monitoring and Coordinating Unit of the Ministry of Finance and Economy and within the framework of the “Creation of a Social Monitoring and Analysis System” project, staffs of M&A Units in marz governments conducted a comprehensive survey of communities in Armenia. The results revealed that there are 25 towns (53 per cent of urban communities) among the 402 poorest communities in Armenia. Moreover, it was determined that manifestations of poverty are more evident in small, border and mountainous communi-ties. Journalist Andranik Voskanyan, shares his impressions of one of these communities with readers.

We passed through the last turn of an almost unusable road with huge difficulty. We could see the settlement stretching along the gorge, Dastakert, established by hard working Armenians a few decades ago, which has unfortunately changed substantially in recent years and is “disappearing un-noticeably”, although it is still referred to as a town.

Town …. Sounds ostentatious, doesn’t it? Formerly, here on the lower slopes of Ayri Mountain in Syunik region, at the origin of the river

with the same name, at a 17km distance from Sisyan, there was an operational branch of Kajaran cop-per-molybdenum production factory, which provided employment and ensured normal living stand-ards for more than 7000 residents of the settlement.

Years passed and conditions changed with time, exploitation of the mine discontinued. A majority of Dastakert residents have moved to other places in search of livelihood.

Today Dastakert is pleading for help and waits hopefully. Incidentally, Ingersoll a 19th century American publicist argued that:

Helping hands are holier than praying lips.

Dastakert today, at the crossroads of reality and dreams

The town has 125 households and 310 residents; 210 are refugees from Baku, Sumgait and Ki-rovabad. Another 450 refugees could not cope with the difficult socio-economic conditions and left the town.

41 persons are officially registered as unemployed (the actual figure is three times higher, and there are no available jobs).

The town government has 7 employees and 6 people work at the school (unfortunately hospital, factory, service infrastructures, movie theater and shops either do not exist or are non-operational).

Much to the content of Dastakert residents 3 babies were born in the town this year, which means that 7 years later on September 1st, the so called Knowledge Day, will be commemorated by 3 new ABC textbooks and first grade pupils starting their school (unfortunately, it would be difficult to bring Yerevan officials and scholars to the event, since … if things remain unchanged Dastakert, by that time, will only have two trucks and one horse available).

40 families in the town receive social benefits (unfortunately “his Excellency the Need” reigns in many homes and evil-mindedly suggests moving “from one end of the world to the other”).

It is consoling that the UN WFP, with the support of the government, charitably provides warm food to children of pre-school age; it is only unfortunate that the town being in its pre-school age itself needs care, a fact that compels one to shout SOS loudly so that the entire world would hear.

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Conversations in time and out of time

During conversations with Dastakert residents some realities were brought to surface, which on the one hand represent the numerous problems of the town, and on the other hand the lack of knowl-edge among residents on the ways to overcome those problems.

Genarik Abrahamyan, who is a father of five children (there are 5 large families in Dastakert), was rightly complaining that there are no reasonably paid available jobs. It is impossible to provide for the family by cultivating a mere 400 sq m of privatized land, especially when the only crops that can be cultivated are potatoes and beans. He suggested that a low interest rate credit would be useful, although, frankly speaking, he did not have a clear idea of what kind of business he would start, or how he would organize the work and how much income he would be expecting.

54 year-old who ended up in this remote corner of Armenia after fleeing Baku with her family, characterized her situation as “hanging in the air”. The fact of the matter is that, from among her five children, her daughter left for Russia, her son has returned from the army and is jobless, her husband is a second category disabled person, and she does not receive pension, since, as she puts it, her “points” are not enough…

Vladimir Kaprielyan aged 70, who narrowly escaped Baku, could not salvage neither his employ-ment record, nor the references and medals he received for diligent work; now his years of work in Baku are not taken into account and he receives a pension of AMD3400, and although he receives it regularly, but it does not cover his costs.

School director Serop Apresyan, who was born and still lives in Dastakert, considers the current situation in the town to be alarming and mentions:

- We don’t know what’s happening in the world, in our own country. We do not receive newspa-pers, there is no radio, only 4-5 “lucky families” can watch TV programs of the Public Television, that is of course if weather conditions are favorable. Thus, people are gradually alienated from their hometown and become emigrants. But why should I and my children leave our country; where should we go? After all, we are not the stepchildren of our country. Formerly, we received a 20 per cent sal-ary bonus as workers in upland areas, which was a serious supplement to our income as teachers. But for the last three years we have not received the bonus and we ask ourselves the question: what has changed? Did the sea level rise, or our mountains have shrunk … By the way, in the neighboring Suflu village the bonus is still paid, for which I am, of course, happy, however I would like to remind that Ayri River flows from our settlement to Suflu village and not vice versa.

Reporter: - You, perhaps more than any other one in your community, are aware of the situation in the

country and its root causes. What solutions could you propose?

S. Apresyan: - Proposing an increase in social benefits would be unreasonable and inappropriate; this would not

solve the employment problem, and people want to earn their own living. Amalgamation with neigh-boring villages is not an option either, since our neighbors do not have reserve lands either and this will not increase employment opportunities for us. Probably the provision of low interest rate credits to such settlements and communities should be legally regulated.

- There are other solutions as well. Dastakert does not have cultivated lands, but there are excellent pastures and conditions are most favorable for livestock production. Establishment of only one live-stock farm will drastically improve the living conditions for Dastakert residents. Or, “Noy” drinking water is sold in Armenia and abroad. I assure you that mountain springs originating from our river have taste and quality characteristics equal to “Noy”, but they flow away in vain, while with gov-ernment support and/or availability of low interest rate credits the corresponding production can be organized and consequently tens of jobs can be created. One can make many plans, but funds, which

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we do not have, are needed for implementing them. We do not even have a wealthy entrepreneur with family origins in Dastakert, who would be kind enough and start a business here …

The future is alarming; we survive only thanks to the past; this is why the present eludes us.

Interview with Dastakert mayor Nairi Filosyan

Reporter: - You are aware that expert assessments conducted jointly by the government and prominent

international organizations within the framework of poverty reduction strategy revealed that your community is one of the poorest in Syunik marz. Would you elaborate please?

N. Filosyan: - Our town is linked to the former regional center and the main national highway by a 20km long

half-ruined road, by which only 1 bus travels three times a week (not taking into account occasional visitors and unexpected guests). Drinking water pipelines need to be repaired, but the town govern-ment does not have the AMD3.5 million necessary and it cannot find a businessman or wealthy benefactor who would fund the activity. Roofs of 11 residential houses, the club and service center have been seriously damaged as a result of continuous heavy snowfall. Just US$7,500 is enough for repairing the roofs of all buildings in the town, but the community does not have that money. For comparison, I would say that with this money you can buy a new “Niva” car in Yerevan. We do not have any agricultural machinery. We currently have 70 heads of cattle and 150 heads of sheep. By the way, the price of milk here is AMD60 per liter; this means that 1 liter of milk has the same price as 0.5 liter of Jermuk or Bjni mineral water. The total debt of residents to the only private shop in the town exceeds AMD1 million. 20 young boys and 12 young girls living in Dastakert do not marry because they do not have jobs and cultivated land. And searching for jobs outside the community is a hopeless endeavor; the situation in neighboring villages is not more favorable.

- The average annual income of livestock farms is less than AMD100-110 thousand, and for other farms the income is half that amount. The total cultivated land is 6 ha, which is inadequate. We have an ambulatory with 2 nurses and one doctor pays visits every other day. The marz government is not able to provide substantial assistance. The only bridge linking the settlements with the world is un-safe. The President of the Republic has promised that this problem will be solved this year.

Reporter: - So what are your suggestions for improving the situation gradually?

N. Filosyan: - The fact that a state poverty reduction strategy is going to be implemented and the government

will take consistent measures in that direction gives us some hope. But proposals will remain on paper if funds necessary for their implementation are not allocated in a timely manner and properly control-led. In our opinion support should be provided to the community for establishing a hawthorn juice production. The raw material is available, and labor is abundant; harvesting will be done not only by residents of Dastakert, but also 5-6 other neighboring villages and they too will have incomes.

- If the necessary low interest rate credit is provided it would be possible to establish a beekeep-ing farm as well. I assure you that if this happens there would no shortage of high-quality honey in Armenia.

- It is also possible to organize fish production; the area, its water resources and climatic conditions are favorable for this purpose. It goes without saying that the 300ha of excellent pastures belonging to the community allow for the establishment of a livestock production farm, which will ensure jobs, as well as high quality products and substantial incomes. Financial investment by only one businessman in any of the mentioned directions will solve the income and livelihood problem for all residents and

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will keep them on their ancestors’ land. - Dastakert children, like all other children, have the need to communicate with others. With the

support of the Armenian Church, each year 1 child is given the possibility to stay in a summer camp free of charge, for which we are thankful. However, this is not a solution to the problem. No large investments are necessary for establishing a tent camp near the settlement (natural and climatic con-ditions are attractive, fresh air, opportunities for safe hiking). Moreover, summer jobs will be created for 10-12 unemployed locals. Our community is ready to help “within the limits of its possibilities” and provide the organizers with all the privileges stipulated in the law, we just want “things to start moving” ….

Reporter: - What should be done specifically? Winter is just around the corner.

N. Filosyan: - Using the opportunity I would like to request that if possible at least 5-6 families be provided

with 10 sheep each; in one year’s time the lambs born would stay with the household and the sheep would be transferred to other families. Of course, this is an temporary solution, but there is no other choice ...

Reporter: - Is there anything else you would like to say?

N. Filosyan: - On behalf of Dastakert residents, I would like to thank WFP and the Spanish Action Against

Hunger for the help and support they provided to our community. I also wish that the evil of “pov-erty” would be eliminated from our country and our community as soon as possible. We do not want to live at the expense of others; we want to live with our own labor and income, as it is befitting for hard-working Armenians.

Instead of epilogue

The difference between large and small towns is that in large towns one can see many things, and in the small ones one hears many things… The first turn on the road back hid the small town of Das-takert on the slopes of Ayri Mountain, which needs help and is waiting in anticipation.

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The forgotten town

During the recent elections marathon, which is already part of history, in Gagarin workers town of Gegharkunik marz votes were bought for only … 500 drams. And for someone in the clutches of poverty even 500 drams is a respectable sum.

This town lives a strange life. Of course, if it can be called “a life”: people try to survive one day at a time and do not think about anything except their daily bread. Whereas, Gagarin used to be an industrial center of national significance during the Soviet times, where 2650 people worked. The town had 526 households, now it has only 256 families or 1812 residents. A significant part of the population has emigrated in search of employment.

Joblessness has long become the main way of life for Gagarin residents. The most blessed people are pensioners; at least they periodically receive a small sum. Probably there is one last possibility for making money, i.e. working in neighboring villages as hired labor. Almost no one has private land, since the town was not planned originally for that purpose, it was a typical workers town without pas-tures and other agricultural land, with around a dozen of large factories and enterprises, which have long become only memories.

Among them there was a lighting equipment factory, where Vagharshak Manukyan has worked for 20 years. “Until recently we used to collect aluminum waste from Nubarashen area and sell it to col-lection points, but there is no more aluminum to collect. We Gagarin residents are cheap labor force for neighboring villages, we work as serfs for them”, he mentions explaining the sad realities of day to day survival. How else can we survive? There is no other way. Authorities have forgotten about us. And if some of them remember us, it is only for elections; they come, say beautiful and encouraging words and leave.

Nobody thinks about job creation; it is already fourteen years that nothing has been built in Gagar-in. Only God knows when things are going to get better ...”

Today we can state that the majority of problems in Gagarin started in 1995, when according to “Administrative-Territorial Division Act” the town was joined with Sevan town as one district. Whereas, Gagarin is at a 10km distance from Sevan … And Sevan town, other than its thousand and one difficulties related to the transition period, has to deal with this absurd responsibility as well.

Sevan Mayor Gevorg Malkhasyan is well informed about Gagarin’s problems and he does not think that they would be solved in the near future. “In Soviet times we had a number of enterprises of national significance, where people worked with almost their entire family” - Mr. Malkhasyan says. After the collapse of the Soviet Union the entire infrastructure disintegrated. Sadly I have to mention that these enterprises are robbed to an extent that they are no longer attractive for any potential in-vestor. By the way, taxes and compulsory payments collected in Gagarin do not go to Sevan, but are revenues for Geghamavan community budget, since the town is in the administrative territory of that community. However, Sevan Mayor deals with the current issues of the town. In my opinion, this is an issue that needs to be regulated by the government.

The Mayor tries to improve conditions for Gagarin residents within the limits of his possibilities. For example, a carpet weaving factory opened recently with 250 employees; within the area of the kindergarten, which is being renovated with support from Save the Children, a bakery will open,

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where seven locals will be working. Some steps are being taken. But they are few and far between and cannot be considered adequate. In this carpet weaving factory there are only 40-50 employees today, and the reason is not lack of interest at all; the work demands good vision, and the majority in Gagarin today are the elderly, the youth emigrate, since, as they put it, living is this “prison without barbed wires” has become unbearable and hopeless.

Ten years ago the local school had 588 students, and today the number has reduced to 242. Gas supply in the town has deteriorated substantially, the reason is that Gagarin received natural gas in 2000-2002 and payments were guaranteed by the former Sevan Mayor, but residents could not pay for it. The total debt amounts to 146 million drams. The supplier “Armrusgasprom” has taken the town government to court and today the debtor has difficulties even in paying salaries of its employees, since the major share of its revenues are collected for debt repayment.

Gagarin residents are of the opinion that the town should have a separate status, otherwise the problems will persist and become even deeper. “In other places the population is divided into the rich, the well-off, the middle class, the poor, etc. But all of us here are extremely poor” – says Derenik Sahakyan in a somewhat insulted tone. - Young people leave the town, and the ones who stay do not get married, there is no money for that. Shop owners, at least, understand our situation and give us goods on credit, this is the only consolation left for us”.

The five-member family of Arusyak Mkhitaryan, who has worked for 16 years in the light bulb factory, lives in a one room apartment, the building is near collapse and all family members are un-employed. “Factories are robbed; tomorrow our country will not have enough iron to make even a needle. Why don’t they revise the privatization process and create jobs? A few days ago two report-ers visited us; they were from newspapers; what is newspaper? There are families who are not able to watch TV, since their power is cut off because they could not pay for it. If anyone is able to keep livestock by buying feed, that is already a luxury”.

One can go on and on. Ah, I have to add that we have water here once every three days, at nights for a few hours, the water is rusty and we do not have a shortage of intestinal diseases. Preferring not to wait for this dirty water, people fetch water with buckets from a far away gorge.

According to the 79 year-old school Director V. Yeghiazaryan, because of the difficult financial situation it is not possible to co-finance school renovation by even 10 per cent, which is the minimum required by investment regulations; whereas, the Social Investments Fund has allocated US$70,000 for this purpose. I have applied to marz government, let us see what their response will be. If Gagarin was granted a separate status, we would be able to solve some of our problems. Shortage of local specialists is one of the most urgent problems of the school; Armenian history is not being taught for 4 years already, and there were no chemistry classes for the last 2 years. In the new academic year we will have only 19 first grade pupils. This shows that birth rates are dropping because of the difficult social conditions.

This is how a town in the center of Armenia, carrying the name of the first astronaut, but almost isolated from the rest of the world, lives.

Rima Yeganyan

93

Give us back our status

Regardless of difficulties

The future existence of three border areas in Tavush marz, with the same fate and almost identical problems, is in question today.

They have tried all the possible solutions they could think of, have tried to figure out the best way to deal with the situation, have knocked on every door, devised numerous programs and were convinced that this is above their capacity and finally laid down their “arms” since there was nothing they could do.

But, in their hearts they have one window of hope left and they have protected the border despite all kinds of difficulties. They made the decision together: “We will stay, and would not leave our land” – said 80 percent of residents.

And they did the impossible, “squeezed bread out of stone, fetched water from mountains, fought the nature and created a minute opportunity for living and survival, and clinging to that precarious opportunity they are waiting for the window of hope to open.

These communities are unique by their names as well: one of them was the first one to spread the word about the newly gained freedom and is called Azatamut (beginning of freedom), the other one was named Ayrum (burning) having little water and burning under scorching sun, and the last one, surrounded by thriving gardens of neighboring villages is called Aygepar (surrounded by gardens).

Formerly, regardless of their size, all these communities had town status, but today they are com-plaining about their status and their share of problems. They do not have land and they cannot plant gardens or cultivate other crops and have a harvest, but nevertheless they are called “villages”, and thus should have budget revenues, make payments, undertake obligations and solve problems.

People know the value of labor in the settlement surrounded by gardens

The first place I visited was Aygepar village in Berd region, which is the closest to the border, a wonderful area surrounded by gardens, which greets you like a friend and also like someone waiting for a good thing to happen. The dawn had just arrived and a man around 75 years of age, with not much clothes was sitting in front of the village council building…

The day was a non-working day and the fact the he had come out of his house that early in the morning caught my attention. “Where else can I go, my daughter, we are only two in the house, me and my wife. You will not see any of my 5 children around, it’s only us, if there were jobs all of them would come back. I come out of the house to distract myself from problems; it is very difficult for me. Drinking water is such a simple thing and we even do not have that, and the border is just 100 meters away”, - mentions the old man Ardavazd Melkumyan.

Maybe surprised by seeing a visitor at this hour, or just wanting to participate in the conversation, a second person Susanna Avagyan, who used to work at Aygepar wine factory, joins us. A factory, which used to purchase 13 thousand tons of grape instead of today’s 1500 tons. “If they operated this factory, I could contribute my labor; I am still young and able to work. Otherwise what is this like, without land, without pastures, we somehow survive by grazing cows, this is not living” – says the second person just joining us.

More and more people join the conversation; all of them want to get things off their chest. “We have had numerous visits by various organizations, they came and left promising to solve our prob-lems, and nothing happened.” – says Sirush Khachatryan, “My refugee sister Vardush Shamaeva is bedridden already for a long time and I am the only one taking care of her, I cannot buy the needed medicine, and we do not have a wealthy villager from whom I can borrow money.”

94

Another resident Manushak Hambartsumyan has different problems; she somehow found a tem-porary job through the regional employment center (as a street cleaner) and her young son gives her a helping hand. Her other two adult sons are looking for jobs. “How long can we continue like this?” – she asks.

Mayor Hrant Sahakyan approached the young people standing nearby, noticed me interviewing residents and invited me to his office. He presented the situation in the village as follows: From among 765 residents of the community 165 have left for seasonal jobs. The village used to have 3 processing factories for wine, canned food and tobacco fermentation. The town was created based on these industries in 1947-1949. The community has a 600 meter long border with Azerbaijan, and the last house is only 200 meters away from the border. It is surrounded by orchards of Movses, Lower Karmiraghbyur and Tovuz, and that is why it’s called Aygepar.

In 1964 the canned food factory and in 1968 the wine factory started operations. Around 60 per cent of GDP produced in the region used to be generated in Aygepar, and the village produced 3 per cent of the total tobacco in the former Soviet Union. “Locals have grown accustomed to an environ-ment formed by labor and laborers, and it would be desirable if any of the mentioned factories oper-ated fully”, – the Mayor says.

He was somewhat upset by the fact that the wine and cognac factory opened in Berd, while all the necessary conditions for establishing the production existed in Aygepar. It is somewhat strange that none of the owners of the 3 factories is from Aygepar and consequently they are not interested in the fate of those factories.

Without land we will neither have a homeland

“We do not have any space behind the walls of our buildings and we sometimes joke that one day someone will come and tell us that we are not living on our homeland.” – says Hrant Sahakyan. In Mayor’s opinion one of the most important preconditions for eradicating poverty is the availability of land; “If the 29 ha area of the former airport was allocated to the community for establishing orchards, then the difficult situation of us former town dwellers now considered to be villagers would improve” – the Mayor says. Our budget should be formed by payments from the 3 factories, whereas the direc-tor of the canned food factory has not visited the community since 1996.

“Isn’t there any authority that could force the owner to operate the factory?”- locals complain. The equipment was transported to Varagavan canned food factory long time ago, but they are still

on the balance sheet of our community. As if these problems were not enough, we do not have drinking water either. There are no natural

springs in the community and we use artesian wells, and even this water is not available all the time and its supply depends on the will of military officials in the area.

Aygepar has not received subsidies for the last three months. Consequences are self-evident. “I am always with my people, if they become hopeless, I will continue to support them. We do not want humanitarian assistance, only development programs will save us; nothing would change if the com-munity does not become stronger economically.” – concludes Hrant Sahakyan.

The conclusion is a rather sad one, since Aygepar without its own agricultural land, but still con-sidered a village, does not have the means to make this corner of the motherland flourish; and this is a threat as well, as one of the locals shrugged his shoulders sadly and said: “Without land one does not have a motherland either, my daughter”.

Community’s potential is its intellectual capacity

Formerly, Azatamut was an industrial town famous for its bentonite. Around 1000 people worked only in the bentonite factory, and today 1000 of the 3600 residents have left for seasonal work. Today there are 260 students in the secondary school, instead of 1000 students the school used to have. Ac-

95

cording to Mayor Ashot Amirjanyan, 80 per cent of community’s population is poor; he has his own suggestions for overcoming this poverty.

- The border should open, and the area should have its own market. The situation of the culture club is alarming, it was included in the list of facilities to be privatized in 1995, but its fate is not clear as of today. The marz government has applied to the central government for the ownership to be transferred to the community, but there is no response yet. But we hope that the Prime Minister will fulfill his promise and will solve this very important issue, because a richer cultural life is one of the factors that will make people stay. Today we have no cultural life whatsoever. Our only asset is our cheap labor, and if jobs are not provided for them, we will have very serious problems soon. We have a 2km long common border with Ghazakh and we should show them that we are flourishing, instead of showing them our miserable conditions. We are a hardworking nation, we have always been proud of our ability to build; works of Armenians have decorated tables of many kings and rulers.

We have no shortage of professionals. Our intellectual potential is our asset. We have a good build-ing for the culture club and kindergarten, a wonderful park and a football field, as well as good roads, even the municipal garbage is removed regularly. There are good possibilities for recreation, but most importantly there are no jobs.

oday there is a large demand for bentonite, it is important for agriculture as well, and what are our scientists thinking?

If the railroad was operational, things would have been different. People have always had a decent living standard in our community, and people did not know what poverty was. Today, even sending children to school has become a problem; they don’t have clothes or shoes.

God forbid, if someone needs to go to hospital; that would be a real catastrophe. We had an operational sewing factory with 300-350 employees, but not any more. Where should

we work, where should we go? And again we are faced with humanitarian assistance, which is de-meaning but nevertheless desirable due to the situation. As a result many families have broken up and many children have become orphans.

Implementation of agricultural development programs will alleviate some of the problems of us town dwellers, who are now called villagers. Our area is so beautiful, it is attractive and pleasant. But because of inconveniences visitors would not stay here for more than one day. Isn’t it possible to cre-ate conditions for the development of tourism? There are many opportunities, and there is a will also, but things are not changing. “In these conditions, wouldn’t it have been better if they returned us our previous status?” – concludes Ashot Amirjanyan.

Situation is alarming in Ayrum too

After 1991 the country adopted a new system of agrarian relationships; the monopoly of the state in land ownership was abolished.

Farms became the main organizational forms of economic activity. But, in parallel, infrastructures necessary for maintaining the production potential in villages and improving its productivity were not formed. Economic relationships between farms and suppliers, buyers, processing and sales or-ganizations and state agencies were not regulated. In these conditions the giant canned food factory in Ayrum faced insurmountable difficulties.

Today 2500 people live in Ayrum, whereas previously the population amounted to 3025. Of course, community residents appreciate the fact that peach orchards are gradually rehabilitated, but problems are nevertheless alarming. The most important and urgent among them is the lack of drinking wa-ter. “If a US$1 million investment was made for the construction of an 18 km water pipeline, 140 thousand residents of Lori marz and Noyemberyan, including Ayrum, would have adequate access to drinking water. Of course, the Prime Minister has promised that he will solve the problem and we in Ayrum are convinced that the problem will be solved”, - says Mayor Ruslan Antonyan.

The most important issue for the community is the re-operation of the canned food factory. There

96

was a time when 30-40 thousand tons of fruit was processed and 72 million cans were produced an-nually, which amounted to 18 per cent of the total cans produced in the former Soviet Union. 1800 employees used to work in the factory, today the number is very small only 10-12 people.

In 1995, the community was inappropriately granted village status, changing the town status it had form 1960s. The available 146 ha of land is covered with residential buildings, there is no agricultural land or livestock. “What kind of a village this is?” – Ayrum residents ask. Even if land is allocated today, one will need to travel 30-50 km in order to be able to cultivate it, which is difficult and inef-fective.

“The only solution is going back to town status. We have all the necessary conditions: residential buildings, swimming pool and other facilities corresponding to international standards “, - the Mayor mentions.

Relevant ministries are dealing with Ayrum’s problems, and if everything goes according to the plan it will become a town of 5000 people with its hotel industry.

Ayrum is the northern gate of Armenia and international roads pass through its territory and eve-ryone should be concerned about security here. Conditions are very poor right now, even the customs checkpoint does not have necessary minimum facilities, and what would foreign visitors think about us. Access to drinking water is also a huge problem.

We are a much politicized nation, we talk about and “analyze” politics everywhere, but we do not develop our lands with the same enthusiasm.

And many leave our “handkerchief size” country for various reasons. They go to other countries and form new communities. The land policy adopted in recent years should be followed by practical steps. The threat is eminent; whatever Armenian peasants have created throughout centuries can be lost in a very short time. As it was said by a great thinker: “There is only one reason behind the emer-gence and disappearance of nations: loss of fertility of land causes their disappearance, and continued fertility ensures their survival and wealth.”

Let us think about this: fertility of our lands and fate of people living there.

The time will not forgive us ….

Tatevik Nazinyan Tavush marz

97

ANNEX

1SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED TOWNS IN THE REGIONS OF RA

Map 1. Distribution of urban population by marzes of RA

(in total urban population, %)

Source: �The Socio-Economic Situation of RA in January-June 2003�, RA NSS, Yerevan 2003.

less than 3.0 %

3.0 - 5.0 %

5.0 - 10.0 %

more than 10.0 %

LORI - 8,2%

ARAGATZOTN - 1,6%

ARARAT - 3,9%

ARMAVIR - 4,8%GEGHARKUNIK - 3,9%

KOTAYK - 7,5%

SHIRAK - 8,4%

SYUNIK - 5,0%

VAYOTS DZOR - 0,9%

TAVUSH - 2,5%

YEREVAN - 53,3%

Map 2. Distribution of marzes of RA by actual urban population share

Source: 2001 October Census data, http:// www.armstat.am

less than 30 %

30 - 50 %

50 - 70 %

more than 70 %

LORI - 59,1%

ARAGATZOTN - 23,7%

ARARAT - 29,4%

ARMAVIR - 35,6%GEGHARKUNIK - 33,4%

KOTAYK - 56,4%

SHIRAK - 61,2%

SYUNIK - 67,9%

VAYOTS DZOR - 34,8%

TAVUSH - 37,6%

YEREVAN - 100%

2 ARMENIA SOCIAL TRENDS. THE MARZES OF RA

Map 3. Distribution of RA marzes by the share of families with three and more children

in total number of urban households per marz

Source: NHDS, 6000 households Survey, 2003 April-May

less than 5.0 %

5.0 - 10.0 %

more than 10.0 %

LORI - 7,1%

ARAGATZOTN - 11,7%

ARARAT - 10,2%

ARMAVIR - 7,9%GEGHARKUNIK - 10,7%

KOTAYK - 6,7%

SHIRAK - 6,9%

SYUNIK - 6,4%

VAYOTS DZOR - 6,8%

TAVUSH - 4,9%

YEREVAN - 4,9%

Map 4. Distribution of RA marzes by the share of the disabledin total urban population

Source: NHDS, 6000 households Survey, 2003 April-May

less than 5.0 %

5.0 - 6.0 %

6.0 - 7.0 %

LORI - 5,2%

ARAGATZOTN - 7,8%

ARARAT - 6,8%

ARMAVIR - 4,7%GEGHARKUNIK - 5,8%

KOTAYK - 4,5%

SHIRAK - 5,4%

SYUNIK - 6,4%

VAYOTS DZOR - 5,2%

TAVUSH - 7,4%

YEREVAN - 4,3%

more than 7.0 %

3SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED TOWNS IN THE REGIONS OF RA

Annex 1. Social indicators of Armenia�s small and medium sized towns, 2002Population according to the census of

2001

Share of vulnerable groups in actualpopulation, estimated by town authorities,

%Marz TownActual

populationRegisteredpopulation

Pensioners Disabled Refugees

1 Ashtarak 22567 25066 13.7 ... 5.32 Aparan 5711 6614 9.7 1.7 1.0Aragatzotn

3 Talin 4981 5614 13.4 3.2 2.44 Hrazdan 43926 52808 27.3 6.6 0.9

5 Abovyan 38876 44569 11.0 2.6 2.86 Byureghavan 7023 8152 15.4 3.5 11.7

7 Yeghvard 10783 11627 14.6 0.3 1.98 Tzaghkadzor 1578 1618 20.0 5.1 10.3

9 Nor Hajn 9458 10168 5.9 2.0 1.7

Kotayk

10 Charentsavan 19708 25039 13.7 0.1 1.911 Artik 15985 17561 15.7 1.7 1.5

Shirak12 Maralik 4995 5782 18.6 6.6 0.113 Gavar 23302 26621 7.1 1.8 0.414 Sevan 20090 22911 30.0 10.0 1.315 Martuni 11117 11756 13.0 3.3 0.116 Vardenis 11465 12753 18.8 6.1 6.1

Gegharkunik

17 Jambarak 6198 6405 16.4 6.9 4.418 Ijevan 15370 20223 23.3 8.0 1.519 Dilijan 14846 16202 21.0 3.0 0.520 Berd 8435 8810 16.4 4.0 0.4

Tavush

21 Noyemberyan 5156 5486 19.2 6.2 0.722 Stepanavan 14322 16735 13.0 3.0 0.323 Alaverdi 15442 17296 19.5 4.6 0.124 Spitak 13592 14984 14.0 4.9 2.325 Tashir 7856 9538 11.9 3.5 4.626 Akhtala 2245 2456 19.4 2.3 6.827 Tumanyan 1750 1954 16.5 1.9 0.0

Lori

28 Shamlugh 841 882 24.3 2.4 4.129 Artashat 22567 25066 22.4 6.4 1.630 Ararat 19573 20480 8.4 3.1 3.931 Masis 19048 21376 9.4 3.4 6.2

Ararat

32 Vedi 12281 12963 12.3 3.8 0.833 Armavir 28733 32034 12.4 3.2 2.534 Vagharshapat 51280 56388 17.1 3.9 1.7Armavir35 Metzamor 8853 9870 6.8 2.4 1.136 Kapan 34656 45711 18.1 6.0 11.737 Goris 20840 23261 14.5 6.2 2.038 Sisyan 15019 16843 11.1 4.6 1.939 Kajaran 7976 8439 9.9 2.7 11.340 Agarak 4741 4801 18.0 3.0 0.2

Syunik

41 Meghri 4514 4805 19.2 3.5 2.942 Yeghegnadzor 7724 8187 9.0 6.0 4.1

43 Vayk 5458 6024 12.7 3.2 3.0Vayots Dzor

44 Jermuk 6150 6418 9.1 3.1 7.5

Annex 2. Physical indicators of Armenia�s small and medium sized towns

Marz Town Altitude

above sea level, m

Distance from capital

city, km

Distance from marz capital, km

Length of urban streets, km / conditions

Share of streets with

asphalt pavement, %

1 Ashtarak 1175 20 - 92/average 81.5

2 Aparan 2010 53 34 15/poor 58.6 Aragatzotn

3 Talin 1600 70 52 92/poor 18.5 4 Hrazdan 1780 50 - 195/poor 100.0 5 Abovyan 1450 15 33 51/good 100.0

6 Byureghavan 1400 25 30 19/average 89.5 7 Yeghvard 1340 16 47 120/average 58.3 8 Tzaghkadzor 1850 60 5 8/good 100.0 9 Nor Hajn 1300 15 32 17/good 100.0

Kotayk

10 Charentsavan 1550 35 18 14/average 100.0 11 Artik 1780 110 26 60/poor 21.7

Shirak 12 Maralik 1718 85 25 60/poor 25.0 13 Gavar 2005 98 - 48/very poor 35.4

14 Sevan 1940 51 37 53/average 100.0 15 Martuni 2000 130 36 48/very poor 31.3 16 Vardenis 1940 178 75 34/poor 5.9

Gegharkunik

17 Jambarak 1865 130 100 27/very poor 26.8 18 Ijevan 750 135 - 42/average 75.5 19 Dilijan 1220 98 33 120/very poor 91.7 20 Berd 940 211 69 21/poor 11.9

Tavush

21 Noyemberyan 840 198 50 25/average 44.0 22 Stepanavan 1380 157 35 47/very poor 17.0 23 Alaverdi 750 184 55 41/poor 91.5 24 Spitak 1520 90 25 55/poor 46.3

25 Tashir 1505 174 53 36/poor 38.9 26 Akhtala 900 200 71 28/poor 53.6 27 Tumanyan 1200 165 35 16/poor 43.5

Lori

28 Shamlugh 1200 185 77 15/average 34.2 29 Artashat 828 30 - 70/very poor 4.3 30 Ararat 820 45 20 93/poor 96.5 31 Masis 830 14 19 41/average 38.0

Ararat

32 Vedi 900 48 19 48/average 56.3 33 Armavir 880 48 - 86/average 90.7 34 Vagharshapat 870 20 26 90/average 83.3 Armavir

35 Metzamor 830 40 6 7/average 100.0

36 Kapan 910 316 -- 120/average 100.0 37 Goris 1300 250 65 42/poor 85.7 38 Sisyan 1600 220 104 37/poor 73.0 39 Kajaran 1950 321 25 15/average 100.0

40 Agarak 660 380 90 14/poor 57.1

Syunik

41 Meghri 620 425 78 36/poor 57.7 42 Yeghegnadzor 1230 119 -- 38/poor 44.7

43 Vayk 1280 137 16 15/average 73.3 Vayots Dzor

44 Jermuk 2110 173 51 38/average 89.5

4 ARMENIA SOCIAL TRENDS. THE MARZES OF RA

Annex 3. Agricultural lands and agricultural employment in Armenia�s small and medium sized towns

Marz Town

Agricultural lands within

town�s administrative

territory, ha

Including owned by

households, %

Share of h/h having ag. land

including backyard plots, %

Average size of ag. land owned

by h/h, ha

Share of the employed

in agricultural sector, %

1 Ashtarak 2187 52.4 40.3 0.4 60.0

2 Aparan 1464 72.7 93.6 0.6 73.0 Aragatzotn

3 Talin 1406 94.0 94.4 1.2 79.0 4 Hrazdan 6450 61.3 33.5 0.8 45.0 5 Abovyan ... ... � � ... 6 Byureghavan - - - - - 7 Yeghvard 4023 67.4 � � � 8 Tzaghkadzor - - - - - 9 Nor Hajn - - 5.2 0.1 -

Kotayk

10 Charentsavan - - - - - 11 Artik 1800 31.7 19.9 0.5 40.0

Shirak 12 Maralik 1817 91.3 66.5 1.4 70.0 13 Gavar 8026 53.4 67.8 0.5 60.0 14 Sevan 211 100.0 20.1 0.1 3.4 15 Martuni 1356 74.2 66.2 0.3 60.0 16 Vardenis 2017 59.5 86.6 0.4 60.0

Gegharkunik

17 Jambarak 8485 100.0 54.2 6.4 81.0 18 Ijevan - - 15.1 ... 1.0 19 Dilijan 2128 31.3 48.1 0.2 1.0 20 Berd 2953 17.3 53.9 0.3 53.0

Tavush

21 Noyemberyan 1032 90.3 76.9 0.6 70.0 22 Stepanavan 1358 72.2 52.5 0.4 34.0 23 Alaverdi 5299 ... 9.7 ... 10.0 24 Spitak 3598 3.4 1.3 2.5 5.0 25 Tashir 7052 44.0 71.8 1.2 55.0 26 Akhtala - - 15.7 0.4 0.0 27 Tumanyan - - 17.7 0.1 0.0

Lori

28 Shamlugh - - 31.8 0.6 55.0 29 Artashat 1065 100.0 31.7 0.4 71.0 30 Ararat 26 65.4 7.7 0.05 1.5 31 Masis 975 60.7 42.6 0.3 64.6

Ararat

32 Vedi 1087 20.3 43.0 0.2 81.0 33 Armavir 600 90.0 55.5 0.1 - 34 Vagharshapat 1997 95.9 21.7 0.7 36.0 Armavir

35 Metzamor 15 100 16.0 0.03 - 36 Kapan 305 92.8 ... ... 6.0 37 Goris 2957 31.4 3.3 ... 57.0 38 Sisyan 3977 ... � � 67.4 39 Kajaran - - - - - 40 Agarak 130 ... 2.5 � 10.0

Syunik

41 Meghri 1355 5.5 17.8 0.3 50.0 42 Yeghegnadzor 1310 37.6 50.5 0.3 40.0 43 Vayk 32 100.0 23.5 0.1 30.0 Vayots Dzor

44 Jermuk 1774 2.8 11.4 0.2 10.0

Annex 4. Main housing stock indicators of Armenia�s small and medium sized townsApartment buildings

Marz Town Number of

single family houses

Total number

Share of buildings built 20 or more

years ago, %

Share of buildings in poor

conditions, %

Number of condominiu

ms, including operational

1 Ashtarak 3476 56 ... ... - 2 Aparan 1513 27 67.0 100.0 9/ 0 Aragatzotn

3 Talin 695 32 63.0 100.0 - 4 Hrazdan 3150 288 46.0 97.2 5 / 4 5 Abovyan 570 270 ... � 28 / 6 6 Byureghavan 108 59 51.0 81.4 - 7 Yeghvard 1214 28 14.0 85.7 - 8 Tzaghkadzor 350 6 100.0 66.7 - 9 Nor Hajn 120 63 84.0 100.0 2 / 2

Kotayk

10 Charentsavan 14 195 ... � 4 / � 11 Artik 1750 185 35.0 54.1 2 / 0

Shirak 12 Maralik 1500 70 ... 100.0 - 13 Gavar 8000 70 63.0 85.7 1 / 0 14 Sevan 1743 179 80.0 30.2 - 15 Martuni 1500 31 74.0 100.0 1 / 0 16 Vardenis 3000 43 63.0 100.0 1 / 0

Gegharkunik

17 Jambarak 1300 24 63.0 95.8 - 18 Ijevan 1086 101 55.0 85.1 - 19 Dilijan 3211 105 67.0 100.0 - 20 Berd 2510 27 96.0 33.3 -

Tavush

21 Noyemberyan 1035 19 53.0 100.0 - 22 Stepanavan 4500 174 6.8 56.3 2 / 2 23 Alaverdi 986 183 81.0 45.3 1 / 0 24 Spitak 1280 58 0.0 17.2 - 25 Tashir 2300 47 34.0 17.0 1 / 1 26 Akhtala 153 63 95.0 100.0 - 27 Tumanyan 116 28 54.0 39.3 -

Lori

28 Shamlugh 243 13 93.0 100.0 - 29 Artashat 5500 126 72.0 96.0 - 30 Ararat 305 171 81.0 46.8 - 31 Masis 1402 88 57.0 100.0 -

Ararat

32 Vedi 1800 38 5.2 63.1 - 33 Armavir 5979 142 35.0 85.9 - 34 Vagharshapat 4474 173 71.0 100.0 7 / 3 Armavir

35 Metzamor 73 65 61.0 38.6 - 36 Kapan 1380 252 91.0 91.3 17 / 2 37 Goris 4564 107 50.0 90.6 1 / 0 38 Sisyan 1391 103 76.0 41.6 1 / 0 39 Kajaran - 70 97.0 57.1 2 / 2 40 Agarak 185 35 74.0 77.1 -

Syunik

41 Meghri 612 38 34.0 73.7 - 42 Yeghegnadzor 1220 36 58.0 100.0 2 / 0 43 Vayk 384 32 75.0 100.0 - Vayots Dzor

44 Jermuk 7 123 71.0 30.1 -

5SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED TOWNS IN THE REGIONS OF RA

Annex 5. Facilities providing jobs; non-agricultural employment and well-being

in Armenia�s small and medium sized tows, according to assessments by town authorities

Marz Town

Number of operational facilities in economic

sectors

Number of operational facilities in social sector

Share of employed in non-agricultural

sectors, %

Share of non-poor according to mayor, %

1 Ashtarak 136 37 40.0 30.0 2 Aparan 41 19 27.0 3.0 Aragatzotn 3 Talin 35 37 21 30.0 4 Hrazdan ... 63 55.0 40.0 5 Abovyan ... ... ... 70.0 6 Byureghavan 68 13 100.0 50.0 7 Yeghvard 45 29 � 25.0 8 Tzaghkadzor 21 15 100.0 82.0 9 Nor Hajn 56 20 100.0 80.0

Kotayk

10 Charentsavan 74 27 100.0 25.0 11 Artik 67 37 60.0 30.0

Shirak 12 Maralik 50 20 30.0 20.0 13 Gavar 211 53 40.0 15.0 14 Sevan 139 46 96.6 43.0 15 Martuni 51 35 40.0 10.0 16 Vardenis 101 32 40.0 40.0

Gegharkunik 17 Jambarak 40 21 19.0 45.0

18 Ijevan 72 45 99.0 20.0 19 Dilijan 101 46 99.0 20.0 20 Berd 46 27 47.0 18.0

Tavush

21 Noyemberyan 47 33 30.0 5.0 22 Stepanavan 127 35 66.0 44.0 23 Alaverdi 210 59 90.0 7.0 24 Spitak 54 43 95.0 20.0 25 Tashir 64 27 45.0 65.0 26 Akhtala 15 13 100.0 30.0 27 Tumanyan 11 9 100.0 2.0

Lori

28 Shamlugh 6 4 45.0 40.0 29 Artashat 337 55 29.0 4.0 30 Ararat 112 47 98.5 28.0 31 Masis 179 46 35.4 35.0

Ararat

32 Vedi 85 38 19.0 18.0 33 Armavir 141 79 100.0 45.0 34 Vagharshapat 306 84 64.0 10.0 Armavir 35 Metzamor 73 20 100.0 25.0 36 Kapan 141 89 94.0 35.0 37 Goris 95 59 43.0 11.0 38 Sisyan 90 40 32.0 20.0 39 Kajaran 80 31 100.0 80.0 40 Agarak 39 17 90.0 70.0

Syunik

41 Meghri 44 24 50.0 50.0 42 Yeghegnadzor ... ... 60.0 20.0 43 Vayk 61 24 70.0 10.0 Vayots Dzor 44 Jermuk ... 20 90.0 40.0

Annex 6. Unemployment and extreme poverty in Armenia�s small and medium sized towns, 2002

Unemployment rate, %

Marz Town

Share of women in the unemployed registered at

employment services centers, %

according to employment

services centers

according to mayors

Share of the very poor according to

mayors, %

1 Ashtarak 68.9 2.0 80.0 10.0 2 Aparan 50.0 1.8 80.0 10.0 Aragatzotn

3 Talin 58.3 1.7 90.0 10.0 4 Hrazdan 72.9 3.5 45.0 5.0 5 Abovyan 66.4 12.4 15.0 5.0 6 Byureghavan 74.3 13.0 25.0 20.0 7 Yeghvard 60.1 5.2 24.0 17.0 8 Tzaghkadzor 58.3 ... 25.0 0.4 9 Nor Hajn 64.6 8.7 30.0 1.0

Kotayk

10 Charentsavan 63.8 21 45.0 16.0 11 Artik 70.3 13.4 60.0 35.0

Shirak 12 Maralik 62.0 3.5 50.0 20.0 13 Gavar 63.2 6.4 35.0 20.0 14 Sevan 76.2 6.9 15.0 12.0 15 Martuni 58.4 9.7 5.7 40.0 16 Vardenis 51.0 6.7 30.0 20.0

Gegharkunik

17 Jambarak 70.2 6.9 30.0 15.0 18 Ijevan 63.2 24.7 60.0 30.0 19 Dilijan 61.5 11.7 30.0 40.0 20 Berd 56.7 4.7 70.0 23.0

Tavush

21 Noyemberyan 52.8 13.0 30.0 20.0 22 Stepanavan 57.1 40.0 89.7 19.4 23 Alaverdi 61.8 11.8 70.0 14.0 24 Spitak 59.1 13.2 70.0 30.0 25 Tashir 69.7 6.2 12.0 5.0 26 Akhtala 50.0 12.0 70.0 10.0 27 Tumanyan 48.3 12.0 90.0 40.0

Lori

28 Shamlugh 47.1 12.0 60.0 20.0 29 Artashat 74.4 10.7 60.0 30.0 30 Ararat 64.3 16.4 63.0 10.3 31 Masis 59.0 8.6 42.0 10.0

Ararat

32 Vedi 58.6 3.4 35.0 20.0 33 Armavir 66.1 5.0 40.0 20.0 34 Vagharshapat 37.2 2.2 30.0 20.0 Armavir

35 Metzamor 67.3 4.2 42.0 25.0 36 Kapan 62.7 26.8 40.0 25.0 37 Goris 55.1 29.6 31.0 33.0 38 Sisyan 57.9 21.6 45.0 15.0 39 Kajaran 97.4 9.0 5.0 5.0 40 Agarak 81.2 10.0 10.0 10.0

Syunik

41 Meghri 73.3 19.6 56.0 10.0 42 Yeghegnadzor 69.5 9.7 40.0 20.0 43 Vayk 76.4 6.0 40.0 30.0 Vayots Dzor

44 Jermuk 62.5 21.0 12.0 10.0

� data not available

- not applicable

6 ARMENIA SOCIAL TRENDS. THE MARZES OF RA

Annex 7. Indicators of some basic services and access to the press

for Armenia�s small and medium sized towns

Frequency of availability of printed press

Marz Town

Share of h/hs connected to water supply and sewerage networks, %

Share of h/hs connected to gas supply networks

Share of h/hs having phone line,

% National

press Marz press Town press

1 Ashtarak 100.0 9.7 50.0 every day once a week every day

2 Aparan 92.0 78.0 90.0 few days a

week few days a

week once a month

Aragatzotn

3 Talin 60.0 60.0 80.0 few days a

week once a month none

4 Hrazdan 95.0 20.0 90.0 every day few days per

month none

5 Abovyan 100.0 5.0 70.0 every day every day none 6 Byureghavan 100.0 - 30.0 every day once a week none

7 Yeghvard 90.0 35.0 95.0 every day few days per

month few days

per month 8 Tzaghkadzor 100.0 80.0 100.0 every day every day every day 9 Nor Hajn 95.0 45.0 95.0 none none every day

Kotayk

10 Charentsavan 100.0 - 100.0 every day once a week

none

11 Artik 90.0 20.0 90.0 every day every day once a week Shirak

12 Maralik 90.0 25.0 80.0 every day once a week none 13 Gavar 75.0 40.0 60.0 every day once a month none 14 Sevan 75.0 48.0 80.0 every day once a month once a week 15 Martuni 23.0 45.0 80.0 every day once a month none 16 Vardenis 80.0 22.0 90.0 every day once a month none

Gegharkunik

17 Jambarak 70.0 0.0 60.0 every day once a month none

18 Ijevan 75.0 45.0 85.0 every day few days per

month once a month

19 Dilijan 100.0 20.0 80.0 every day few days per

month few days

per month 20 Berd 65.0 10.0 75.0 every day every day once a week

Tavush

21 Noyemberyan 90.0 70.0 95.0 once a week

none none

22 Stepanavan 80.0 35.0 30.0 every day once a week

none

23 Alaverdi 82.0 12.0 � every day every day every day

24 Spitak 90.0 40.0 70.0 every day few days per

month few days

per month

25 Tashir 90.0 59.0 95.0 every day few days a

week once a week

26 Akhtala 80.0 0.0 80.0 none once a week none

27 Tumanyan 95.0 0.0 45.0 once a week

few days a week

none

Lori

28 Shamlugh 70.0 0.0 45.0 few days per

month few days per

month none

29 Artashat 98.0 60.0 90.0 every day few days per

month few days

per month 30 Ararat 95.0 7.5 52.0 every day once a month none 31 Masis 80.0 25.0 90.0 every day once a month none

Ararat

32 Vedi 80.0 40.0 80.0 every day once a month none 33 Armavir 92.0 50.0 65.0 every day once a month none 34 Vagharshapat 90.0 5.0 90.0 every day none none Armavir 35 Metzamor 100.0 0.0 55.0 every day once a month none

36 Kapan 95.0 30.0 80.0 few days per week

few days per month

none

37 Goris 100.0 46.0 95.0 every day few days a

week every day

38 Sisyan 99.0 40.0 80.0 every day few days per

month few days

per month

39 Kajaran 100.0 0.0 70.0 few days a

week few days per

month none

40 Agarak 100.0 0.0 100.0 few days per week

few days per month

none

Syunik

41 Meghri 80.0 0.0 98.0 few days a

week few days per

month none

42 Yeghegnadzor 95.0 70.0 98.0 every day once a month none 43 Vayk 100.0 23.0 100.0 every day once a month none Vayots Dzor 44 Jermuk 100.0 50.0 70.0 every day once a month none

7SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED TOWNS IN THE REGIONS OF RA

Annex 8. Main directions of projects implemented in Armenia�s small and medium sized towns and three-year community development programs

Marz Town Projects implemented in the community

within the last five years Main directions of three-year

community development programs

1 Ashtarak

1. housing construction 2. provision of gas through supply network 3. healthcare system

...

2 Aparan

1. provision of gas through supply network 2. healthcare system 3. installation of local heating systems

repair of drinking water supply networks and piping within buildings 2. repair of rural roads

Aragatzotn

3 Talin 1. road construction 2. operation of production facilities 3. irrigation programs

...

4 Hrazdan

1. road construction 2. operation of production facilities 3. provision of gas through supply network 4. healthcare system 5. pre-school system 6. healthcare system

1. road repair 2. improving municipal services 3. provision of gas through supply network

5 Abovyan ... ...

6 Byureghavan

1. housing construction 2. road construction 3. formal basic education system 4. healthcare system

1. provision of gas through supply network 2. improvement of phone connection 3. road repair

7 Yeghvard

1. drinking water pipeline 2. provision of gas through supply network 3. formal basic education system 4. irrigation pipeline

1. construction of new gravitational irrigation network 2. construction of gravitational drinking water pipeline and gas supply for �Yerevanyan" district 3. road repair and sewerage system forthe new district

8 Tzaghkadzor

1. drinking water pipeline 2. road construction 3. provision of gas through supply network 4. formal basic education system

1. development of tourism and sports 2. preservation of historic and cultural values

9 Nor Hajn

1. drinking water pipeline 2. road construction 3. operation of production facilities 4. provision of gas through supply network 5. formal basic education system

1. construction of sports school 2. repair of all educational facilities and cultural facilities 3. creation of additional jobs

Kotayk

10 Charentsavan

1. operation of production facilities 2. provision of gas through supply network 3. formal basic education system 4. pre-school system 5. healthcare system

1. development of education 2. improvement of social sphere, city planning

11 Artik

1. drinking water pipeline 2. road construction 3. provision of gas through supply network 4. formal basic education system 5. pre-school system 6. healthcare system

1. repair, planning of urban streets 2. cleaning streets 3. repair of extracurricular activities center and culture club

Shirak

12 Maralik 1. road construction 2. provision of gas through supply network

1. solving problems related to drinking water 2. planning of urban streets

13 Gavar

1. drinking water pipeline 2. road construction 3. provision of gas through supply network

1. support to SME development

14 Sevan

1. provision of gas through supply network 2. formal basic education system 3. pre-school system

1. repair of drinking water pipeline 2. construction of sewerage 3. repair of town�s pantheon

15 Martuni

1. housing construction 2. road construction 3. provision of gas through supply network 4. operation of production facilities 5. irrigation water pipeline

1. provision of gas to �Vank� district 2. construction of a road to �Gomer� 3. housing construction in �Zoravar Andranik� district

16 Vardenis

1. drinking water pipeline 2. provision of gas through supply network 3. formal basic education system 4. pre-school system 5. healthcare system

1. repair of drinking water supply networks 2. construction and repair of sewerage 3. road construction

Gegharkunik

17 Jambarak 1. drinking water pipeline 2. formal basic education system 3. healthcare system

1. support to agricultural development 2. establishing production facilities 3. 3. installing irrigation network

18 Ijevan

1. drinking water pipeline 2. housing construction 3. provision of gas through supply network 4. pre-school system 5. healthcare system

1. repair of urban streets 2. construction of �Pagh Jur� drinking water pipeline

19 Dilijan

1. road construction 2. provision of gas through supply network 3. formal basic education system 4. healthcare system 5. housing construction 6. operation of production facilities

1. refurbishing healthcare system 2. re-operation of production facilities

20 Berd

1. drinking water pipeline 2. housing construction 3. road construction 4. operation of production facilities 5. provision of gas through supply network

1. asphalting urban streets 2. finishing gas supply work 3. repair of school No. 2 and culture club, sports school

Tavush

21 Noyemberyan

1. road construction 2. provision of gas through supply network 3. formal basic education system 4. pre-school system 5. healthcare system

1. planning of entrances and exits to and from the town 2. road repair 3. establishing an arts museum

8 ARMENIA SOCIAL TRENDS. THE MARZES OF RA

Marz Town Projects implemented in the community

within the last five years Main directions of three-year

community development programs

22 Stepanavan

1. housing construction 2. provision of gas through supply network 3. formal basic education system 4. pre-school system 5. healthcare system

1. development of tourism and health resorts network 2. SME development 3. establishing processing factories

23 Alaverdi

1. drinking water pipeline 2. road construction 3. provision of gas through supply network

1. SME development

24 Spitak

1. drinking water pipeline 2. road construction 3. provision of gas through supply network 4. formal basic education system 5. pre-school system 6. healthcare system 7. housing construction 8. operation of production facilities

1. housing construction 2. job creation

25 Tashir

1. drinking water pipeline 2. road construction 3. provision of gas through supply network 4. formal basic education system 5. pre-school system 6. healthcare system 7. housing construction 8. operation of production facilities

1. job creation 2. housing construction

26 Akhtala 1. drinking water pipeline 1. repair of urban streets 2. solution of problems related to drinking water supply

27 Tumanyan

1. drinking water pipeline 2. road construction 3. formal basic education system 4. pre-school system

1. opening a branch of gold jewelry factory 2. repair of buildings� roofs 3. repair of water supply and seweragesystems

Lori

28 Shamlugh

1. drinking water pipeline 2. road construction 3. formal basic education system 4. pre-school system

1. construction of water supply station2. repair of culture club 3. repair of road network

29 Artashat

1. drinking water pipeline 2. road construction 3. provision of gas through supply network 4. formal basic education system 5. healthcare system

1. asphalting urban streets 2. repair of drinking water pipeline 3. repair of pioneers club and kindergarten building

30 Ararat

1. drinking water pipeline 2. road construction 3. provision of gas through supply network 4. formal basic education system 5. pre-school system 6. healthcare system

1. road repair 2. establishment of local heating system

Ararat

31 Masis

1. drinking water pipeline 2. road construction 3. provision of gas through supply network 4. formal basic education system 5. pre-school system 6. healthcare system 7. improvement of production facilities

1. repair of drinking water supply networks in buildings 2. repair of residential buildings� roofs3. build a culture club

33 Armavir1. drinking water pipeline2. formal basic education system3. healthcare system

1. urban planning2. repair of cultural facilities3. planning new land areas

34 Vagharshapat1. provision of gas through supply network

1. development of tourism2. development of grape and fruitproduction

Armavir

35 Metzamor -

1. provision of gas through supplynetwork2. repair of roofs, basements and yards ofresidential buildings

9SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED TOWNS IN THE REGIONS OF RA

36 Kapan

1. drinking water pipeline 2. road construction 3. provision of gas through supply network 4. formal basic education system 5. pre-school system 6. healthcare system

1. maintenance of housing stock 2. support to SMEs 3. provision of long term credits

37 Goris

1. road construction 2. provision of gas through supply network 3. formal basic education system 4. pre-school system 5. healthcare system 6. 5. irrigation network

1. improvement of drinking water supply 2. repair urban streets 3. housing construction

38 Sisyan

1. drinking water pipeline 2. housing construction 3. road construction 4. formal basic education system 5. pre-school system 6. healthcare system

1. repair of urban streets 2. cleaning Vorotan river bed 3. repair town library

39 Kajaran

1. drinking water pipeline 2. operation of production facilities 3. provision of gas through supply network

1. finishing gas supply work 2. zoning lands within the administrative territory of the community and devise mechanisms for their use

40 Agarak 1. formal basic education system 2. pre-school system 3. healthcare system

solution of problems related to drinking and irrigation water 2. rehabilitating sports and cultural facilities 3. repair of urban streets

Syunik

41 Meghri 1. drinking water pipeline 2. road construction 3. pre-school system

1. repair of drinking water treatment plant 2. repair of culture club 3. repair of community roads and streets

42 Yeghegnadzor

1. drinking water pipeline 2. road construction 3. provision of gas through supply network 4. formal basic education system 5. healthcare system 6. repair of buildings� roofs and entrances

1. repair of irrigation network 2. repair of kindergartens 3. repair of the park

43 Vayk

1. drinking water pipeline 2. provision of gas through supply network 3. pre-school system

1. cleaning of flood drainage canals 2. repair of urban streets 3. repair of kindergartens

Vayots Dzor

44 Jermuk

1. drinking water pipeline 2. road construction 3. operation of production facilities 4. formal basic education system 5. pre-school system 6. healthcare system

1. solution of municipal services problems 2. urban planning

Marz Town Projects implemented in the community

within the last five years Main directions of three-year

community development programs