Poverty and Democracy: Participation Processes in Armenia
The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation is supporting a program to promote the democratization process in the former Soviet Republic of Armenia. What is the effect of participation processes involving people affected by poverty ?
Factsheet
- Schools involved School of Social Work
- Institute(s) Institute for Childhood, Youth and Family
- Strategic thematic field Thematic field "Caring Society"
- Funding organisation BFH
- Duration (planned) 01.11.2024 - 31.07.2025
- Head of project Prof. Dr. Emanuela Chiapparini
-
Partner
DEZA
Yerevan State University, Social Work and Social Technologies
Situation
The aim of the multi-stage project is to bring about comprehensive improvements in the democratic process by refining and expanding political and institutional mechanisms. The following state institutions in Armenia are involved: the office of the prime minister, the national assembly, the finance ministry and other specialist ministries, as well as selected pilot municipalities. Non-governmental organizations working to promote democracy and independent media outlets are also involved. The BFH project 'User Involvement in Social Security Policy and Democratization Process in Armenia' identifies the concerns of people affected by poverty and gives them a voice in political processes, which is one of the aims of the DIPPA project. The BFH project is based on practice- and research-based findings from other projects on participation processes in Swiss poverty policy: Federal Social Insurance Office (FSIO): Models of Participation (2019-2020), FSIO: Specialist Course for People Experiencing Poverty and Experts (2021-2024), FSIO: Council for Poverty Issues (2022-2024).
Course of action
The project explores the contribution that participation processes can make to poverty policy and the democratization process in Armenia, and how participation could be designed. To start with, this goal will be implemented by holding a workshop with the head of the DIPPA project, decision-makers from the fields of politics and social services, and a researcher from Yerevan University. The aim of this exchange is to obtain up-to-date information on the status of the DIPPA project, to network widely and to present the “User Involvement” approach. At the same time, the theoretical and methodological basis for participation processes in the planned project is to be deepened. The concept of a “specialist course for people experiencing poverty and professionals” is discussed and revised for the Armenian context and in exchange with experts from politics and social services. This forms the basis for conducting workshops using participatory methods to identify the concerns of people affected by poverty, relevant experts and initial solutions. The workshops will be evaluated and the findings discussed with the head of the DIPPA project. This will be published as a scientific article in cooperation with Yerevan University, together with the findings from a meta-analysis of quantitative studies on poverty policy in Armenia.
