Message from Chief of Party

Welcome to the home of the USAID-Social Protection Systems Strengthening (SPSS) Project!

SPSS Project is a comprehensive initiative designed to foster sustainable social and economic well-being of Armenia funded by the American people and implemented by AECOM International Development, which does business in Armenia as TSG. The four programmatic components of SPSS aim to promote an equitable social insurance system, enhanced employment services, improved labor protection, and better targeted social assistance and social service programs. In each area the challenge for Armenia is to establish its best responses, and the role of SPSS is to help form these into ongoing locally-supported efforts. Many interested partners from the government, private sector and civil society work together with SPSS to strengthen Armenia’s social protections in a way that both improves social protection and supports market-led sustainable growth.

Read the following pages to learn of the milestones achieved by SPSS and its partners since the project launch in March 2007, bringing Armenia several steps closer to its goal of transition to self-reliance and sustainability, while reducing citizens’ dependence on public support for basic needs.

As we believe that raising public awareness of social-protection issues is a key to a democratic advance of systemic reforms, much attention is paid to seminars and roundtables raising and clarifying issues related to pension-system reform, hazardous industry safety, and access to essential employment and social services. Furthering the public discussion, journalists have been trained by SPSS experts to accurately report on employment and social issues through the use of reliable data sources. SPSS has also supported the Ministry of Labor and Social Issues (MLSI) to develop its capacity to communicate in a transparent manner to the public through the semi-monthly television program The Social Hour.

As the Year 2008 comes to an end, Armenia has defined a multi-pillar pension reform. For nearly two years SPSS has supported the pension reform decision-making process. Technical assistance and training was centered on the Prime Minister’s Pension Reform Working Group. International examples of good and bad practices they were considering were subjected to the scrutiny of statistical modeling and extensive discussion. In the third project year SPSS turns its attention to helping Armenia implement the reform it has chosen.

In 2008 SPSS has helped the State Employment Service Agency change its focus from that of a passive benefits agency contributing to static unemployment to an agency, taking an active role in helping employers and job seekers find one another. Similarly, SPSS has helped the State Labor Inspectorate switch from random enforcement of any possible Labor Code violation to an agency that identified the highest risk workplaces and works to prevent industrial accidents through safety education risk-based enforcement.

Another important milestone is our joint work with the MLSI to develop the necessary processes for it to rely on NGOs for delivery of necessary social services. A pilot of the social contracting mechanism during the first project year brought Armenia five day care centers for people with disabilities located in Yerevan and two other marzes. MLSI program and monitoring staffs have learned competitive tender and performance review processes. Social contracting is being piloted in four communities in the second and third years. A broad base of stakeholders has been involved in setting local social service priorities and providing oversight of the grants. The steps for setting service priorities, drafting RFPs and conducting competitions among NGOs, as well as monitoring and evaluating the impact of the service have been established for state and local governments. Equally important, MLSI and local program budgets now include lines that will provide for continuation of these essential social services.

Amy Ramm Chief of Party SPSS Project