ARMINFO news agency:Political

Lise Grande, United Nations Resident Coordinator, UN Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in Armenia answers to the questions of Arminfo News Agency.

Q: Ms. Grande, in your view, how effective is the policy of the Armenian Government towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), and especially the reduction of poverty?

A: MDGs cover eight areas - poverty, education, gender, maternal health, child mortality, environment, and partnerships. Reduction of poverty is the first goal among MDGs. According to the most recent statistics, more than 40% of the entire population of Armenia still live below the poverty level. This is unacceptable for any country and especially for a country like Armenia, and it was a very important step forward for the Armenian Government to adopt in 2003 the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). This strategy has provided the Government with the framework that is aimed to solve one of the current key problems in the country. Other steps have also been taken: the state budget was linked to the PRSP objectives. These are all very positive steps. And there is no question that in Armenia during the recent several years the number of people living in extreme poverty has gone substantially down.

Let me bring the example of primary education (Goal No.2), where Armenia is doing well. Under the Soviet system Armenia was able to achieve universal primary education and largely maintained this level after independence. But there are serious questions about the quality or accessibility of education, especially in rural areas where not all children are enrolled. And we would like to see the primary education targets to reflect this issue in country's MDG agenda.

There are a number of areas where we would like to see the Government and the civil society do more; for example, women's empowerment: there are no women ministers in Armenia; just a few deputy ministers and members of Parliament. The same situation is in the business sector: there are no female leaders in the private sector of Armenia. So, there is more to be done in this sphere.

Q: In your view, how soon the poverty situation in the country will be considerably improved? Will Armenia reach the expected progress on MDG implementation by 2015?

A: Given the fact that Armenia is experiencing very high rates of GDP growth, and assuming that such rates will be maintained for a number of years, one could expect that Armenia could have reduced poverty more substantially. This indicates that few people benefit from the economic growth, and the UN is very concerned about this. We would like to see the country get rid of poverty, and the Poverty Reduction Strategy was a positive step forward. Nevertheless, we should ask ourselves what more could the state and the society do in order to really reach the Millennium Goal No. 1.

Will the country reach the Millennium Goals by 2015 depends on whether or not there is a coherent strategy. The PRSP is only the first step, and fulfilling the PRSP does not mean that the country really reaches MDGs. There are a number of issues that are not covered in the PRSP. If Armenia is serious about getting to the MDGs there has to be additional strategy and focus, more political commitment, and civil society has to be more involved.

In order for the country to reach the MDGs, more money has to be spent in social sectors from the state budget. If you look at Eastern Europe you will see that between 10% and 15% of GDP is spent on social sectors. Armenia spends only 5% of GDP on social sectors. If Armenia is going to reach the kind of level that is needed in order to ensure poverty reduction, and high quality healthcare and education, we have to see there is more money directed into the social sectors.

So, there is a question on how prioritised the state budget expenditures are. If you give some money to the social sectors, then you have to take it from some other things, and this indicates the kind of Government you have, what it is committed to. Political process is a question of making choices among priorities. If you are committed to reducing poverty, to improving the quality of education and healthcare - that means you have the budget for that. If Armenia wants to reach the MDGs, the allocated financial resources need to be increased.

Q: What new projects will UNDP Armenia carry out in 2005 taking into account the data on Armenia presented in the last Global Human Development Report (HDR)?

A: The Report draws our attention to the fact that human development is a lot more than just income generation. Let us imagine there is a country that has a very high GDP per capita, but where there is short life expectancy and limited access to education. In this case you have a rich country that in terms of human development is actually quite poor. The reason the United Nations is so proud of that yearly report is that it draws attention to all the dimensions of living such as life expectancy, education, health care - all of the things which matter to all of us.

In the case of Armenia, HDR suggests that there has been an improvement in the entire ranking because the economy continues to grow. But in other areas there is much to be done. The report is drawing attention to the fact that there are still issues related to information technology, the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, good governance and corruption.

Together with civil society and the Armenian Government we are able to identify priorities to work on. Among these priorities for the next year I would mention our National Social Monitoring System project, which helps to keep track of human development indicators. The project analyses various aspects of poverty in the country, reveals where exactly the poverty exists, what the levels of education are in different provinces, what really is happening in the health care system, with women, what the status of the environment is. And through the social monitoring system we hope to be able to identify where the most socially disadvantaged people live in Armenia. Our project involves local NGO sector in monitoring PRSP implementation. This is a very feature that UNDP is proud of.

Q: What is the next step toward better living standards for the most needy people after social monitoring is carried out?

A: As soon as we know where the poverty is in the country, the next step will be to transmit that information into a policy, and a better-targeted programme. The information that will come from the social monitoring system will be immediately shared with the Government and the PRSP working group to adjust the strategy. It is also used by various Ministries to identify where there is room for improvement of service accessibility. So, it is an incredibly useful mechanism because it allows the Government and civil society to better target the work in the provinces of Armenia.

Q: What projects will UNDP office implement in the sector of Information Technologies (IT) in 2005?

A: There is a project on establishing an electronic governance (e-governance) system in Armenia. This is a system, which is aimed at laying the ground for, what we call, "informational society". This is a very innovative and sophisticated project, and in a number of ways it builds on the human capital that Armenia already has. It is due to the fact that Armenia has such an extremely high educational level, that it has been in the forefront of information technologies for a long time. In the IT sphere we successfully cooperate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: we are working together to establish an e-consular services. And perhaps you know that Armenia was the second country in the world to introduce e-visa, which was also done in the framework of our project. We have also closely collaborated with the Central Bank to establish e-payment, e-banking, and e-commerce systems.

In 2005 UNDP Armenia will extend this project to cover the Armenian Parliament, so that the decisions taken in Parliament Committees are turned to electronic format, and shared with other members of the National Assembly, as well as with broader public. Our IT programme is part of the unique role that UNDP can play in assisting to lay the ground for the prosperous future of Armenia, so that Armenia will be able to fully integrate into the global economy.

Q: How do you estimate democratization processes in Armenia today? How do you estimate the work of the Government of RA in this direction?

A: Armenia is undergoing transition from a centralized system of governance into an open society, a free market system. Democratization takes time, and we see that Armenia makes very important steps to build a democratic society. These are meaningful steps, but there are a lot of other things that have to be done. Constitutional reform is one of these issues: if Armenia aspires to become part of the European family, then it has to meet a number of commitments and obligations to the Council of Europe, among others. And to do that the Constitution needs to be amended. We would really like to see full public participation in the process of constitutional reforms. We don't want the Constitution to be signed by just a few people; we want the nation to input into that Constitution.

In the same way we also think there is more to be done for the electoral reform. It is clear that the electoral process is key to ensuring public participation, accountability and transparency. And that means that steps need to be taken to introduce new electoral practices.

Q: In your opinion, are the Armenian mass media independent enough?

A: We are also concerned about ensuring that the media is truly pluralistic. In my view, good media represent different views. It is clear that among visual media we need to make sure there are lots of viewpoints represented, that it is not just one viewpoint, rather reflect the whole range of discussions in a given area. And in that sense the mass media in Armenia are independent and pluralistic; this is essential for the democratic processes in the country.

Q: What is the annual budget of UN in Armenia?

A: United Nations is a family consisting of a number of different agencies such as UNDP, UNHCR, UNFPA, UNDPI, UNICEF, WFP and others. This year the combined budget of all UN agencies in Armenia comprises more than 15 million dollars. I would like to underline that the amount of money going to the country in a sense depends upon the priorities identified by and with the Government of Armenia.

Q: Is the budget effectively disbursed? Does it make any difference for the country and the society?

A: This is always a key question for any donor organization. If your programmes do not make a difference in the country then it is not clear what your role really is. We take the issue of effectiveness very seriously in the UN, and it was a part of the reason why we are so committed to social monitoring because we want to make sure that the money that we spend in Armenia is going to the people who need them the most. Our full focus has been on socially marginalised groups, and on hard-hit communities.

Right now you could look at the country and say there are two Armenia's. There is an Armenia based in the capital city, where there are a lot of people doing very well and benefiting from the growth. And there is a whole other Armenia out in the rural areas, where poor people live, who are not benefiting from that growth. So what we do in the United Nations is to encourage support, we target it at that second Armenia, because we want it to be one country, for everyone to benefit from that economic growth, to reach social justice and freedom in the country.

Q: From your point of view, how much did the Government succeed in corruption combat?

A: As to corruption, it was a very positive step by the Government to adopt an anti-corruption strategy. In order for it to succeed, however, some real attention to the problem and political will is required to bring people who are corrupt to justice. It is not enough to adopt a strategy, to have a law; the important thing is to implement the law. In order to effectively implement that strategy and to monitor the situation, it is very important that the civil society be involved in monitoring the anti-corruption strategy implementation. We need to know that the Government is serious about fighting corruption, and steps should be taken to improve the judiciary, tax and customs administration, to name a few.

Q: What would you like to add?

A: To conclude, I would like to revert to the Millennium Development Goals. In order to draw attention to the MDGs in Armenia, the UN, Government and the civil society have agreed on a slogan - "Making sure no one is left behind". The idea that we are trying to capture is that Armenia will and is really making progress, there is an economic growth, but there are people that are being left behind, not benefiting from that growth. So, we'd like to see that everyone benefits from Armenia's increased economy.

In 2005 there will be held a global UN summit with the whole world's leaders participating, including, hopefully, President Robert Kocharyan. Leaders will meet to review the status of MDGs: where and what progress the countries have achieved since 2000, when the leaders met in New York and agreed on the MDGs. In this respect, we have initiated an awareness campaign through public service announcement that are broadcasted on Armenian television channels. This campaign will draw attention to the MDGs, and take and put those on the top of the national agenda, and then hopefully build a momentum for the whole year so that when the Government goes to the summit, every one in Armenia is committed to the MDGs, and is really a part of the national discussion.

Oksana Musaelyan , ARMINFO, 27 February, 2005