| Major group affiliation: |
|
| Involvement in UN Partnerships: |
Yes |
| If yes, explain in detail: |
UNHCR is the major donor of Mission Armenia. Mission Armenia is the accredited implementing partner of UNHCR since 1995 and since then thanks to UNHCR funding, Mission Armenia has uninterruptedly been providing a variety of assistance and services for refugee population in Armenia. Currently, under UNHCR funding Mission Armenia targets different age and gender groups from Azerbaijan, Iraq, Ukraine, displaced persons from Syria and Nagorno-Karabakh, Iran, Ivory Coast, Congo, Guinea, Ethiopia, etc. The assistance has a country-wide geographic coverage, including all the 11 administrative divisions of the country. It offers diversified assistance for people with and without special needs. The activities are provided through Mission Armenia Head Office, refugee sites, Reception Center, and Social Houses. The scope of assistance encompasses diversified assistance according to beneficiary needs. The activities include but are not limited to community-based social, health, care services, legal assistance and a variety of humanitarian emergency assistance, including rental subsidy support, temporary shelter support through social housing; support with schooling, winterization, food stuffs, basic household items, kitchen utensils, furniture, etc. aiming at: mitigating their extreme vulnerability and facilitating their integration process in local society. Mission Armenia maintains a differentiated approach by the factors of age and special needs, equally targeting the able-bodied and the homebound. Accordingly, older refugees, children, young people and women are on the focus of Mission Armenia with special diversified approach being rendered to each of the specific issues of these groups. In the realities of affected Government’s capacity to provide adequate care and protection, with suspended Sustainable Development Program on poverty reduction, as well as abruptly increasing number of refugees and asylum seekers, the UNHCR-funded assistance to the target beneficiaries has evidenced its vital importance for them to address their concerns and needs, access basic services and exercise/redress their social - health rights and privileges. |
| Purpose of the organization: |
Mission Armenia has a successful track record in the engagement of: refugee assistance; community-based support; advocacy & human rights protection; aging, poverty reduction & economic empowerment and social partnership Since its inception in 1993, Mission Armenia has implemented tens of large-scale programs, for which the NGO has received and administered over USD 35 million in grants funding provided by UNHCR, USAID, Armenian Authorities, the World Bank, Japan Social Development fund, Caritas Sweden, German Embassy, US Embassy, BPRM and many more international/European agencies/governments. Mission Armenia is the Implementing Partner of UNHCR and is the founder and represents the Secretariat of the Black Sea NGOs Regional Network on Social Improvement and Sustainable Development, as well as a member to international/regional/local networks. Mission Armenia supports refugee and local vulnerable people of different age and gender groups, including: elderly persons; economically vulnerable adults; people with disabilities; young people & children. Despite its various activities, however, the tangible contribution that Mission Armenia has had in the social support system is the development, implementation and enforcement of Community-based Model for provision of integrated services for the above-mentioned high-risk groups in Armenia which was so needed for the country and which it lacked. Mission Armenia has gained national recognition for its innovative programs in this sector promoting the betterment of the incomplete social support mechanisms that failed to respond to the new challenges caused by transition. Mission Armenia's mandate is: to promote protection of fundamental human rights of vulnerable local and refugee elderly and disabled people, youngsters, many-children families, orphans, etc., and lobby for social policy change. The NGO has established innovative programs to strengthen and empower its beneficiaries and to alleviate poverty in Armenia. The Government of Armenia has incorporated some of Mission Armenia’s activities in the State Mid-Term Expenditures Program. Mission Armenia is active countrywide, including Yerevan and ten provinces. It implements poverty mitigation projects, delivers community-based social, nutrition, healthcare services and vocational training and other community development programs for several thousand local and refugee elderly, disabled, and extremely vulnerable other persons, among them one-parent/two-parent orphans, many-children families, the unemployed, etc. Pursuant its vision: Society for all strata and for all ages, Mission Armenia delivers its services and assistance through tens of its social infrastructures that the Ngo has established in numerous throughout Armenia communities. These are multifunctional infrastructures that include: day care centers, training resource centers, soup kitchens, 24-hour rehabilitation centers, social houses for temporary accommodation of refugees, etc. Services are carried out by a multi-disciplinary team. Team-based work enables to provide varied and quality services with multilevel advanced scope of center-based and in-home components. Mission Armenia offers diversified and targeted assistance for people with and without special needs ensuring equal access to integrated services for those who can attend the Mission Armenia infrastructures and for those who are home-bound. In the latter case it is the Mission Armenia team members that make visits and arrange the service delivery at beneficiaries homes. |
| Confirmation of the activities of the organization at the regional, national or international level: |
Over these years, under direct funding and support of UNHCR, Mission Armenia has supported over 10,000 refugees, asylum seekers and displaced people in a refugee like situation at refugee group dwelling facilities, including the Reception Center, communal centers, Social Houses, as well as those residing at individual rented apartments. The refugee assistance has targeted different age and gender groups from Azerbaijan, Iraq, Syria, Ukraine and from other countries. UNHCR /Armenia office has always been supportive in guiding, coaching the Mission Armenia staff in implementation of a wide range and variety of activities for refugee assistance . UNHCR/Armenia has always been quick in arranging emergency response to the urgent needs of refugees and asylum seekers. Particular thanks to UNHCR/Armenia for its substantial-years-long support to Mission Armenia in terms of enforcing and promoting Mission Armenia's community-based innovative model of vital services in the country that has proved to be viable and responsive to the new challenges and multifaceted needs of this group of population. Another important and tangible impact that UNHCR/Armenia's long-term collaboration has produced is enabling the NGO's capacity for practicing cost-sharing/ social partnership with local authorities, thanks to which currently Mission Armenia receives state subsidized funding support for part of its activities which is the first precedent among local Armenian NGOs when Armenian authorities ( local and central) outsource funding to an NGO for social services provision, in the realities of lack of social contracting practice in Armenia. Overall arrangement, coordination and supervision of activities are carried out by the Head Office of Mission Armenia that is located in Yerevan. All routine and administrative regulations/tactic plans (on personnel, procurement, warehouse, financial, care and health provision, Soup Kitchen menus, and other standards, etc.) and annual timetables are provided by the Head Office for all Project Sites. Implementation of activities and direct assistance to beneficiaries is provided locally, through the Mission Armenia set-up and operational infrastructures: Day Care Centers (DCC), Resource Training Centers and Soup Kitchens (SK) that are located in tens of communities in different provinces of Armenia. The facilities are one or two-storey buildings. The premises of all the sites have been allocated to Mission Armenia by local authorities free of charge. The infrastructures are licensed by the Government of Armenia. These are multi-functional facilities for the provision of community-based social-healthcare services. Each Center consists of different sections for social services and counseling, vocational training, soup kitchen with all its sub-divisions; out-patient unit for primary health assistance, and a hall for events. For arrangement-direct supervision of activities in provinces, each target province has a focal point or hub. It is located in the Day Care Center of the province’s capital. Yerevan as the largest location with several administrative districts is managed through 3 focal points. Other locations (cities and/or towns) have one focal point. Accordingly, the managerial staff of that regional Center is also responsible for overall arrangement/supervision of the activities for the province and reports to the Head Office. |
| A list of members of the governing body of the organization, and their countries of nationality: |
Mission Armenia Board consists of 8 board members and they all are from Armenia as the country of their nationality: 1. Yervand Mkhitaryan - President 2. Simon Mazmanyan - Vice- president 3. Alla Harutyunyan - Secretary 4. Aram Sargsyan - Board member 5. Anush Mazmanyan - Board member 6. Armine Mnatsakanyan - Board member 7. Nurik Daghunts - Board member 8. Sophie Nersisyan - Board member |
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