Tweet
IWPR REPORTERS HIGHLIGHT PROVINCIAL POVERTY IN ARMENIA
Institute for War and Peace Reporting IWPR
http://iwpr.net/report-news/iwpr-reporters-highlight-provincial-poverty-armenia
Caucasus Reporting Service - Issue 647
June 26 2012
UK
Local government acts to help family whose plight was shown in
photo essay.
Journalists from the Armenian capital Yerevan have been encouraged
by an IWPR project to focus on endemic poverty and deprivation in
the countryside which often go unreported.
Participants in the programme paid a two-day visit in December 2011
to Gegharkunik, where around 40 per cent of the population lives
below the poverty line.
Journalists in urban areas rarely visit places like this. The aim of
the visit was to draw on local expertise to identify specific social
and economic concerns, to generate reporting on them and get it
published in the media. The four reporters and two photojournalists
on the trip met local officials and NGO representatives and visited
parts of Gegharkunik where life is hardest.
One of Armenia's poorest regions, Gegharkunik has the highest rate of
economic migration of any region in Armenia - mostly men, and mostly
going to Russia to find seasonal work.
Life for those who remain can be bleak. During a visit to the village
of Vardenik, the journalists visited Silva Barkhoyan, her husband
Arayik Arakelyan and their six children in their tin shack, which had
plastic sheeting instead of glass for windows. Their two school-age
children were unable to attend classes because the family had no money
for clothing, while one four-year-old had a lung condition which they
could not afford to treat.
Freelance photojournalist Inna Mkhitaryan captured their plight on
camera (for a sample of her photographs see Armenia: Male Exodus From
Rural Communities), and after her pictures were published, a charity
and the local authorities took action to help the family.
The faith-based NGO World Vision Armenia provided clothing for the
children, while the Vardenik village authorities allocated 40,000
drams, around 100 US dollars, to help support the family.
Gegharkunik's regional governor Nver Poghosyan instructed Hambardzum
Safaryan, head of the regional education department, to ensure that
the two older children were going to school.
"We acted immediately after publication... to ensure they attend
school on a regular basis," Safaryan said.
Poghosyan has also pledged to allocate a 1,200-square-metre plot of
land to the family, which is expected to happen by autumn.
Arakelyan said he was grateful to the journalists who reported on
his family's struggle.
"They didn't ignore my hut - they came in and talked to us. More than
that, they wrote about my family and helped my six children get proper
clothing for school," he said. "The land plot gives me hope that I
can make a living for my wife and six kids, and eke out an existence."
who took part produced special reports on women's issues in the
region, both for the media outlets they work for and also for a
special IWPR-supported newspaper supplement printed in January 2012,
which included four articles and two photo essays.
The mission was organised within the framework of IWPR's Building
Bridges/Building Capacity: Conflict Prevention in the South Caucasus
project, supported by the Norwegian foreign ministry.
Hasmik Shahbazyan, head of press and public information in
Gegharkunik's regional administration, said he was pleased the
journalists had come to see conditions in the region for themselves.
"I think articles like this support government bodies, in this case
the Gegharkunik administration," he said. The articles that appeared
in the IWPR supplement were of huge educational value to women.
Victims of domestic violence gradually start standing up for their
rights and applying to various institutions to that end."
From: A. Papazian
Institute for War and Peace Reporting IWPR
http://iwpr.net/report-news/iwpr-reporters-highlight-provincial-poverty-armenia
Caucasus Reporting Service - Issue 647
June 26 2012
UK
Local government acts to help family whose plight was shown in
photo essay.
Journalists from the Armenian capital Yerevan have been encouraged
by an IWPR project to focus on endemic poverty and deprivation in
the countryside which often go unreported.
Participants in the programme paid a two-day visit in December 2011
to Gegharkunik, where around 40 per cent of the population lives
below the poverty line.
Journalists in urban areas rarely visit places like this. The aim of
the visit was to draw on local expertise to identify specific social
and economic concerns, to generate reporting on them and get it
published in the media. The four reporters and two photojournalists
on the trip met local officials and NGO representatives and visited
parts of Gegharkunik where life is hardest.
One of Armenia's poorest regions, Gegharkunik has the highest rate of
economic migration of any region in Armenia - mostly men, and mostly
going to Russia to find seasonal work.
Life for those who remain can be bleak. During a visit to the village
of Vardenik, the journalists visited Silva Barkhoyan, her husband
Arayik Arakelyan and their six children in their tin shack, which had
plastic sheeting instead of glass for windows. Their two school-age
children were unable to attend classes because the family had no money
for clothing, while one four-year-old had a lung condition which they
could not afford to treat.
Freelance photojournalist Inna Mkhitaryan captured their plight on
camera (for a sample of her photographs see Armenia: Male Exodus From
Rural Communities), and after her pictures were published, a charity
and the local authorities took action to help the family.
The faith-based NGO World Vision Armenia provided clothing for the
children, while the Vardenik village authorities allocated 40,000
drams, around 100 US dollars, to help support the family.
Gegharkunik's regional governor Nver Poghosyan instructed Hambardzum
Safaryan, head of the regional education department, to ensure that
the two older children were going to school.
"We acted immediately after publication... to ensure they attend
school on a regular basis," Safaryan said.
Poghosyan has also pledged to allocate a 1,200-square-metre plot of
land to the family, which is expected to happen by autumn.
Arakelyan said he was grateful to the journalists who reported on
his family's struggle.
"They didn't ignore my hut - they came in and talked to us. More than
that, they wrote about my family and helped my six children get proper
clothing for school," he said. "The land plot gives me hope that I
can make a living for my wife and six kids, and eke out an existence."
who took part produced special reports on women's issues in the
region, both for the media outlets they work for and also for a
special IWPR-supported newspaper supplement printed in January 2012,
which included four articles and two photo essays.
The mission was organised within the framework of IWPR's Building
Bridges/Building Capacity: Conflict Prevention in the South Caucasus
project, supported by the Norwegian foreign ministry.
Hasmik Shahbazyan, head of press and public information in
Gegharkunik's regional administration, said he was pleased the
journalists had come to see conditions in the region for themselves.
"I think articles like this support government bodies, in this case
the Gegharkunik administration," he said. The articles that appeared
in the IWPR supplement were of huge educational value to women.
Victims of domestic violence gradually start standing up for their
rights and applying to various institutions to that end."
From: A. Papazian