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Creating Sustainable Employment Opportunities for Vulnerable Populations
Like many former Soviet republics, Armenia is undergoing extensive social and economic changes in its transition to a market economy. Despite sustained national economic growth, pockets of poverty persist in urban towns; where industry collapsed following independence, generating high unemployment among its residents, and where limited land among high rise buildings undermines the possibility of residents to undertake agricultural activities and assure their food security.
In response to these development challenges, CHF International was contracted by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to implement a Public Works Program. CHF's program, Building and Rehabilitating Infrastructure for Development and Growth in Employment (BRIDGE) is a demand and market-driven program operating in five marzes (or regions) of Armenia. The program aims to assist vulnerable communities in achieving greater self-sufficiency by providing them with vocational training in construction skills and employment opportunities on public works projects that will rehabilitate community-prioritized infrastructure.
There are three components to the BRIDGE Program:
- Community Participation with a Public-Private Approach
Stakeholders from government, business and community groups jointly prioritize needs and select infrastructure projects of high importance to the whole community. Emphasis is placed on projects that have both economic and social benefits for the greater community.
- Vocational Training
BRIDGE provides opportunities for vocational training in construction skills to help create short- and long-term employment for members of the most vulnerable households in the target communities.
- Public Works Projects
The public works projects are designed to construct or rehabilitate community prioritized infrastructure, in addition to generating much needed short-term employment for economically disadvantaged community members. -
Completed 13 public works projects.
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Generated more than 59,000 days of employment.
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Benefited more than 107,000 vulnerable residents through the improvement of social and economic infrastructure.
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Trained upwards of 400 people in marketable vocational skills in the construction sector.
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Provided short-term labor opportunities for 900 people.
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Engaged close to 13,000 men and women in more than 700 participatory community meetings.
In its first two years, the BRIDGE Program has:
For more comprehensive information, download the fact sheet above.