Estonia restarts development cooperation in Armenia

Director General of the Department for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kairi Saar-Isop, says Armenia has taken important domestic and foreign policy steps to move closer to the European Union and a democratic space of values. 

"Considering this, we are restarting development cooperation activities. One of the first steps is visiting Armenia with partners to create contacts and connections that would lead to effective projects," said Saar-Isop.

Estonia has supported Armenia since 2001, and from 2006 to 2016, Armenia was one of Estonia's priority countries. To restart development cooperation with Armenia, the Estonian Center for International Development Cooperation (ESTDEV) announced a call for applications for Estonian companies and NGOs who wish to implement projects with Armenian organisations.

During the application round, 13 applications were submitted; 28,106 euros will be distributed to 11 approved projects.

Funding will be provided to the following organisations and businesses:

• Estonian Roundtable for Development Cooperation (AKÜ) 
• Digital Disruption OÜ
• Estonian Atlantic Treaty Association
• Estonian Women’s Studies and Resource Centre (ENUT)
• International Youth Association EstYES
• Estonian Refugee Council
• Mondo NGO
• Peipsi Center for Transboundary Cooperation
• Stockholm Environment Institute Tallinn
• Visionest Institute

Since 2001, 58 development cooperation projects have been implemented in Armenia, totalling 862,000 euros. 

Estonian development cooperation’s main priority areas in Armenia are education, democracy, and good governance. Estonia aims to support improved access to education in Armenia through multilingual education, inclusive education, vocational education, teacher training, curriculum reform, educational technology, and digital learning. Estonia also supports the implementation of democratic principles at the local government level, the development of the third sector and the media, and increased ICT opportunities (e.g., e-governance), making social processes more open and citizen-oriented.

Additional priority areas for development cooperation include poverty reduction, especially for women and children, and small business development and innovation.