The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) held a workshop on designing public programmes to promote investment of remittances in the development of small and medium agribusinesses in Armenia.
FAO provides unique support to its Member Nations to address the migration of rural populations and to best harness it to the social and economic development of communities and households. FAO facilitates the development and implementation of evidence-based policies and programmes. In particular, small pilot projects have been developed and implemented in a number of countries to support the establishment of small and medium agribusinesses through a matching grant scheme, where the project complements the remittances invested by beneficiary households of migrants.
This online workshop, held in partnership with the National Platform of Women from Moldova, shared the experience of the National Programme of Attracting Remittances in Economy PARE 1+1, successfully implemented in the Republic of Moldova for more than 10 years. It also presented the results of the national study carried out by the Caucasus Research Resource Centre – Armenia Foundation with the purpose of studying the feasibility of implementing participatory grant projects involving remittances invested in the development of agribusiness.
“Through this workshop, we aim to find ways of awareness-raising about the important role of migration in developing agriculture and rural areas, and to help the Government of Armenia develop a national migration agenda aimed at strengthening the linkages between migration and rural development policies, as well as the socio-economic inclusion and capacity building of migrants and their households, in order to improve their livelihoods and develop agriculture,” said Gayane Nasoyan, Assistant FAO Representative in Armenia.
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Representatives of a wide array of Armenian state agencies, including the Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, State Migration Service as well as the donor community participated in the event.
