The “Local Democracy Development and Research Centre” NGO is implementing the “Protected Beneficiary Family and Informed Citizen” in the scope of the EU funded Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” Project implemented by a consortium of CSOs led by the Armenian Lawyers’ Association” NGO. The key component of the project is the research entitled “Issues of Advocacy for Beneficiary Families and Beneficiaries’ Awareness” conducted by the expert team of the organization in March-April 2019. The main purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the benefits system in the context of benefits-related family members and employment opportunities.
In-depth interviews and focus group discussions were used throughout the study. In-depth interviews were conducted with social service representatives, sector experts and employers, and focus group discussions with beneficiary family members were conducted as well.
Comprehensive analytical reference on the results of the study where the main issues, conclusions and recommendations based on them have been thoroughly presented. Highlighting the latter in the analytical report, we consider it worth emphasizing the following general conclusion, which may become the fundamental basis of the benefits system: “The current system of benefits, the main goals of which are reduction of poverty and raising the living standard of families, do not, in this sense, provide a tangible improvement in the quality of life of the beneficiaries. Moreover, the current system simply relies on beneficiaries. It is not flexible enough and efficient and in many cases just keeps people from getting the following dilemma: getting a steady benefit or working? Unfortunately, this dilemma is often resolved in favor of the first option. The recommendations made in this study are practical steps,
However, the proposals presented may be a necessary but not sufficient condition for a complete reform of the benefits system. The key here is to change the philosophy and approaches. The reality is that the beneficiary family only seeks to maintain that support and in many cases does not think about working or registering their employment. Unfortunately, the option to work in many cases loses to the option of getting a steady benefit. Such situation completely disintegrates a person who loses the desire to take initiative, to take himself and his family out of poverty. A radical reform of the family and social benefits system will be a major step in addressing this problem. In general, the benefit should be given to a specific person, not the family. In this case, the citizen will work and never think that as a result the family may be deprived of benefits or excluded from various social assistance programs. This very key thesis should be the basis of sector reforms. Citizens should always view the labour market. Only in this way is it possible to overcome poverty and substantially improve the quality of life of the people.”
