World Humanitarian Day: Reflecting on the Past Year's Emergency Response

In this context, our Armenian team reflects on the achievements of the past year, which has been particularly challenging. Amidst recent conflicts and emergencies, our team managed to work in all regions of Armenia, including the most hard-to-reach areas.

Our humanitarian assistance to people in Armenia has increased significantly since the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in September 2020, which saw the displacement of 100,000 people from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. We are providing aid in the form of vouchers, utility payments, heating briquettes, hygiene kits, bedding, ready-to-eat meals, child-friendly venue services, vocational training, and business grants for economic integration. In Armenia, PIN is among the top three humanitarian organisations in the field of non-food assistance.

Semyon and Maria are among the families who have benefited from our voucher support programme. They were displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh and moved to Armenia, leaving everything behind, including the grave of their son, who died in a car accident. Nevertheless, they strive to remain optimistic: "It's true, we have lost everything, but sitting idle is not a solution; we must create something," Semyon continues

Since September 2020, we have allocated over €7.7 million across all regions of Armenia; in the last year, the aid totalled €2.5 million, as depicted in the accompanying chart. 

We work with vulnerable communities and monitor societal needs daily. We also provide support to socially vulnerable other groups and closely cooperate with state bodies including municipalities, to deliver aid to those in need. We remain committed to helping people in difficult situations and respecting their economic, social, and cultural rights. Many have lost everything and lack necessities like shelter, clothing, and opportunities for retraining and employment.

Our work is not limited to supporting people affected by Nagorno-Karabakh. We have assisted over 400 people who returned to Armenia because of the war in Ukraine. We have provided them with humanitarian assistance, vocational training, and business grants to secure sustainable incomes for their families. We provided aid to 400 families in the Lori and Tavush regions through vouchers for household equipment, hygiene products, and domestic items; we are specifically supporting those who recently suffered from floods in these regions.

Natella, who returned to Armenia due to the war in Ukraine, is included in our reintegration programme for families affected by the war.

Our long-term development projects involve direct collaboration with governmental bodies and local civil society organisations (CSOs) to enhance social services and migration management policies. Currently, through the framework of two major projects in Armenia, over 30 local NGOs receive capacity-building training and grants totalling about €1 million.

We continue to develop new initiatives to improve the lives of displaced, socially vulnerable people and systematic changes in delivering social services. We launched the SOS Armenia appeal and used funding from our Club of Friends fund for immediate aid. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to our donors: the European Union, European Union Humanitarian Aid, the United States Agency for International Development, USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, UNICEF, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the Start Network, Stichting Vluchteling - Dutch Refugee Foundation, the International Centre for Migration Policy Development, and other supporting parties.

At People in Need (PIN), we have been active in Armenia since 2003, although our connections to the country date back further. In 1988, well before PIN was officially established, a group of young Czech journalists began sending humanitarian aid to Armenia to help the people affected by the devastating earthquake in Spitak. This effort led to the formation of a non-profit organisation that would formally become People in Need in 1992.