Vartan Oskanian: One Village at a Time

Question: The Civilitas Foundation’s work is more closely associated with its publications and political studies work. How do you explain the inclusion of the Rural Economic Facilitation Program in your mission?

Answer: The Foundation has two program areas: The first is the Council on International Relations and the other is the Democracy and Development Initiative. Both aim to do the same thing: provide mechanisms, forums, resources to better inform and support our people, to strengthen civil society, all for the purpose of strengthening our state.

Civil society does not stop with our cities. And our work does not stop with conferences and information dissemination in Yerevan. Our rural residents too must become active in civil processes. But village residents cannot be active members of civil society unless they are first able to live self-reliant lives, in dignity, able to support themselves and their families. In our country, with our limited external markets, and our decayed infrastructure, only by offering villagers the specific and specialized support that they need, will they become self-sufficient. That is what Civilitas does.

When I first became involved in supporting rural development, when I was still minister, I did so convinced that comprehensive infrastructure development is more efficient and effective than arbitrary, disconnected projects in various places. The Armenia Fund adopted that philosophy and, with the help of several generous donors, embarked on building and renovating the infrastructure of a cluster of villages in the Tavush marz. They continue to do so and we continue to support them.

But simply renovating infrastructure is insufficient. The village community must be earning an income, supporting families and also paying for the renovated infrastructure – roads, water, gas – so they continue to receive those services. Therefore, at the Civilitas Foundation, we are focusing on comprehensive human development, beginning with economic development. We too are working with generous donors – the Swiss Development Corporation, the Ekcerciyan Family in Argentina, the Iranian-Armenian community and others – to offer support to farmers so that they can be more productive, reach their markets, and sell their products so that they can be self-supporting, and lead dignified lives.

Because food security is critical for Armenia. This must be the sector that assures our people have physical and economic access to sufficient food. In fact, one third of our labor force is in agriculture and yet the sector is crying for intervention and help. There are already a sufficient number of large agricultural companies which serve as an accessible, immediate, ready market for our farmers. Our program directly helps the villagers to produce more, sell more, earn more. And most important, our programs are designed to engage the village communities so that the program becomes sustainable over time. Our purpose is to not pass out charity, but to show the villager the way to become self-reliant. In other words, while cleaning, renovating and maintaining a water distribution system, which is one of our projects in Meghri, the challenge is to develop the social and organizational capacity to develop a communal system where the community is responsible and able to keep the system clean and functioning.

But is this considered economic development?

Of course it is. But as always, politics is at the base of all economic issues. It is difficult, if not nearly impossible, to speak about the formation of a civil society when the members of that society cannot meet their minimal daily needs. I’m not saying anything new. People must be able to satisfy their basic economic needs before they can become active members of society.

One family at a time, one village at a time, Civilitas is working to increase capacity, increase productivity, improve self-reliance and nurture economic development. At the end of the day, this means a healthier, self-sufficient society. Our programs focus on helping villages become better organized. Villagers must become convinced that by working together they can meet the needs of their village themselves, and not wait for the next election to see who will be passing out a few thousand Dram. This is a complex, long-term challenge, but we must work village by village to realize this, otherwise we’ll never have the kind of civil society which we all want and need.