Dr. Hilliard spoke of USAID’s long-standing collaboration with the Government of Armenia to make the country’s social protection system more efficient, effective, transparent, and financially stable. Vulnerable populations, including people with disabilities, children with special needs and the elderly, have been an important focus of USAID assistance, she noted.

Dr. Hilliard highlighted some of the recent accomplishments of the USAID Pension Reform Implementation Program (PRIP), including the program’s help to integrate Armenia’s social security database into the ePension electronic database. As a result, data was cleaned up and corrected to remove duplicate registrations and multiple payments to the same beneficiary from different offices. Citizens with ID cards now receive services without having to visit different government offices and present various documents to receive social payments. All payments for child-care benefits will soon be centralized through electronic systems. “Changes like these have already resulted in multiple millions of drams of savings for the state budget,” she said.

The head of USAID Armenia also emphasized the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs’ 114 hotline, which was created through the support of USAID and the World Bank. The hotline handles calls on all types of social issues, including disability allowances and family benefits, and also helps reveal instances of corruption. According to the latest nationwide survey, Armenian families indicated a high level of satisfaction with the 114 hotline.