On 2 June, the press service of Armenia's government reported that the United Nations (UN) would provide Armenia with financial assistance in the amount of $230 million.

The statement said that the agreement on UN Partnership in Sustainable Development for Armenia for 2021-2025 was signed on 1 June by the acting Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan and UN Resident Coordinator for Armenia Shombi Sharp. 

According to the draft paper of the UN-Armenia cooperation framework (CF) for 2021-2025, the UN declared readiness to support Armenia in its path towards sustainable development through the accomplishment of four main goals, namely: 1) ensuring a healthy, skilful and resilient population, with three specific outcomes focusing on health systems, educational attainments and social protection coverage; 2)  green, sustainable and inclusive economic growth, covering economic opportunities for sustainable livelihoods and sustainable management of ecosystems; 3) responsive and effective governance, focusing on governance systems and broader support to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through enhanced data capacities, financing and partnerships; and 4) gender equality, with a standalone outcome and cross-pillar integration aimed at enhancing equal opportunities across the economic, political and social spheres. 

This framework also acknowledged the factors that risk hindering the progress towards the set results. There is emerging evidence that the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic exacerbates existing development challenges, as well as poses new ones triggering a protracted crisis, both globally and in Armenia. The Socio-Economic Response and Recovery Plan (SERRP) to Covid-19, developed alongside the CF, is a UN instrument to provide continued support to the country to counter the impact of the pandemic and is fully aligned with the priorities and strategies set in this document. The escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was also highlighted in exacerbating the socio-economic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic in Armenia, and creating new needs and priorities impacting people’s well-being and overall reform trajectory. Adaptive programming approaches will be put in place to adjust the CF’s programmes once the impact is better known, based on an agreed prioritisation with the Government of Armenia, according to the established procedures. Additionally, this framework considers integrating social cohesion, human security, and conflict sensitivity across all programmatic interventions, striving to ease the underlying drivers of tensions as well as seeking regional and cross-border partnerships both external and internal to the UN development system. The document analysed the progress made in Armenia around the “5Ps” of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: People (the social dimension); Prosperity (the economic dimension); Peace (the ethical dimension, ideals and values of equality, freedom, human dignity, and justice); Planet (the environmental dimension) and Partnership (the importance of collaboration).  

Regarding the first dimension, the report highlighted that Armenia made significant progress in reducing poverty from a peak of close to 54% in 2004 to 23.5% in 2018, driven largely by growing labour income, notably in the construction sector, as well as agricultural sales in rural areas. It added that the quality of education was worsening in the country, and this, together with deteriorating infrastructure and poor management of schools resulted in declining educational outcomes. The need to enhance results, especially in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) were emphasised. The health system in Armenia was characterised as “skewed towards inpatient care” concentrated in the capital city of Yerevan despite concerted efforts to reform primary care provision. The report was also critical towards the social welfare system, underlining that it was associated with high exclusion errors, with a total of 60% of the most deprived and poorest households not receiving any form of social assistance. Food insecurity was highlighted as another issue, increasing sharply following the global economic crisis in 2008-09 and currently affecting 16% of the population with limited access to nutritious food, a higher prevalence in the north of the country. 

In regard to the economic dimension, the report emphasised that the Armenian economy had been strongly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. About 45% of total employment is in the informal sector and this share keeps growing, affecting, inter alia, the effectiveness of government’s support packages during crises, such as Covid-19. Youth participation in the labour market remains limited (statistically one out of three active young persons was unemployed) and there is a gender unemployment gap in Armenia. The gendered division of labour within society and the fact that women carry out most of the unpaid care work, three times as much as men, has been identified as a primary cause of women’s insufficient economic activity in Armenia. In the last few years, the agricultural sector showed a double-digit growth (average 10% per year). However, the sector suffers from land abandonment, low productivity, fragmentation, insufficient investments, poor access to input and output markets, and environmental degradation of both pastures and arable land.

In the area of peace (and governance), the report drew reference to the Second Nagorno-Karabakh war, adding that the residents of regions adjacent to conflict zones, refugees and people residing in Nagorno-Karabakh, routinely experienced various forms of deprivations which ranged from exposure to intermittent military/border guards’ clashes, severe lack of livelihood opportunities, limited access to social services and inadequate human rights protection mechanisms. In terms of governance, it was underscored that in the aftermath of the “Velvet Revolution” there has been a renewed commitment to good governance, strengthening democratic institutions and processes, including anticorruption efforts, and upholding the human rights agenda. However, ensuring gender equality and rights for persons with disabilities remained a challenge for the governance reforms in the country.

The environmental assessment stated that about 15% of agricultural lands in Armenia were liable to droughts, coupled with erosion and salinisation. In addition, the country remained highly dependent on fuel imports for transportation, energy, and heating. Promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions was labelled as a high priority. Armenia remained a water-stressed country, due to inefficient use and management of water, while access to services in rural areas remains challenging. Agriculture is the main user of water, and more than half of irrigation water is being lost. The country was at risk of deforestation and deepening negative impact on the environment caused by mining activities. Finally, in terms of partnerships, the report outlined that the Armenian authorities would be required to expand their partnerships as well as massively re-align the financial resources (both public and private) to fulfil the SDGs.