On 28 August, a public discussion meeting organized by the “NGO Center” Civil Society Development NGO took place. It was focusing on the planning and implementation of social protection programs within the RA state budget. The event was held in the framework of the sub-grant project “Social Budget: When the Citizen’s Voice Matters”.

Representatives of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of the RA: Ms Ruzanna Pepanyan, Head of the Employment Department of the Labor and Employment Department, Ms Lusine Harutyunyan, Chief Specialist of the Labor and Employee Remuneration Policy Department of the Labor and Employment Department, and Ms Anahit Hamzyan, Expert of the Finance and Accounting Department, as well as representatives of civil society organizations and other stakeholders, participated in the meeting. Ms Arpine Hakobyan, President of the “NGO Center” Civil Society Development NGO delivered an opening speech.

In the first part of the meeting Ms Anahit Hamzyan, Expert of the Finance and Accounting Department of the RA Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, briefly presented the stages of the process of forming the budget for the social sector. Further, Mr. Gharib Harutyunyan, an expert of the “Social Budget: When the Citizen’s Voice Matters” project of the “NGO Center” Civil Society Development NGO, presented the policy proposals developed within the framework of the program, based on the findings of an analysis of three major state programs (employment, housing provision, and crisis support).

The 2026 social protection budget amounts to AMD 993 billion, which is about 27% of the total state budget expenditures, and although the annual performance consistently exceeds 97%, there is still no stable connection between expenditures and the actual needs of beneficiaries. The speaker proposed eight priority areas and a 2026-2028 roadmap aimed at ensuring needs-based and results-based management of the programs.

During the question and answer session that followed the presentation, the participants had the opportunity to clarify the details of the recommendations, as well as the approaches and future plans of the Ministry of Social Affairs.

The event has been organized within the framework of the “Social Budget: When the Citizen’s Voice Matters” sub-grant project implemented by the “NGO Center” Civil Society Development NGO within the framework of the Budgets for Citizens project, implemented with the financial support of the European Union by the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, in cooperation with the Economic Development and Research Center and Agora Central Europe (Czech Republic).

The contents are the sole responsibility of the “NGO Center” Civil Society Development NGO, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.