Yerevan, July 12, 2019 – Today, the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Kolba Innovations Lab officially launched “Future Skills and Jobs for Armenia’s Rural Youth” project, which is funded by the Russian Federation and implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure.

The project strives to reach out to the most vulnerable youth groups in rural areas of Armenia with an offer of ambitious economic opportunities and new employment frameworks․ The target regions are Lori, Shirak, Tavush, and Gegharkunik.

Dmitry Mariyasin, UNDP Resident Representative in Armenia, Vache Terteryan, Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, Arevik Anapiosyan, Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, Arman Udumyan, Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, and Dmitry Stepanov, Counsellor of the Embassy of the Russian Federation to Armenia, participated in the event.

Dmitry Mariyasin, UNDP Resident Representative in Armenia, mentioned, that, UNDP in Armenia, a pioneer in application of social innovation approaches, suggests a future-oriented intervention in response to the context developing the future skills and jobs.

The project will apply the Skolkovo-tested labor foresight methodology in the targeted regions. At the event, the research findings were presented, that were carried out as the first phase of the project implementation. The research shows the situation of the labor market in the target regions. The mapping of the job market will help to identify emerging and obsolete jobs, new trends and “black swans” in the labor market of each region in a 5-10-year timespan.