Strengthening integrated social protection and employment service delivery - training for the Unified Social Service staff in Armenia
On December 9-10 and 11-12, 2022, at the request of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, the International Labour Organization organized two 2-day trainings for more than 50 participants representing 49 Unified Social Service Centers (USS).
13 December 2022
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Ruben Sargsyan, Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Affairs in his opening address emphasized importance of the training for good quality and timely service delivery to USS’s clients who face multiple barriers when attempting to find jobs. “Adhering to transparent procedures and standards increases effectiveness of professional operations and client satisfaction, which are among goals of comprehensive reform implemented by the Ministry”, he stressed.
The participants got acquainted with drivers and impacts of social protection and employment administration reforms using case examples of Norway, North Macedonia, Germany and Austria. Standard operating procedures for needs assessment, case management, case conferencing and collaboration between USSs employment specialists and social workers were explored using experiential learning methods. Participant’s experiences in their daily discharge of duties and interactions with clients exposed certain gaps and contradictions in legislation, policies and application of new working methods, as well as good practice examples. It was noted that this is a natural result of every comprehensive reform but it should be addressed in order to move to the next stage of reform. International experiences with implementation of active labour market policies and labour market integration of social assistance benefits were identified as key policy issues that enable smooth service integration. Absence of key social protection programmes for working age population, such as unemployment insurance benefit as well as diverse set of active labour market programmes were singled out as one of the obstacles for impactful integration of services. Participants concluded that reforms leading to integration of services depend on both – introduction of and capacity building for new modes of interactions and addressing legal and policy gaps.
“Integrating employment and social protection services will benefit the most vulnerable groups in Armenia and improve coordination between responsible bodies’’ – emphasized Mikahil Pouchkin, Deputy Director of the ILO Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Both capacity development and re-design of relevant national policies enabling implementation of international labour standards are needed to that- he noted.
The training was facilitated by the ILO Specialists on Employment and Social Protection, Kazutoshi Chatani and Jasmina Papa, Leonid Andreev, ILO consultant on public employment services and Anette Scoppetta, Deputy Director for European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research. The training programme was implemented in the framework of the Project Integrated policy response on employment and social protection in the context of COVID-19 crisis mitigation and recovery supported by social dialogue.
The participants got acquainted with drivers and impacts of social protection and employment administration reforms using case examples of Norway, North Macedonia, Germany and Austria. Standard operating procedures for needs assessment, case management, case conferencing and collaboration between USSs employment specialists and social workers were explored using experiential learning methods. Participant’s experiences in their daily discharge of duties and interactions with clients exposed certain gaps and contradictions in legislation, policies and application of new working methods, as well as good practice examples. It was noted that this is a natural result of every comprehensive reform but it should be addressed in order to move to the next stage of reform. International experiences with implementation of active labour market policies and labour market integration of social assistance benefits were identified as key policy issues that enable smooth service integration. Absence of key social protection programmes for working age population, such as unemployment insurance benefit as well as diverse set of active labour market programmes were singled out as one of the obstacles for impactful integration of services. Participants concluded that reforms leading to integration of services depend on both – introduction of and capacity building for new modes of interactions and addressing legal and policy gaps.
“Integrating employment and social protection services will benefit the most vulnerable groups in Armenia and improve coordination between responsible bodies’’ – emphasized Mikahil Pouchkin, Deputy Director of the ILO Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Both capacity development and re-design of relevant national policies enabling implementation of international labour standards are needed to that- he noted.
The training was facilitated by the ILO Specialists on Employment and Social Protection, Kazutoshi Chatani and Jasmina Papa, Leonid Andreev, ILO consultant on public employment services and Anette Scoppetta, Deputy Director for European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research. The training programme was implemented in the framework of the Project Integrated policy response on employment and social protection in the context of COVID-19 crisis mitigation and recovery supported by social dialogue.