Lilit Aivazyan is a 20-year old junior at the American University of Armenia. Originally from Ararat, a small community of 20,000 about 45 minutes west of Yerevan, she is studying communications and public relations with the hope of one day returning to her hometown. “I want to show, especially young people in Ararat, that they can achieve something by staying [in Ararat],” she says. For many Armenian youth, remaining in their home towns is not an easy decision, as the lack of jobs often means that they look to Yerevan, or outside of Armenia altogether, for professional or further academic opportunities. But Lilit is part of a cohort of young Armenians who are eager to invest in their homes, communities and country, explaining, “I just want to see my town and my country more developed and see more people engaged in the local governing processes [...] and I want to do something to make my town better, so people will stay or come back.”
USAID is tapping into the energy and enthusiasm of young people like Lilit all across the country. Through targeted programs that focus on citizen engagement, USAID is helping to give a voice to community members so that they can effect change in their towns and villages, and bring about the improvements they deserve and desire. For Lilit, change and development in Ararat all began with her participation at the Ararat InfoTun (meaning Information House in Armenian), established jointly by USAID/Armenia’s Civic Engagement in Local Governance (CELoG) and Media for Informed Civic Engagement (MICE) projects. Since 2011, USAID has established InfoTuns in all ten regions of Armenia. These resource centers are spaces where youth and community members can convene to identify potential activities in their towns; they are also locations where training resources and tools are shared with members in order to equip them to become and remain civically engaged.
Since its establishment in 2016, the Ararat InfoTun has implemented approximately 30 community development projects. Going beyond serving as a community center doing charitable work for neighbors, it’s helping to give a voice to the voiceless. “Ararat InfoTun gave us [young people] an opportunity to have a vision, [and…] the tools to realize that vision, solve the issue, voice our opinions. It [has become] a connecting place with the municipality, and with local governing bodies overall...[it was] the first time my voice mattered,” Lilit explains.
When she first began working with the Ararat InfoTun, Lilit noticed that throughout Ararat, there were no covered bus stops for commuters on their way to Yerevan. This meant people waited in the blazing sun or freezing ice and rain. Through her work with the center, she and her colleagues helped to raise awareness of the issue with the city council and municipality. By publicizing the issue and holding authorities accountable for a lack of basic public services, the Ararat InfoTun was able to raise the issue publicly and with decision makers, and help navigate the budgeting and political processes. Educating and empowering citizens in this manner eventually resulted in the local government mobilizing its own resources to construct two bus stations in town. Successes like these where citizen engagement translates into tangible benefits are what keep Lilit and her friends motivated, and what inspire other young people in nearby communities to take action themselves to demand transparency and accountability from their community leadership.
Ararat InfoTun has paved the way for improved relations with the municipal government. During budget season, the InfoTun organized public hearings and helped coordinate the municipality’s presentation on the budget to the public. This type of public hearing and transparency of operations had not existed before the InfoTun started demanding it. Now, community members have come to expect that they’ll have a right and an opportunity to weigh in on--or at least see--the governing process more clearly. “Ararat InfoTun plays a huge role,” Lilit explains, “They connect people with the municipality, the local government; we [the youth members of the InfoTun] develop a vision together, and get the tools to make it happen.”
Through USAID’s programming, Lilit and the other members of InfoTun feel empowered and equipped to make lasting changes in their community; “it's not like before,” she says, “when you could speak but your voice didn’t matter”...now, she says, her voice matters.
