Development in Challenging Times - Strengthening Local Capacity and Partnership

USAID/Armenia is implementing a Local Works (LW) program which aims to strengthen locally led development in the recently consolidated communities of Armenia. The LW program creates fertile soil for these communities to be empowered and take a center-stage role in determining the most sustainable and locally-owned ways of developing into politically and economically stronger units. To identify the target areas for the program, USAID/Armenia began with a rapid assessment (RA) of a number of communities. The assessment was conducted in challenging times, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Nagorno-Karabakh (NK) hostilities. The LW team intentionally practiced collaboration, learning, and adapting (CLA) throughout the rapid assessment and activity design processes.

Enshrining CLA in the LW program enabled the Mission and its partners to collect data in the rapidly changing context and pursue the data-driven selection of the communities per the initial design in a timely manner. USAID/Armenia selected four communities for the implementation of the LW program based on criteria measuring transparency and responsiveness in local governance and the level of community participation.