2001-ongoing

Gender dimension of development is one of the key areas of ICHD’s work. ICHD strives to promote gender equality and empowerment of women through both mainstreaming gender dimension into its programs and initiating and implementing gender specific projects, as well as incorporating the principle of equality of men and women into its human resources and other corporate policies and practices.

Equality and non-discrimination are among ICHD’s core values. Our staff is gender-balanced and we strive to further promote women to managing positions within our organization. ICHD follows the principle of equal pay for equal work principle throughout entire development portfolio of projects. ICHD Methodologies and instructions of using its instruments include specific non-discriminatory clues unless gender specific target groups or gender specific needs are addressed. ICHD have also implemented several projects promoting gender equality, empowering women in economy and politics, preventing gender based violence in Armenia.

2002-2006

ICHD strives to promote environment in the region conducive for effective conflict transformations and peace building.

The conflict over Nagorno Karabakh (NK) recharged on the last years of the former Soviet Union and soon escalated into a large scale armed conflict that took lives of thousands on both sides. The “hurting stalemate” brought a Russia mediated cease fire in May 1994. Since than the political leaders of conflicting parties heavily negotiate to resolve the Conflict over Nagorno Karabakh (NK) under the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group Cochairmen. Meanwhile, even on the eighth year after the cease-fire agreement, the societies and elites of the countries affected by the conflict lack confidence in each other and feel distrust to any proposal that would suggest compromises for peace. The thinking prevails that the peace agreement would not bring a lasting peace but would rather transform the ephemeral stability of the status quo settled after the cease-fire into a fragile peace simply to be followed by a new cycle of more bloody warfare. Such “status quo” thinking hinders any effective peace building forcing the peace-builder to route after a while. ICHD considered that prior to engaging civil society in the region into an effective dialogue on the conflict and peace; the “status quo” thinking shall be really challenged to open the room for dynamic thinking of opportunities.

2001-2004

The ICHD is one of the region’s civil society Champions striving to promote regional peace and security through Track Two Initiatives.

One of the challenges to the regional peace and security are the unhealthy relations between Armenia and Turkey. As Turkey blocked its border with Armenia since 1993 and no diplomatic relations have been established between Armenia and Turkey, any effective peace-building effort in the region shall consider engaging civil society institutions in both countries in track two diplomacy (T2D) initiatives. The joint project of ICHD and the Center for the Research of Societal Problems (TOSAM) supported by the American University’s Center for Global Peace, Washington, DC (AUCGP) and facilitated in Milano School at New School University, NY, was one of the first initiatives encouraging the institutional cooperation in the region.

2000-ongoing

Following its mission, ICHD focuses on contributing to the transition from authoritarian leadership culture to lateral and process oriented leadership culture since early 2000. A successful transition to market economy and democracy requires a new democratic pluralistic political culture with a different set of basic approaches to problem solving.  To address these issues in the experience of young leaders from Armenia and the region, ICHD has partnered with Conflict Management Group (CMG, later part of the Mercy Corps) in the Momentum Program: Changing Negotiation and Leadership Culture. The goal of this program is to assist young promising decision-makers from the region to acquire the leadership skills necessary to turn their respective countries into more democratic and prosperous entities that can hold their place in the world politically and economically and to apply new negotiation and leadership skills in developing cross-regional cooperative gain projects. Since April 2000, CMG, in close cooperation with ICHD and supported by renowned organizations of Armenian Diaspora, the Carnegie Foundation, and the USAID Mission to Armenia, developed and successfully ran eleven Armenia Momentum programs. The current outcome of this program is the extensive networks of over a hundred new style leaders in Armenia and across the region. ICHD, as the Librarian of the Momentum Network, in close cooperation with CMG and Mercy Corps and guided by CMG’s Director of Momentum program, Dr. Arthur Martirosyan have cultivated the network and regularly initiated various opportunities for the network members to interact and solve problems of shared interests through common efforts.

2001-ongoing

ICHD assists reforms in the security sector in Armenia and in the region through advocating for democratic governance in the security sector and promoting bilateral and multilateral cooperation with the major systems of collective security including the NATO.

2005-2006

Since mid 2005 ICHD focused on one of the biggest killers in Armenia - Cancer. The non-communicable diseases (NCDs) increasingly create critical health and economic challenges for Armenian society and state. The cancer is one of the three biggest killers in Armenia causing about 20% of deaths. The profile of the cancer and risk factors in Armenia implicitly indicates the lack of national capacities to prevent and control the cancers, as well as the lack of awareness among general public about one of the biggest killers and its risk factors. The public health policies and primary healthcare system in Armenia do not address early diagnosis of the cancer properly. The awareness and behavior among general public, as well as the overall environment are not favorable for reduction of the risk factors for cancer in the country. ICHD focuses on tackling the prevention of the cancer first. The Center targeted the dimension of public awareness as the key instrument to leverage the prevention of the cancer.