Warm Winter 2020 .Respectable Life for Vulnerable families and Elderly
Project Duration: December 1, 2019– April 30, 2020.
Number of Beneficiaries: 1180
Direct beneficiaries of the program are the lonely and disabled elderly that are included in other projects of Armenian Caritas. Among those
140 elderly people are from AC “Home Care for the Elderly” project in Gyumri
60 elderly people from Day Care Center Project in Gyumri:
200 elderly from SDC (Supplementary Project to Day Care Center);
100 lonely elderly from “Home Care for the Elderly” in Vanadzor,
60 disabled elderly people from Day Care Center Project in Tashir
60 people from Gavar, Gegharkunik Region
60 from Artashat Home Care project,
500 vulnerable families.
The elderly beneficiaries have been selected according to the following criteria:
- Living below the poverty line,
- Having multi-health problems
- Being lonely,
- Being disabled,
- Bad social conditions,
- Bad housing conditions – temporary houses in the suburbs of the cities.
Location: Gyumri, Vanadzor, Gavar and Artashat
Background: The majority of elderly being in need of health and social care live alone and are not able to care for themselves. Living alone was uncommon due both to structural constraints, fed by economic instability and limited services or institutional coverage for the poor and the elderly, and to social norms that emphasize the importance of the family. Social and economic changes are key to understanding historical shifts in household and family structure. Social change arising from urbanization, industrialization and migration alters traditional patterns of household formation, which, in the absence of state of even private structures, policies and services, result in elderly people, lugging their lives, deprived of essential care and support in the sunset of their lives. Until present times there are no sufficient state social and health care systems. Elderly people that need medical treatment mainly depend on the support and means of their families or on few functioning NGOs having the mission to serve the elderly for covering their minor needs. Till now the state is only implementing home care services in Yerevan and partially supporting about 2-3 NGOs (Mission Armenia, Fund for Armenia Relief, Red Cross) doing social and medical services in this sphere.
The extreme climate conditions and uncomfortable, as well as unfair housing conditions (temporary dwellings) of the elderly aggravate the situation and make daily life for the elderly practically impossible. They burn whatever is flammable – pasteboard, cardboard, garbage, paper, plastic, old clothing and shoes, or newly branched out branches of the trees etc., that produce smoke and soot with poisonous outlets that spoils the atmosphere and damages the ecology of the environment. This is also the cause of frequent epidemics, cancer and tuberculosis. One can see thick smoke hung over the cities and towns that makes people to breathe hard and causes a lot of diseases.
In the north, Gyumri (formerly Leninakan) is very cold because of the altitude, in fact it is located at 1,500 meters (5,000 feet) and has an average temperature in January of -8.5 °C (16.5 °F), but in the worst times it can drop to about -35 °C (-30 °F). Summer is quite warm, at least if you consider the altitude: highs in July and August are about 26 °C (79 °F), and sometimes it can even get hot, although nights remain cool.
In Gyumri, 525 mm (20 in) of rain (or snow) fall per year, confirming the rule that the areas located at higher altitudes receive more rainfall. Here, even in summer it can sometimes rain in the form of afternoon thunderstorms, which can occur in the mountains. For this reason, the driest season (at least in quantity) is winter, when precipitation, though not abundant, always occurs in the form of snow. The wettest period runs from April to June: in May and June, thunderstorms are a bit more frequent because a bit of cold air can still arrive at high altitudes, increasing the thermal contrasts, while in July and August the atmosphere becomes warmer even at high elevations.
The project is intended to cover the heating expenses of 700 disabled and lonely elderly living in Gyumri, Gavar, Vanadzor and Tashir cities by paying their electricity bills, gas bills and in rare cases buying wood, electric heaters.
Goal: The overall objective of this proposal is to provide emergency relief to the most vulnerable people living in temporary shelters in Gyumri, Vanadzor, Tashir , Gavar and Artashat.
Objectivies: To achieve the overall objective, the following measures are suggested:
1.Urgent provision of firewood to families who cannot afford electric or gas heating..
2.Support the most vulnerable families (about 700 beneficiaries) through paying their gas or electric bills as many of them have electric or gas heating and couldn’t afford to pay off their bills for heating.
3.Provision of medicaments to vulnerable families. Many vulnerable families have been forced to dedicate their limited funds for the procurement of medicaments and cannot afford to pay other bills.
4.Emergency assistance in basic food and hygienic items for the most vulnerable people living in temporary shelters.
5.Provision of electric heaters to the most vulnerable 50 families.
Budget: 109 996.00$
Partners: CNEWA
Project manager: Gagik Tarasyan