Voices from the field

IFAD in Armenia: voices from the field

New energy: natural gas improves lives and livelihoods in Armenia

In the cold mountain regions of Armenia, keeping warm has traditionally been a time- and resource-consuming business. But today, people in upland villages are able to keep warm more easily thanks to the availability of cheap and environmentally friendly piped gas.

Source: IFAD

Read full story

Equity investment in rural Armenia: A business model with a development impact

When is an equity investment fund more than just a money machine? When it focuses on development rather than quick riches. That’s exactly what a unique IFAD project has been doing in Armenia since 2009, with investments in the country’s food-processing sector designed to expand markets and improve the economic prospects of smallholder farmers. Known as the Fund for Rural Economic Development in Armenia (FREDA), the initiative combines elements of both development assistance and banking.

Source: IFAD

A cheese-making business flourishes in rural Armenia

A microcredit loan can make all the difference in transforming a failing small business into a flourishing one. A precarious enterprise run by a widowed mother of three in a remote, post-conflict community of Armenia has become a financially viable business, thanks to a microcredit loan provided through an IFAD-supported project. The business has also stimulated the local economy, providing small-scale dairy farmers with added income.

Source: IFAD

Read full story...

One woman's business skills benefit the community

Lusik Harutinunyan trained and worked as a teacher before the collapse of the Soviet system and the civil war that followed. Like many other people who lived through these events, her life changed radically. She lost her job and her assets and was forced to abandon her profession and turn to farming to feed and support her family.

Source: IFAD

Read full story...

IFAD

Welcome!