Sweden, Lithuania support Armenia in a new civil protection project

PanARMENIAN.Net - Sweden and Lithuania are supporting Armenia in a new project on civil protection, funded by the European Union, the delegation of the European Union to Armenia reports.

The Twinning project “Enhancing Civil Protection in Armenia”, financed by the European Union, is implemented by the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) and the Fire and Rescue Department under the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania (FRD). The overall objective of the project is to make Armenia disaster resilient and ensure significant reduction of various disaster risks to human lives, country’s economy and communities,

The project builds on a long tradition of relationships between the countries and gives a certain association for MSB. In 1988, MSB did its first international rescue mission ever to Armenia after the devastating earthquake in Spitak that hit the country hard. Now, 32 years later, MSB is back together with FRD to continue the cooperation and strengthen the relationship further.

The Twinning project consists of three components:

– Enhanced civil protection legal and policy framework

– Improved effectiveness and efficiency of the comprehensive civil protection system

– Improved capacity to ensure effective human resource management and development

The project will run for two years.; it kicked off in October 2020. During the two years of implementation, Swedish and Lithuanian experts within the field will cooperate with the Armenian colleagues, to carry out activities aimed to enhance Civil Protection in Armenia. Some of the activities foreseen are support in implementing the legal framework on civil protection, strengthening of the volunteer system, crisis awareness and the Human Resources system within MES and the Armenian Rescue Services.