(December 16, 2011, Yerevan, Armenia) – On December 19-20, 2011, the Institute for War and Peace Reporting will conduct a journalistic mission to the Gegharkunik region of eastern Armenia. The mission will focus on problems that women face in remote rural parts of the region. Around 40 per cent of Gegharkunik’s population live below the poverty line, making this one of the three poorest regions in Armenia, according to recent statistical data. Female-led households are particularly vulnerable to falling into extreme poverty, as women are left alone to bear the burden of household and family care responsibilities. As a consequence of out-migration from the region, particularly of young men, the women who remain are increasingly under pressure from a combination of mutually-reinforcing social and especially health-related problems. The aim of the IWPR mission is to draw on local expertise to identify specific concerns, to generate reporting on these themes, and to disseminate this information in Armenian media. The journalists will have an opportunity to liaise between government and civil society through meetings with local officials, experts and NGO representatives, and they will visit those parts of the region where communities are most under pressure. As an outcome of the mission, participating journalists will produce special reports on women’s issues in Gegharkunik region, both for the media outlets they work for and also for a special IWPR-supported newspaper supplement to be printed in January 2012.This journalistic mission is being organised within the framework of IWPR’s “Building Bridges/Building Capacity: Conflict Prevention in the South Caucasus” project, supported by the Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway. For additional information. please contact the IWPR Armenia office on the following numbers: + 374 10 53 92 04 and + 37493 207 417; or send an email to [email protected]. IWPR strengthens local media at the frontlines of conflict and change, working in two dozen countries and territories around the world. This includes establishing independent local media; training local reporters, editors and producers; supporting extensive in-depth reporting on human rights, good governance and related issues; disseminating professional reporting in developing countries and internationally; and strengthening communications capacity of local human rights, international justice and women’s organisations. In Armenia, IWPR raises public awareness and helps build significant dialogues by strengthening local media skills and capacities.

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