On 24 May, a regular online discussion dedicated to the development of the 5th Open Government Partnership (OGP) National Action Plan took place in the format of a public-private dialogue,

The discussion consisted of two parts. First, the recommendations related to the commitment of introducing a digital signing and registration system for employment contracts was discussed, which was followed by the discussion of the commitment of Open Healthcare “Hello Baby: Access to evidence based information in the field of medical care for women of reproductive age”.

The event was organized within the framework of the “Supporting Co-Creation Process of the 5th OGP Action Plan” project implemented by the Armavir Development Center, the Armenian Lawyers’ Association and the Freedom of Information Center NGO with the support of the Open Government Partnership, within the framework of the “EU for Integrity Programme for the Eastern Partnership” funded by the European Union.

Ms Ani Harutyunyan, representative of the Armavir Development Center NGO, said in her opening remarks that the goal is to improve the program development process. The result must be one “to develop an ambitious action plan.”

“The other task is to increase stakeholder ownership feeling of the Open Government Partnership Action Plan through joint work and responsibility. Awareness of OGP and open government issues in general, needs to be raised. 64 proposals have already been submitted to the Government, most of which are potential commitments,” she said.

Ms. Lilya Afrikyan, OGP Armenia Program Coordinator under RA Prime Minister’s Office/RA Contact Person, said in her opening remarks that during the development of the program, they focused on the priorities of the Government and the needs of the country after the war and the pandemic.

Mr. Igit Hakobyan, Head of the Labor Legislation Control Department of the RA Health and Labor Inspection Body, made the first report on the introduction of the digital signing and registration system of employment contracts. He noted that employers do not provide employees with a copy of an individual employment legal act or employment contract, which makes it difficult and sometimes impossible to protect workers’ labor rights.

“There are several reasons․ For example, a copy of the contract is not provided to employees, and not all of the requirements for the content of the contract are provided for in the legislation, which are specifically aimed at creating less favorable conditions, involving employees in illegal work and not registering with the tax authority. Moreover, instead of contracts, employers often sign service contracts with employees in order to circumvent the basic principles and guarantees of the legislation,” Mr. Hakobyan said.

The inspection body proposed the introduction of an electronic system of registration of employment contracts in the Republic of Armenia, which is aimed to improve the control over labor law in Armenia. It is mentioned that all the employment contracts signed in Armenia will be digitized with the introduction of the electronic system.

Ms Suzanna Soghomonyan, program expert of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, in her report, presented the international experience, including the experience of the EU member states in this field. According to her, this will be one of the unique tools that will refer to everyone.

“Quite serious reforms are being made, institutes of electronic instruments are being introduced, but, unfortunately, due to lack of literacy, it is not possible to apply them. Awareness should be provided from region to region, village to village. This is the sphere that concerns everyone,” Suzanna Soghomonyan emphasized.

During the discussion on the first topic, Ms Violeta Zopunyan, Program Director of the Center for Rights Development NGO, highlighting the initiative, at the same time expressed concern that the introduction of the system may be negatively accepted by employers, however, the system will become acceptable when they understand its importance.

“This is an initiative that will take us one step further in terms of protection of labor rights. I have concerns about the protection of personal data. There are similar problems with existing electronic systems. Both the employer and the employee can have this fear,” Ms Zopunyan said.

Mr. Movses Aristakesyan, President of the “Center of Economic Right” NGO, mentioned in his speech that the new system should be working, and not be like the “Armed” system, which does not work as planned.

“Have you assessed how “Armed” works?” There are a lot of problems in the system, I have felt on my skin how badly the system works. I waited for 3 days for the program problems to be solved by the polyclinic and the hospital. It is the most important tool through which we will pass to health insurance. If it does not work well, the insurance will fail immediately,” Movses Aristakesyan said.

The second part of the event, was dedicated to open healthcare. Ms. Nayiri Shorjian, representative of Armenian National SDF Innovation Lab, introduced the recommendation of commitment on Open Healthcare “Barev Balik: Access to evidence based information in the field of medical care for women of reproductive age”.

“Maternal and child reproductive indicators in Armenia suggest that we are not reaching our national targets. This is not a new problem. Research shows that there are two ways in which goals can be achieved. One is the quality and accessibility of medical services, the other is the awareness of the citizens. If these two targets work in parallel, we can be effective. Digitalization of services, without the awareness of citizens, will not be effective and vice versa,” she said.

Ms Mariam Zadoyan, program expert at the Armenian Lawyers’ Association in her speech first mentioned that among the commitments related to the provision of public services within the framework of OGP, the health commitments are in the second place after education. More than 140 open healthcare commitments from different countries have been included in OGP national programs.

“About a quarter of OGP member countries currently have commitments in the field of healthcare. They are very diverse and address the target health issues and challenges in a given country, such as epidemics, communicable and non-communicable diseases, mental health, medical examinations, and reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child, and adolescent health. Most of them emphasize the publication of data on health care activities and the involvement of citizens in policy-making,” she said.

Further, the speaker presented the OGP exemplary experience and the latest trends in the field of reproductive health, in which she referred to the # Dónde digital platform for ensuring the inclusion of access to reproductive health services in Argentina and the commitment of the Indonesian program to create a digital platform for women’s health services.

The participants of the discussion reached an agreement regarding further work.