UNICEF launches new country programme for Armenia 2026–2030 to advance the rights and well-being of every child
Partnership at the heart of progress: UNICEF emphasizes joint responsibility in delivering the new programme’s vision for Armenia’s children
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YEREVAN, 23 January 2026 - UNICEF launched its new Country Programme for Armenia 2026-2030, outlining an ambitious agenda to advance the rights and well‑being of every child in Armenia at a time of demographic change, equity gaps, and increasing climate and socio‑economic challenges. Developed jointly with the Government of Armenia and guided by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the latest Concluding Observations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (2024), the new programme builds on three decades of partnership and progress for children in the country.
Participants were welcomed by His Excellency Robert Abisoghomonyan, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia and by Mrs. Francoise Jacob, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Armenia. In his welcome remarks, Mr. Abisoghomonyan emphasized that the protection of children’s rights in an absolute priority for the Republic of Armenia, playing an important role in the country’s political and international cooperation agenda. The Deputy Minister noted that Armenia and UNICEF have a long and rich history of partnership, full of mutual goals and challenges that have been tackled through joint work.
Mrs Jacob noted that the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for Armenia, signed at the end of 2025, provides the central strategic framework for UN engagement, and, within this framework, UNICEF’s Country Programme is fully aligned, contributing to collective UN results for children and supporting national efforts to sustain gains while addressing gaps that continue to affect children’s rights, protection and well-being.
“Our vision for the next five years is clear: every child in Armenia must have an equal chance to survive, thrive and reach their full potential,” said Christine Weigand, UNICEF Representative in Armenia. “The new programme focuses on strengthening essential systems, such as health, education, child protection and social protection, so that all children, including the most vulnerable, are supported in a rapidly changing world.”
Key priorities of the 2026–2030 Country Programme
1. Universal, accessible and quality health and nutrition services
UNICEF will support the Government in strengthening primary healthcare, improving immunization and newborn care, promoting breastfeeding and healthy nutrition, and expanding positive parenting programmes and mental health services for children and adolescents.
2. Quality pre-primary and secondary education and skills for the future
The programme will expand early childhood education through innovative and cost‑effective models, improve the quality and inclusiveness of schooling, and create more opportunities for adolescents and young people to develop skills for the future.
3. Integrated and shock-responsive child protection and justice systems
UNICEF will help operationalize new child rights and child protection legislation, strengthen case management and alternative care, build capacity to prevent and respond to violence, including online, and support effective national child‑rights monitoring mechanisms.
4. Comprehensive and shock-responsive social protection systems that address poverty and deprivation
UNICEF will test and scale fiscally sustainable social protection models and family‑friendly policies, support improved child‑sensitive public financial management, and help integrate child‑lens into climate adaptation and resilience planning.
“No single actor can achieve these results alone. Our work is only possible thanks to strong partnerships and support from government, civil society, diaspora and the private sector, and the children and young people who inspire everything we do,” noted Mrs Christine Weigand, UNICEF Representative.
The event also featured speeches by Human Rights Defender of Armenia Mrs Anahit Manasyan, Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Mrs Tatevik Stepanyan, and two former members of the Public Council on the Protection of Children’s Rights adjunct to the Human Rights Defender of Armenia: Gohar Veranyan and Mariam Tonoyan who talked about child rights, with a focus on the the right to participation, as well as about their contribution to and participation in the sessions of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child ahead of the publication of the Concluding Observations to Armenia’s periodic report.
Building on significant progress
In the past 30 years, UNICEF has supported Armenia to
- Cut under-5 child mortality by half
- Protect children from preventable diseases through 94 per cent immunization coverage
- Eliminate measles, mother to child HIV transmission, and achieve polio-free status
- Expand access to preschool education
- Advance inclusive education for children with and without disabilities
- Establish foster-care services
- Decrease the number of children in residential care and in correctional facilities by nearly 90 per cent
- Assist the most vulnerable families in ensuring children’s wellbeing through an improved social protection system
The recent response to the 2023 refugee crisis further demonstrated the importance of long‑term system strengthening. UNICEF and partners provided safe spaces, psychosocial support, access to education, health services, and immediate assistance, including vouchers and cash assistance, to thousands of refugee children and their families.
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About UNICEF
UNICEF promotes the rights and wellbeing of every child, in everything we do. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere.
For more information about UNICEF and its work for children, visit www.unicef.org.
