Javahir Yeghiazaryan

A new program that asks inhabitants to identity problems in their village by replying to questions via SMS was tested in six communities in Armenia, one of which is the village of Janfida in Armavir Province. 

The program, called "Community Micro-Questionnaire," is implemented by the Armenian office of the United Nations Development Programme, along with the Ministry of Territorial Administration of the Republic of Armenia and MOBBIS LLC. Janfida village mayor Rafik Yeghiazaryan informed Hetq that the Community Micro-Questionnaire is a survey sent by SMS to inhabitants of the village on matters that concern them.

"Residents provided the village council with their mobile phone numbers, their sex and age, after which the village council sent a SMS to survey participants, who responded to the questionnaire, expressing their opinion," he said.

According to the figures published by MOBBIS, 460 Janfida residents registered for the survey, 182 of whom are 16–35 years old, 230 of whom are 35–55 years old, and 48 of whom are aged 55 and older.

The first question residents were asked was what is the number one problem in Janfida? The available answers were as follows:

1. Partial repair of the drinking water pipeline

2. Partial repair of village roads

3. Repairing the kindergarten yard

4. Building an entertainment pavilion 

Out of 90 participants, 36 said repairing the drinking water pipeline was their primary concern, 48 wanted the village roads to be repaired at least partially, 2 were concerned about the kindergarten yard, and 4 considered building a pavilion for entertainment purposes to be their number one concern. Program staff assure that survey participants' personal data is kept confidential. 

Janfida's village mayor believes that a mini-questionnaire is the best way for residents to express their opinions on matters concerning the community. He expects greater participation in future surveys and promises to consider residents' opinions in future decisions. 

Residents, in turn, were in favor of the questionnaire, saying they've never had the opportunity to find out what programs from the budget the village mayor or council decided to implement, becoming informed of programs after they were implemented. Some of the villagers didn't participate in the questionnaire but assure that they will express their opinion in the next survey. 

According to Natalya Harutyunyan, representative of the UNDP office in Armenia, Community Micro-Questionnaire is a new program and still at the experimental stage. In the case of satisfactory results, the program will be deployed also in other communities in the country.