Why can’t I benefit from the program “Nanny at the expense of the state”

For several months now, the state represented by  the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs  announced that will support mothers with children  under the age of two years to be able to return to work, assisting them in organizing child care. Assistance will be in the form of half-payment of the nanny’s nanny, which should not be more than the minimum 55,000 AMD. The order of assistance, as it is known, was put on the web-site e-draft for discussion. At the moment the discussion is over and all the proposals have been summarized.

It turns out that the procedure for using the program determines that the nurse should be a non-registered person at the beneficiary’s place of residence so that the young mother can benefit from the program.

Getting to know the summary of the promotional offers posted on the e-draft website, we find out that the OXYGEN Youth and Women’s Rights Protection Foundation, in collaboration with ProMedia-Gender NGO, has suggested removing this requirement as it limits the relative’s affiliated family (grandmother, grandfather or other relative) opportunity of being engaged as a nanny, which contradicts the relevant assurances voiced by responsible persons at the public voicing of the project. For example, it was mentioned that this program would also help address the employment problem of elderly people.

From the Government’s answer, one can conclude that the demand will remain unchanged.

The Summary shows that OXYGEN does not consider the abolition of beneficiaries’ salaries justified and suggests increasing the threshold. The justification is that in order to benefit from the program, mothers should receive an average of 200-250,000 AMD (i.e. taxed) on average, in order to be able to afford their pre-school or nursing care services at the same time paying their income tax. Even in the case of a lower wage, returning to work early for a mother who cares for her child is not expedient and justified in financial terms, even when benefiting from the program, as evidenced by many mothers’ responses in social networks.

If, however, a woman has decided to become a participant in the program, she must be registered at the employment agency, whereas preference will be given to those who have been registered for a longer period.

OXYGEN Foundation has found out that payment for nurses or pre-school tuition fees for children requiring special care are relatively higher. The same applies to mothers with three or more children, because besides paying for a nurse’s service, they also have the problem of financially ensuring the other children.

In other words, from the point of view of the RA Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, the targeting of the program is restricted to the groups that are considered to be uncompetitive in the labor market.

Summing up its recommendations on the procedure OXYGEN Foundation notes that the procedures, requirements and limitations of the program minimize the frame of potential beneficiaries, thus questioning the effectiveness of the program and the effectiveness of the state budget expenditure. The ministry does not agree with this question, considering that the developed procedure is clear and there is no need for any change…

Full text in Armenian