Established in 2001, the Economic Development and Research Center (

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

: «Տնտեսական Զարգացման և Հետազոտությունների Կենտրոն») is a

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and i ...

based

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

, nonpartisan

think-tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmental ...

dedicated to addressing

economic An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...

and social challenges and contributing to

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public p ...

discourse in

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...

Mission and values

The mission of EDRC is to conduct high-quality policy relevant

research Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

and build capacities to contribute to sound social policy formation and the development of a

competitive Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indivi ...

economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...

. EDRC is a politically independent institution and is therefore not affiliated with any specific

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

and or interests. Independent statehood,

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which people, the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choo ...

and regional cooperation, private entrepreneurship and

social cohesion Group cohesiveness (also called group cohesion and social cohesion) arises when bonds link members of a social group to one another and to the group as a whole. Although cohesion is a multi-faceted process, it can be broken down into four main co ...

form the ideological underpinnings of the center.

Areas of interest

A broad spectrum of policy areas, ranging from Sustainable Human Development and

Social Security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...

, Infrastructure and Knowledge Economy, Economic Governance and

Public Administration Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment (public governance), management of non-profit est ...

to Sustainability of Growth and Development Prospects lie at the center of EDRC's attention. The Center gathers and analyzes data, monitors and evaluates

public policies Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public p ...

and services, and based on its findings develops policy options and relevant recommendations. EDRC disseminates its knowledge and research results through its

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wi ...

, various independent reports and

publications To publish is to make content available to the general public.Berne Conv ...

, the Economic Policy Journal, as well as events such as

symposia ''Symposia'' is a genus of South American araneomorph spiders in the family Cybaeidae, and was first described by Eugène Simon in 1898. Species it contains six species in Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic o ...

workshops Beginning with the Industrial Revolution era, a workshop may be a room, rooms or building which provides both the area and tools (or machinery) that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods. Workshops were the onl ...

and training. The output of EDRC's work is aimed to draw attention towards salient issues that impact Armenia's

socioeconomic development Socioeconomics (also known as social economics) is the social science that studies how economic activity affects and is shaped by social processes. In general it analyzes how modern societies progress, stagnate, or regress because of their local ...

, promote healthy discussions on these matters and contribute to informed policy formation in the

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...

Publications

Information dissemination is of critical importance to EDRC as it is dedicated to supply the wider public with up-to-date economic and structural

data In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete Value_(semiotics), values that convey information, describing quantity, qualitative property, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of sy ...

, analysis and research reports. Throughout the years, EDRC's

publications To publish is to make content available to the general public.Berne Conv ...

have attracted a great number of readers, both in and outside

and have interested numerous

experts An expert is somebody who has a broad and deep understanding and competence in terms of knowledge, skill and experience through practice and education in a particular field. Informally, an expert is someone widely recognized as a reliable so ...

and professionals in various areas.

Team and management

EDRC has a multi-layer

governance Governance is the process of interactions through the laws, norms, power or language of an organized society over a social system ( family, tribe, formal or informal organization, a territory or across territories). It is done by the gove ...

structure that includes the General Meeting, Chairman, consultative bodies, executive office and the research team. The center also draws on a large pool of

consultants A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting servic ...

’ network, and, affiliates. The General Meeting (Management Council) is the governing body of the center.

Partners and donors

Through the years the center has built a strong track record of successfully implemented projects that involved close collaboration with various national and international institutions such as the: *

Asian Development Bank The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank established on 19 December 1966, which is headquartered in the Ortigas Center located in the city of Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines. The bank also maintains 31 field offic ...

(ADB), * Department for International Development (DFID), UK * German International Cooperation Agency (GIZ), *

Millennium Challenge Corporation The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is a bilateral United States foreign aid agency established by the U.S. Congress in 2004. It is an independent agency separate from the State Department and USAID. It provides grants to countries that ...

(MCC), * NOVIB, the Netherlands, * Oxfam GB, * UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), * UN Development Program (UNDP), *

United States Agency for International Development The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 b ...

(USAID), *

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...

(WB), *

World Food Program The World Food Programme; it, Programma alimentare mondiale; es, Programa Mundial de Alimentos; ar, برنامج الأغذية العالمي, translit=barnamaj al'aghdhiat alealami; russian: Всемирная продовольствен� ...

(WFP) EDRC has traditionally cooperated with various government agencies in Armenia as Ministries of Economy, Finance, Labor and Social Issues, Transport and Communications, as well as Statistical Committee of Armenia,

Central Bank of Armenia The Central Bank of Armenia ( hy, Հայաստանի Կենտրոնական Բանկ, translit=Hayastani Kentronakan Bank) is the central bank of Armenia with its headquarters in Yerevan. The CBA is an independent institution responsible for issu ...

, State Employment Service and other agencies.

References

External links

*
About EDRC

Projects

Publications

Partners and Donors
{{authority control 2001 establishments in Armenia Political and economic think tanks based in Asia Research institutes in Armenia