A friend asked, during the post-election rallies in
Raffi Hovannisian with Ambassador John Evans at PFA conference
I was reminded of Raffi Hovannisian’s keynote in DC at the
PFA Armenia-Diaspora conference, when he said: “It may be easy to sit in
Armenia, to offer policy prescriptions as an NGO, one in the environmental
realm, the other one in human rights, the other political party on foreign
policy and Turkish-Armenian relations, to gather in Washington and elsewhere,
where we have very sharp minds concerned about the future of Armenia, and asking
the question: ‘well, how do we realize that potential?’ With each one
continuing in his own narrow pathway, her own little project--which is very
important, don’t get me wrong, a significant contribution to Armenia and its future--but one which misses the
bigger picture; which does not allow for a bridging of the divide and a joint political,
societal solution to Armenia ’s
problems.”
There was more than a passing glance from Raffi in my
direction, and my initial reaction was that issues such as environmental
protection should not be an afterthought or something we can’t afford to deal
with now. How could he make this implication about ATP’s mission, which he
presumably supports along with most forward-thinking people? After further
reflection, though, I realized he was right. The governance challenge--more
commonly referred to as corruption in civil society circles--is the underlying
driver of many broader issues such as deforestation. If we are ever going to
get ahead of the issue, we will have to join the larger movement to improve
governance.
And yet, our mission is so important and narrow in focus
that it has allowed us to achieve very tangible results: more than 4.2 million trees planted since 1994. At the same time it precludes us from putting tree
planting on hold and entering the political stage.
So the question for all of our organizations with a targeted
mission becomes, how do we bring the issue of national governance back to our
specific mission, niche, or area of expertise? How can we contribute to the
issue in a meaningful and substantial way, without taking focus away from our
core programs?
But just as important, this is a two-way street. Political
figures have to bring these important and narrow issues into their own
platforms, since they have a direct impact on the well-being of the families
that make up our nation. Aside from the well-used rhetoric designed to enlist
popular support at political rallies, what exactly are their plans for environment,
women’s rights, and orphans?
Raffi, to his credit, has raised concern with unsustainable mining, and his Heritage Party spearheaded the Teghut declaration at
the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in 2012, but it has to go
well beyond that for all political figures and civil society actors. Let’s
pledge to do our part in the NGO sector, and ask the political leaders about
their platforms on our issues.
