Armenia: Engaging in collaborative human rights research
As part of RWI’s Armenia Programme, the Raoul Wallenberg Institute provided support to representatives of academia and civil society in Armenia to engage in collaborative human rights research during 2021-22. The support aimed to increase the capacities of the participants to jointly produce and disseminate human rights research relevant for Armenia.
Through an open call, three groups were selected that focused on the following topics:
- “Gender-Responsive Budgeting in Armenia: a qualitative study in Amasia unified community”
- “Familiar Otherness: Urban Integration Experiences of the Displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh”
- “Restitution and Reparations Fund: Meeting the Housing Challenges for the Displaced in Armenia”
The support consisted of various stages through which the participants were able to explore both collaborative work methods and how to improve their knowledge and skills:
During these stages, the groups engaged in capacity development workshops and trainings on various issues such as research methodologies, ethics in research, the application of human rights based approaches to research, among others. The groups were also connected to academic experts with whom they could discuss their ideas, research design, and findings.
In March 2022, the preliminary findings and research reports were presented at an international seminar in Yerevan, which also included participation of local authorities, civil society organizations and the Office of the Human Rights Defender.
After the seminar, two groups decided to continue their work with the research and turn their reports into policy briefs, which can be used by any stakeholder with interest in the topics covered. Listen to group representatives reflecting on the relevance and outcome of their participation in the project and download the policy briefs:
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David Eile
David Eile currently works as a Senior Programme Officer responsible for various projects under RWI’s Europe Office, focusing on different forms of academic cooperation in Europe and Cuba. Since joining RWI in 2006, David worked with various human rights programmes in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. David has an MA in Anthropology from Lund University and is a doctoral candidate in Cultural Anthropology at the University of Uppsala.
Zuzana Zalanova
Ms. Zalanova has been promoting human rights, good governance, and civic engagement in various capacities in Europe and Central Asia.
Since joining RWI in 2018, she has led RWI programme in Belarus (until 2020), initiated and expanded RWI programme in Armenia, and broadened regional engagement with initiatives in Uzbekistan and the Western Balkans. Her expanding portfolio includes four projects in Ukraine, supported by sub-regional engagement in Poland and Moldova.
In 2023, Ms. Zalanova also assumed the role of Acting Executive Director of the International Legal Assistance Consortium (ILAC), an international nongovernmental consortium established in 2002 to help coordinate and support the efforts of legal professionals to rebuild justice institutions in conflict and post-conflict countries. Through its member organisations and individuals, ILAC is comprised of more than 3 million legal professionals worldwide, including judges, lawyers, prosecutors, and court administrators.
Ms. Zalanova teaches regularly international development, human rights, and project management at three faculties of the Lund University in Sweden.
Before joining RWI, Ms. Zalanova worked for the United Nations in Ukraine, leading the UN Volunteers programme with a focus on civic and youth engagement. She previously coordinated rule of law programmes of the International Development Law Organisation (IDLO) in Mongolia, Central Asia and Eastern Europe, supported regional human rights and justice initiatives of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Europe and Central Asia, and managed the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum, a platform of civil society actors from the EU and Russia.
Ms. Zalanova holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science, a master’s degree in Security Studies, and a joint (bachelor’s and master’s) degree in International Relations with a specialisation in Non-Profit Management from her studies in the Czech Republic (Charles University, University of Economics) and the United Kingdom (University of Reading).