The next training sessions on "Crisis Communication and Crisis Journalism" in cooperation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the UN Refugee Agency was held from October 25-26 in Tsaghkadzor with 25 representatives of mass media participating.

In his opening speech, the Director of RS-Deputy Minister of IA Kamo Tsutsulyan noted that the training sessions was an important platform for consolidating efforts and sharing experience and for developing systematic approaches toward ensuring effective communication in crisis situations.

According to the UNHCR Representative in Armenia Monica Sandri, “Communication is vital for the well-being and resilience of communities. From this perspective, the role of journalists is invaluable in inspiring confidence in the population, keeping them informed and informed, and helping people. We are working to strengthen public communication so that everyone has access to timely, accurate and useful information within the framework of the partnership between the RA Government and the EU”.

Narek Sargsyan, Press Secretary to the Minister of Internal Affairs, Head of the Public Communications and Awareness Department of the MIA introduced the participants to the training program and main directions.

Speaking about the communication approaches and adopted policies with the public, of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Narek Sargsyan emphasized that responsible and transparent communication was the basis for building and maintaining trust among the public.

Kiri Attri, Head of External Relations, shared the approaches and international experience adopted by the UN Refugee Agency: “We highly appreciate the initiatives taken towards communication, accurate information and awareness of the population and support the Government of Armenia in ensuring an informed public and sustainable communities by continuing cooperation with journalists”.

Nelly Davtyan, Head of the Migration and Citizenship Service, presented the functions of Service and the specifics of crisis communication in migration processes: "In this chain, conducting preventive activities and maintaining constructive relationships, not avoiding questions and addressing the same phenomenon from different perspectives has important significance in forming long-term and quality media content".

Lianna Abrahamyan, Head of the Information Provision and Statistics Department at the Crisis Management National Center of the Rescue Service, presented the crisis communication model and procedures to the training participants: "Through the examples presented, we studied how mass media can become effective and responsible partners by applying the full toolkit that we taught during the retraining training sessions". 

The participants also studied the components of psychological resilience. Behavioral changes in communication officers during emergency situations and methods for coping with stress were presented.

Hayk Mkrtchyan, Head of the Criminal Police Department for Combating Cybercrime, presented the importance of information security in the field of journalism within the framework of the Cyber Hygiene topic. During the practical session, participants studied examples of phishing emails and became familiar with methods to identify them. The training also provided an opportunity to develop skills in using artificial intelligence within the framework of crisis communication.

The staff member of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) legal department presented the specifics of covering legal protection and asylum provision processes, as well as the journalist's role in conveying impartial and accurate information.

The active discussion was held around the topics of the training.

At the end of the training, participants were given certificates.