In February, the co-operating partners of “Joint Civic Education” (JCE) visited Syunik NGO to discuss cooper-ation possibilities. It was agreed that Syunik will be one of the three local partners for the Arme-nian country program. The two other partners are Peace Dialogue from

Vanadzor and the Institute for Democracy and Human Rights in Yerevan.

Joint Civic Education motivates young people for civ-ic involvement by offering capacity building, start-up funding for volunteer’s micro projects, and peer-to-per mentoring. Alumni become part of a network of like-mined people facing similar challenges in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia and Turkey.

The program curriculum consists of introductory and practice seminars, which will be conducted in April and July respectively, followed by a project implemen-tation period and a reflection seminar in November to

evaluate outcomes and share experiences. The practice seminar will be held in Syunik’s Summer Camp facili-ties.

JCE is a program of MitOst Association operated by Theodor-Heuss-Kolleg in cooperation with the CRISP and Iris Group – Managing Diversity. In 2012 the ac-tivities are funded by the German Federal Foreign Of-fice, the Foundation Robert Bosch Stiftung, The Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation – A Project of The German Marshall Fund and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER

Spring 2012, Issue 7

HEKS-EPER will continue supporting Youth Summer Camps

Syunik NGO becomes a local partner for “Joint Civic Education Armenia”

Benevolent NGO

HEKS-EPER, one of Syunik’s long term partners, will continue supporting Syunik’s youth summer camps. The three-year project, which will launch in March, 2012, aims to develop effective peace-seeking behaviors among participant teenagers and youth from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Abkhazia through the imple-mentation of youth peace camps.

The initiative will include training on conflict media-tion, diversity and leadership and will promote under-standing of different cultures and tolerance among youth. Youth Camps will be held both in Armenia and Georgia and will significantly contribute to peace build-ing processes in the region.

Visiting Syunik’s Camp Facilities

On Saturday, March 3, 2012 a Poetry Recitation Con-test for the children of Yeghegnadzor and Malishka was organized. The Poetry Recitation Contest took place at Gitelik University. Among the guests attending the event were representatives from Peace Corps-Ar-menia, local media, Peace Corps volunteers, teachers, parents and students. During the event children from Yeghegnadzor and Malishka recited poems in English. Students, who recited best, were awarded various priz-es. Many of the prizes went to children from Malishka where a Peace Corps volunteer Chad Erickson has been serving since August, 2010.

Active Generation Active Community

On December 10th, 2011 the closing ceremony of the Active Generation, Active Community project took place at Gitelik University. This year-long project was implemented within the British Council’s Active Citizens project in cooperation with Syunik NGO. During the closing ceremony, activities implemented within the project were presented to the public. At the end of the ceremony, participant youth received prizes for their participation in the project.

From February 19-25th 2012 Syunik NGO hosted Dr. Eberhard Gohl, an external evaluator sent by EED

to evaluate the organization’s Development Programme in Vayots Dzor, South Armenia (2009-2012). During his evaluation visit, Dr. Gohl met with Syunik’s board and staff members and learnt about the organization’s past experience and ongoing projects, its status, accomplish-ments and challenges. He also visited all five Social Ser-vice Centers in the region established within the EED’s programme and interviewed not only direct beneficia-ries of the Centers, but also community members (e.g., teachers, parents, etc.) who are directly or indirectly benefiting from the centers. In addition, meetings with representatives from local governments provided the external evaluator with an opportunity to meet and dis-cuss issues with individuals from the government sec-tor.

An external evaluation at Syunik NGO

Dr. Gohl (second from left) with Syunik’s staff members

Poetry Recitation Contest for children

On February 20th a literary evening dedicated to the 150th anniversary of famous Armenian writer Yeghishe Charents was organized by staff and stu-dents of Yeghegnadzor Social Service Center. The event took place in Gitelik University’s conference hall. Among the guests attending the event was Dr. Eber-hard Gohl, the external evaluator from EED who was at Syunik to conduct an evaluation of the Social De-velopment Programme in Vayots Dzor region. During the event children performed poems written by Yeghishe Charents and shared some stories about the writer, as well as sang and danced.

Literary Evening in Yeghegnadzor SSC

Kids performing at the literary evening

Nara MartirosyanOffice of International & Public AffairsSyunik Benevolent NGO

Momiki St. 5, 3601 Yeghegnadzor, Vayots Dzor Province, Republic of ArmeniaBenevolent NGO

Tel/Fax: +374 (0281) 24009Email: oipa.syunikngo@yahoo.comwww.syunikngo.am

In December 2011, the kids in kindergarten N1 in Yeghegnadzor were happier than ever. It was the open-ing ceremony of the project, Improving Conditions of Kindergarten N1 in Yeghegnadzor, which is being funded by the German Embassy in Armenia. Among guests attending the event were Bishop Abraham Mkrtchyan, Constantin N. Zelenty and Benjamin Heidrich from the German Embassy in Armenia, representatives from Eurasia Partnership Foundation- Armenia, Youth Bank members and parents. During the ceremony, the chil-dren presented poems and songs in both Armenian and German. Guests were impressed to see how quickly the teachers and children had learned the German songs in their wish to express their gratitude to their German friends.

As a result of the project, conditions have certainly improved in the kindergarten N1 in Yeghegnadzor and these improvements will have a positive influence on the children’s education.

A pottery club was launched in the Vayk SSC with the support of the Yeghegnadzor Youth Bank and Job Club. The club aims to teach participants the skills needed to make pottery souvenirs and, in so doing, to help them become self-employed. Participants of the club are young people and unemployed job seek-ers from the Vayots Dzor Region who were selected through an open competitive selection process. At the end of the project, an exhibition will be organized to display the works of the club participants.

Children of Kindergarten N1 in Yeghegnadzor are Happy

Kids greeting guests

A Pottery Club inVayk SSC

The Yeghegnadzor Youth Bank launched a new project entitled Think Green with the financial support of the Open Society Foundations- Armenia. This new initiative will increase public awareness on environ-mental issues, as well as enable young people to raise their voices on the importance of environmental pro-tection. Activities to be implemented under this proj-ect include the installation of baskets in educational and other public institutions to collect used paper for recycling and a number of essay and slogan contests among youth on environmental issues. More informa-tion on the project activities will be included in up-coming issues of our newsletter.

Think Green project by Youth Bank