QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER

Summer 2014, Issue 17

Camps for Peace in South Caucasus

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This summer, again with the financial support of our partner HEKS-EPER from Switzerland, Syunik NGO implemented Camps for Peace in South Cau-casus which has become an annual tradition. This initiative is one of Syunik’s peacebuilding initiatives which brings together youth from different ethnic and national backgrounds and develops peace-seeking behaviors among them. Like previous years, this year’s Peace Camps were also divided into two shifts, one in Georgia and one in Armenia. The camp in Georgia was organized in Akhaldaba,

Borjomi region from July 20 to 31 while the camp in Armenia took place in Lucytour hotel resort lo-cated in Hermon village, Vayots Dzor Armenia from August 3 to 14. In Armenia participants were given dental examinations and treatments provided by our long-time partner Armenian Dentist Associa-tion in California. The programs of both camps were full of activities. Every day participants were given peace promoting sessions, fun times and evening activities. The Farewell celebration in Armenian

shift took place on August 13 and was attended by many high ranking guests including Edgar Ghaz-aryan, Governor of Vayots Dzor region, Archbishop Abraham Mkrtchyan, the primate of Vayots Dzor Diocese, Mark Kalinin, Head of Representation in the Republic of Armenia Russian Cooperation, representatives from governor’s office, parents of camp participants as well as community mem-bers. Camp participants left the site not only with nice memories, but with long-lasting friendships which were developed during the camp activities.Farewell Ceremony of Armenian Shift

Session Held by the Camp leaders

Summer School at Vayk Community Center

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Income Generating Club in Jermuk Community Center

Vayk Community Center’s initiative group or-ganized a Summer School for local children this year. The Summer School took place in July and was held in the park near the community center. The aim of the Summer School was to make sum-mer more interesting and entertaining for local children who are out of school for about three months during summer and have nothing much

to do. The school was also educational. Topics such as healthy lifestyle, awareness and promo-tion of human rights and responsibilities, and de-velopment of tolerance behavior were discussed with school participants. Participants enjoyed the summer school which gave them opportunities to make new friends in addition to having fun and gaining knowledge on aforementioned topics.

The crochet club, which was established seven months ago in Jermuk Coomunity Center with the support of Bread for the World, has a high demand in the area. The club consists of 10 participants from different age groups who are eager to learn some-thing new and make a change in their lives. Learn-ing crochet work is both exciting and beneficial as participants can later on sell their products and get some income. “I really like this club because it gives me a chance to be busy with the work I like and get

experienced on that work. The crochet club helps us prepare not only some clothes for ourselves, but also sell them and earn money”, noted Greta Levonyan, one of the participants. The first prod-ucts of the club were used for a puppet show orga-nized by the center. Some of the products continue to be sold also in exhibitions and in local festivals.

Jermuk Community Center’s beneficiaries’ grati-tude goes to Bread for the World for supporting Syunik NGO in its activities.

Nowadays not only Hip-Hop dances are be-coming popular, but also traditional and eth-nographical dances. The proof of this is a re-cently organized annual contest festival.

On June 8th, 2014, Nazanq annual contest fes-tival was organized at Yerevan’s Opera and Ballet National Academic Theatre. The contest consisted of hip-hop, traditional and ethnographical dance performances. More than 40 teams participated in the festival not only from Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, but also from Armenia’s regions including Vayots Dzor’s Hover ethnographical ensemble, led by artistic director Anna Rafyan. The Hover ensem-ble is one of the clubs running in our Yeghegnadzor Community Center. During the competition, partic-ipants performed both individual and team danc-es. Vayots Dzor’s Hover ensemble won the second

prize in team dance. Hover ensemble’s 5-12 year olds were also given an opportunity to be included in My Baby newsletter. “This award is binding for us, so that we can continue to improve our dancing skills, which will enable us to obtain higher awards”, said Anna Rafyan, the team’s artistic director.

Yeghegyats Festival in Yeghegnadzor On July 18, Yeghegyats festival took place in

Yeghegnadzor’s Momik Park. Artists across Vayo-ts Dzor region, among them talented youth from

Syunik’s Community Centers’ income generating clubs, came together to present their works and in-teract with each other. Locals had an opportunity to see unique and original handicraft works including ceramics, pottery, batik, paintings, and other items made by talented artists in the region. The festival was accompanied by songs and dances which cre-ated a positive atmosphere among the attendees.

The festival was made possible by Edgar Ghazaryan, the Governor of Vayots Dzor Re-gion, Archbishop Abraham Mkrtchyan and the Luys Fundation in colaboration with oth-er NGOs. Syunik NGO was one of the NGOs that supported the organization of the festival.

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Syunik’s Hover Ensemble Gets the Second Place in a National Festival

Syunik Donates Medical Equipment to Yeghegnadzor Local Hospital

Syunik NGO continues its support to local and national hospitals. During the month of August Syunik donated medical equipment to the ma-ternity hospital and ambulance department of

the local hospital in Yeghegnadzor city. Some of these equipment were much needed and will be used to provide better services to the community members of Vayots Dzor region.

Office of International & Public AffairsSyunik Development NGOMomiki St. 5, 3601 YeghegnadzorVayots Dzor Province, Armenia Editor-in-Chief: Nara Martirosyan, Sam Houston State University

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

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Syunik NGO Staff Trainings and Activities

Representatives From HEKS-EPER Visit Syunik NGOOn June 8th, 2014, Syunik NGO hosted represen-

tatives from HEKS-EPER, Switzerland, one of our long term partners. The guests were Silvia Frei, HEKS - EPER Caucasus Programme Officer, Nana Topuridze, HEKS-EPER Regional Director of South Caucasus and Vakho Mshvidobadze, HEKS-EPER South Caucasus Programme Officer. The main focus of the visit was to have an internal review of Syunik NGO’s Rural Development and Camps for Peace in South Caucasus projects and provide guidance for the further development of these projects. This was

one of the serial monitoring visits by HEKS-EPER to Syunik NGO. During one day visit guests met with project teams and discussed different issues relat-ed to project implementation and challenges. The guests were also invited to visit with farmer advis-ers and to learn about their jobs as farmer advisers. A field visit to Syunik NGO’s demonstration nursery was part of the visit as well.

Syunik NGO and the projects’ beneficiaries extend their gratitude to HEKS-EPER for their continuous support for these initiatives.

From July 10th to 13th, Gevorg Matevosyan par-ticipated in the Practice Seminar of the Ecolab, Ar-menian country program of Joint Civic Education held in Tsakhkadzor, Armenia. Being Joint Civic Education alumni, Gevorg was selected to serve as mentor to those who are currently participating in EcoLab. His role as an alumni and mentor includes supporting current EcoLab participants in finalizing and implementing their small projects in their re-spective communities. Total of 15 projects will be implemented from August-November within Eco-Lab Armenia country program. Among these proj-ects is an initiative developed by Anahit Yeghiazar-ian, the Coordinator of Syunik’s Jermuk Community Center and an EcoLab participant. Her project is entitled The Sun and will be implemented in Vayots Dzor region.

Arus Nersisyan, Assistant to the Program Man-ager of Social Development Program at Syunik, has currently completed a nine-week English Extension Course at the American University of Armenia. The course helped to strengthen English language us-age and communication skills, as well as upgraded the English language proficiency and gave an op-

portunity to improve all-round ability in English. From July 15th to 25th, Gevorg Matevosyan at-

tended a training course entitled Youth in Life De-velopment organized by Armenian New Generation Humanitarian NGO within Youth in Action Program. The training course focused on topics such as lead-ership, communication, project management and non-formal education. Eighteen participants from six European and neighboring countries (Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, Poland, Romania and Hungary) attended the course.

From August 4th to 10th, Arus Nersisyan and Lilit Grigoryan participated in a training course entitled Peace and Nonviolence organized by the Centre for Cultural Relations — Caucasian House within Youth in Action program. The training course aimed at raising awareness about conflict dynamics, con-flict analysis, conflict resolution and conflict man-agement tools. The group consisted of two partici-pants from each country: Armenia, Azerbaijan, the Czech Republic, Georgia, and Poland as well as five participants from the North Caucasus republics in the Russian Federation.