QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER

Autumn 2013, Issue 14

A New Initiative at Chiva Community Center

Earlier in September a Clever Baby Development Center was launched in the Chiva Community Center with the support of Bread for the World-EED and Syunik-Development NGO. The Clever Baby Center aims to teach participants, children ages 3-5, the skills needed to become more creative with the help of ed ucational games. The center offers activities such as developing childrens creative thinking abilities with the help of games, and handcrafting which develops chil drens motor skills and creativity. This program also contributes to the development of childrens intelligence and cogni tive skills, thinking abilities, memory, attention, imagi nation. Recently, more initiatives were launched in the Clever Baby Center. Now the Center offers painting club for the children as well as for community students. On November 21, 2013, an exhibition was organized in the center where children presented their paint ings. Parents and community members present at the exhibition expressed their satisfaction with centers activities and thanked Syunik for its continuous sup port to their community.

Eco Volleyball in Khachik Village

Earlier this year, Arus Nersisyan, one of Syunik-Development NGOs staff members participated in Eco-Lab initiative, the Armenian country program of Joint Civic Education. During the second phase of the program she developed a project entitled Eco Volleyball. The project had specific objectives such as creating an appropriate place for children to spend their time playing active-cognitive games, to raise young peoples involvement in community life as well as to increase environmental awareness of youth through sport. Some of the activities implemented within the project included an environmental seminar for youth in Khachik village, volleyball competition and tree planting with the help of Khachik village mayor and youth.

The Success Story of a Farmer who Benefits From Our Rural Development Program
irrigation project in his village previously) and had great respect to the organization for its work in the region, he was very skeptical about a nursery project because of his previous failed attempts. And, like he says although usually we, the Caucasian men, never listen to womens advise, I, fortunately, listened to my wifes advice and cooperated with Syunik-Development NGO. Today, Aram is one of the local farmers who is successfully managing a nursery, marketing his products and having sustainable income. Aram recognizes the importance of all the trainings he has gone through at Syunik and emphasizes the critical role of Syuniks continuous support. He is grateful to HEKS-EPER for financial support of the project and proudly states that now I am famous both in my region and beyond. People from other regions visit to my Nursery and purchase plants. At the end of our conversation, Aram doesnt forget to mention the improvements he has made since becoming involved in the Rural Development Program: Now, I have sustainable income. I can support my childrens education, I renovated my house, and even made my wifes dream to come true - now she has an automatic washing machine, something that a farmers wife definitely appreciates. We wish all the best to Aram and his fellow farmers benefiting from Rural Development Program and extend our gratitude to HEKSEPER for their continuous support for this initiative.

Since 1995 we have been implementing various projects with a vision of developing sustainable local communities in our region. The impact of our initiatives are seen in many areas such as education, health, agriculture, peace building, to name a few. Our initiatives not only develop the local communities, but also prevent migration of people from their local communities. Our beneficiaries appreciate the support they receive from Syunik NGO and frequently indicate how Syunik NGO helped them not only to survive, but also to progress and become sustainable. The story of Aram Hakobyan is a great example of it. Aram is 46, married with two sons. He used to work in a regional nursery as a grafter during Soviet times. After the collapse of Soviet Union, he became unemployed and tried to establish his own nursery. This, obviously, didnt work out as he did not have enough resources to invest in the nursery. Meanwhile, the family needs were growing - his sons were admitted to a university in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, and he had to find a way of supporting their education. There werent many options available. Aram had tried various things, but nothing seemed to work. The only option left was to leave the country and try to find a job abroad. That is when Aram heard about Syuniks Rural Development Program. Although he was informed about Syunik (as Syunik has done an

Jermuk Community Center Receives Books

On November 9, 2013, Gitelik University in Yeghegnadzor, donated about 100 new books to the Jermuk Community Center. This donation was the result of a long-term collaboration between Syunik NGO and Gitelik University. Staff and children at the Center were enthusiastic to receive books as they have very limited access to print books in their community. When thanking the organizers for the donation, Anahit Yeghiazaryan, the Coordinator of the Jermuk Community Center, noted that having a small library in the Center will not only bring more people to the Center, but will strengthen the relationship between the Center and the community. The Center will continue seeking resources to enlarge its library.

Saint Translators Day in Vayk Community Center

Anhaght, Grigor Narekaci and Nerses Shnorhali. During the event participants sang church, lullabies and patriotic songs. The whole event was translated into English by the participants. The event was attended by many high-ranking guests such as the mayor of Vayk, deputy Mayor, teachers and staff of public schools, Peace Corps volunteers as well as parents and children. The event was well organized and aimed at preserving the Armenian language and Christianity as well as interpreting multifaceted art work and Armenian patriotism. On October 16, 2013, Saint Translators Day celebration was organized in Vayk community center. Saint Translators Day is an Armenian national and church holiday which symbolizes the invention of the Armenian alphabet, the Armenian translation of the Bible as well as the beginning of education in Armenia. The event was organized by Haykuhi Markosyan and Armanush Harutyunyan, Armenian and English language teachers at the Vayk public school. Participants spoke about the invention of Armenian alphabet and great translators such as Mesrop Mashtots, Yeghishe, Movses Khorenatsi, David

Collaboration With PUM Continues

expert of PUM, who met with Vayots Dzor farmers, paid a visit to their gardens and gave relevant modern gardening cultivation advice. Seeing the potential for development of horticulture in the region, good climatic conditions, good lands and young people trained and skilled in agriculture, Mr. Heldens expressed a desire to establish a new modern technology hybrid nursery in the region. In 2012, Syunik NGO Community Development project staff members visited the Netherlands and were trained there to develop this nursery and demonstration plot. As a result of ongoing cooperation, recently Mr. Heldens was invited to visit Armenia again and provide additional consultancy to our RDP project staff members. During his visit, Heldens visited our demonstration nursery and orchard as well as met with the farmers from the beneficiary communities. Future collaboration plans were also discussed during Mr. Heldens visit.

For several years Syunik-Development NGO and The Netherlands PUM organization have had a strong partnership based on mutual understanding. As a result of this cooperation, a number of projects have been implemented for development of the Vayots Dzor region. In 2011, within the Rural Development Project (RDP), the cooperation between Syunik and PUM entered a new phase. Syunik hosted Mr. Frans Heldens, an agricultural

A Tourism Guide Book for the Vayots Dzor Region

On November 11, 2013, Syunik-Development where they will explore and discover the tourism NGO staff members hosted Mr. Kipling Garland, attractiveness of the Vayots Dzor Region. short term consultant of Enterprise Development & Market Competitiveness Project. During the meeting Mr. Garland, Bishop Arbaham Mkrtchyan, Peace Corps volunteer Ed Buckingham as well as Syunik-Development NGOs staff members and two guides discussed many issues concerning tourism development in the Vayots Dzor region. The main aim of the visit was to start preparing tourism Guide Book for the Vayots Dzor region. During the meeting they designed three days of tours

Representatives From HEKS-EPER Visit Syunik

From October 9th to 11th, 2013, we hosted Martin Schmid and Ramiz Schmid, representatives from HEKS-EPER Switzerland, one of our long term partners. The aim of the visit was to have an Internal review of Syunik NGOs Community Development Program in Seven Communities of Vayots Dzor Region and provide guidance for the further development of this project and corresponding project phases. Various issues related to the project implementation were discussed and project challenges were identified. Perspectives on long-term sustainability of the project were also discussed. Guests had an opportunity to visit our machinery park and nursery where they met with some of the beneficiaries of the project.

International Visitor Leadership Program

Tatev Harutyunyan, Syunik-Development NGOs programme manager, was selected to participate in Novembers International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) sponsored by the U.S. Government. The IVLP provides an opportunity for participants to examine the concepts of democracy, governance and citizenship, and their importance to U.S. civil society as well as identify the skills necessary for grooming future leaders and explore methods used to develop these skills in critical thinking, decisionmaking, communication and organization and building leadership capacity. I was most surprised with volunteering system and volunteering behavior among youth and community involvement of differently able people in the community activities and being a part of the civic society, said Ms Harutyunyan. The visit offers once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become personally acquainted with the United States. The participants meet with representatives of national, state and provincial government agencies, visit educational and cultural institutes and get
From October 10 to 19, Marine Aghajanyan participated in a training course entitled European Citizens - Right Now. The training took place in Moldova and focused on four topics such as citizen ship, minorities, migrations and human trafficking. The training included over 35 youth activists from 15 countries and included non-formal learning, presentations, workshops, field visits, discussions, as well as cultural programs.

acquainted with the projects implemented by nongovernmental and governmental organizations. This visit was a great opportunity for young leaders to get to know new models of involving youth in civil society and bringing new initiatives into our communities, noted Ms. Harutyunyan. This years program lasted three weeks and included 22 young leaders from 22 different countries. We were pleased to have Syunik staff member to represent Armenia.

Syunik NGO Staff Members Develop Professionaly

mented by Stepanavan Youth Center. Participants were taught how to use social media tools effectively as a part of their organizational PR strategy. From October 28 to 30, Naira Harutyunyan, Project Manager for Rural Development Pro gram, participated in a training on Result Measure ment for Sustainable Private Sector Development. The training course focused on result chains, indicators, measurement methods as well as cultivat ing systems and was sponsored by HEKS-EPER. In addition to gaining new skills and ideas for their projects, participants were also given an opportunity to work in groups and discuss questions and issues related to their projects.

From September 5 to 12, Gevorg Matevosyan par ticipated in a training course entitled Through Media to Participation, Social Media in Service of Youth NGOs. The course was designed for young activists working in youth organizations and was imple-

Office of International & Public Affairs Syunik Development NGO Momiki St. 5, 3601 Yeghegnadzor Vayots Dzor Province, Armenia

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

Editor-in-Chief: Nara Martirosyan, Sam Houston State University