IN THIS ISSUE:
*** AAA NGO CENTER ANNOUNCES RESULTS OF ITS NGO CAPACITY BUILDING GRANTS
PROGRAM
*** PROMOTING PARTICIPATION OF THE DISABLED DURING ELECTIONS
*** CLEANING ACTIVITIES IN STEPANAVAN
*** AWARENESS AND TRAINING PROGRAM IN SHIRAK AND LORI REGIONS
*** PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY. INITIATIVES AND RESPONSIBILITY
*** SUPPORT FOR SOUP KITCHENS
*** NEW PUBLICATION
***WEBSITE LAUNCH: COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN INFORMATION OFFICE
*** ANNOUNCEMENT FROM ROA MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND YOUTH AFFAIRS
*** AAA NGO CENTER ANNOUNCES RESULTS OF ITS NGO CAPACITY BUILDING GRANTS
PROGRAM
This grants program is aimed at promoting organizational development of
local Armenian NGOs towards their more effective involvement in delivering
social and/or primary healthcare services and information. Of 47 NGOs
applied for the grants program contest, eight organizations have been
selected by the review board. Their projects are aimed at strengthening of
their organization’s human, financial, physical, public relations and
service capacities. The winning NGOs are: Ozone Young Men’s Christian
Association, Maternity Fund of Armenia, Yerevak, Vanadzor Young Men’s
Christian Association, Women’s Rights Center, Gratemed Scientific Medical
NGO, Asup, and Meghvik Children’s and Youth NGO. Funding for the grants
program is provided by the United States Agency for International
Development.
Contact: Margarit Piliposyan
AAA NGO Training and Resource Center
39 Yeznik Koghbatsi St.
Tel.: (374-1) 54-40-12, 54-40-13
E-mail: ngoc@ngoc.am
Website:
*** PROMOTING PARTICIPATION OF THE DISABLED DURING ELECTIONS
After observation activities on behalf of the disabled during the 2003
elections, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems and five
interested NGOs made a statement regarding polling station inaccessibility
for the disabled. The domestic NGOs which were signatories to the
statement – Lusastgh, Paros, Nor Spitak, Liarzhek Kyank and Pyunik – have
developed suggestions and presented them to the National Assembly’s
Committee on Issues of the Disabled. With regard to this, the initiators
organized a roundtable on July 9 with the participation of members of
electoral commissions, and representatives of NGOs and international
organizations to discuss the NGOs’ suggestions and the position of the
National Assembly on incorporating the proposed amendments in the electoral
code. During the meeting, spokespersons presented the issue of the role of
the communities in providing wheelchair accessibility in the polling
station, as well as the participation of mentally disabled, blind and deaf
people in the elections. Upon the conclusion of the roundtable, a working
group was formed. Its members met on July 12 to discuss all of the
suggestions. They prepared a package of suggested amendments to the
electoral code, which was later handed to Artak Arakelyan, Deputy of Armenia
‘s National Assembly (NA) and Coordinator of the Committee on the Disabled
Issues with the ROA NA Chairman.
Contact: Al Decie
IFES/Armenia
9 Alek Manukian St.
Tel.: (374-1) 51-20-51, 51-20-16
E-mail: AGDecie@ifes.am, AGDecie@hotmail.com
Internet:
*** CLEANING ACTIVITIES IN STEPANAVAN
The Makur Yerevan (Clean Yerevan) project, with the participation of its
volunteers and in cooperation with the Stepanavan Legal, Psychological,
Training and Information Center NGO, carried out cleaning activities in
Loreberd and Ashot Yerkat historical and cultural sites. Dendropark site and
the area adjoining the weaving factory were also cleaned. At the end of the
cleaning project, a literary and musical event was organized to entertain
the project participants. Henceforth, the participants have decided to
devote their time to cleaning activities on the third Saturday of every
month.
Contact: Gerasim Asryan
Stepanavan Legal, Psychological, Training and Information Center NGO
Tel.: (374-56) 3-28-91
E-mail: ihuTK@rambler.ru
*** AWARENESS AND TRAINING PROGRAM IN SHIRAK AND LORI REGIONS
The Progress Through Education project of the Asparez Club of Journalists
NGO has come to its end and the results were summarized on July 9. Project
staff presented the three directions of the activities implemented in
Gyumri, Vanadzor, Stepanavan and Alaverdi to representatives of NGOs,
interested international organizations and state structures. These areas
included seminars, TV discussions and social advertising on human rights
protection, local Mass Media, local self-governance and NGO cooperation. As
stated by Project Coordinator Levon Barseghyan, “Such projects are necessary
for information exchange and establishing cooperation between Armenia’s
northern towns.”
Contact: Levon Barseghyan
Asparez Club of Journalists NGO
Gyumri, 96 Pushkin St.
Tel.: (374-41) 2-27-21
E-mail: levon@asparez.am; info@asparez.am
*** PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY. INITIATIVES AND RESPONSIBILITY
This was the title of the international conference, organized by the
Association of Women With University Education NGO on July 9-11 within the
framework of its Democracy and Peace Center Project. Association heads and
activists, NGO heads, representatives of political parties, National
Assembly Deputies, officials of the ROA President Administration and
Government, political scientists, philosophers, historians, lawyers,
sociologists, economists, psychologists, and representatives of NGOs and
scientific institutions of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Russian Federation
participated in the conference. They discussed participatory democracy as a
factor contributing to the establishment of civil society and further
democratization of political life in Armenia and other CIS countries, as
well as issues on forms and initiatives of civic participation, and the
responsibility of citizens and citizen groups in the irrevocable
democratization processes of the society.
Contact: Jemma Hasratyan
Association of Women With University Education NGO
Tel./Fax: (374-1) 58-15-83
E-mail: aawue@arminco.com
*** SUPPORT FOR SOUP KITCHENS
Mission Armenia NGO’s Support for Soup Kitchens five-year program, aimed at
addressing nutritional, social and health needs of the disadvantaged older,
disabled persons and extremely vulnerable households, is currently underway.
This USAID-funded program is being implemented in Yerevan and five other
regions of Armenia: Shirak, Gegharkunik, Lori, Syunik and Tavush. The
program objectives are: providing hot, calorie-rich meals, social and
healthcare services, legal, psychological and gerontology-related
consultancies and training. Currently, almost 6,300 vulnerable people
benefit from the program activities through 22 soup kitchens and three
community centers. Concurrently, the NGO initiates activities that are to
promote social partnership, as well as raise public awareness on the given
program and problems which the elderly in our society face. The social
partnership component of the program will promote establishment of
cooperation between parties concerned with finding solutions to the problems
of the elderly. The model developed by Mission Armenia was recently
presented to the Kanaker-Zeytun community’s self-governing body, community
council, local condominiums, NGOs and other structures. As a result of
preliminary discussions with these structures, a social partnership model is
to be developed, which will first be introduced in the Kanaker-Zeytun
community, and later applied in other communities.
Contact: Hripsime Kirakosyan
Mission Armenia NGO
42 Garegin Nzhdeh St.
Tel.: (374 1) 44-47-92; 44-47-93; 44-47-61; 44-47-32
E-mail: ripsik@arminco.com
Website
*** NEW PUBLICATION
On the initiative of the Caucasus Forum of Non-Governmental Organizations,
the Tradition Of Solving Problems in the Caucasus and Methods of Civil
Society Institutes publication has been published. It is based on materials
from the Traditions of the People Diplomacy and Behavioral Norms in War and
Conflict Conditions in the Caucasus conference. Three chapters of the
publication – Traditions of War and Peace in the Caucasus: View from the
Inside; Self-Consciousness; Possible Activities of Civil Society in the
Caucasus in the Context of Current Conditions – are analytical articles and
reports on historical forms of being, Caucasian identification, traditions,
and localization of the western model of civil society. Opinions and
comments on these topics are also presented.
Contact: Caucasus Forum of Non-Governmental Organizations
25 Demirchyan Cul-de-Sac
Tel.: (374-1) 54-57-27
E-mail: forum@netsys.am
***WEBSITE LAUNCH: COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN INFORMATION OFFICE
The newly-launched website provides information on the
activities of the Council of Europe in general and on CoE in Armenia
activities in particular. This English-Armenian website is both informative
and interactive: while the general materials on the Council of Europe and
Armenia ensure public awareness at large, the daily media digest, press
releases and news/announcements provide up-to-date information on CoE
developments with particular relevance to Armenia. One of the most striking
features of the website is the online virtual library.
Contact: Susan Marukhyan
Council of Europe Information Office in Armenia
10 David Anhaght St.
Tel.: (374-1) 24-38-92
E-mail: coe.yerevan@coe.int
*** ANNOUNCEMENT FROM ROA MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND YOUTH AFFAIRS
The Youth Policy Department of the ROA Ministry of Culture and Youth Affairs
Administration is registering NGOs in order to develop a database of
organizations operating in the Republic of Armenia and dealing with youth
issues. Registered NGOs can post information and announcements about their
activities free of charge in the Skizb (Beginning) newsletter, funded by the
ROA Ministry of Culture and Youth Affairs. The NGO registration form is
available at the Youth Policy Department of the ROA Ministry of Culture and
Youth Affairs Administration.
Contact:
3rd Government Building, Republic Square, 7th floor
Tel./Fax: (374-1) 52-62-97
E-mail: youthaffairs_ra@yahoo.com
____________________________________________________________________________
Armenian NGO News in Brief is a publication of the NGO Training and Resource
Center (NGOC) issued in the Armenian, English and Russian languages for
electronic dissemination inside and outside Armenia. Primary funding for
the NGOC, which is a project of the Armenian Assembly of America, is
provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Individual NGOs are welcome to submit information for publication to the
NGOC. The NGO Center is not responsible for the clarity of information
provided by individual NGOs.
Dear Readers,
The not-for-profit, non-governmental sector of Armenia is rich with diverse
civic initiatives and activities. This electronic publication, though far
from covering all activities of the sector per any given period of time, is
intended to contribute to raising awareness, both inside and outside
Armenia, of the activities of Armenian not-for-profit, non-governmental
organizations.
Your comments and feedback about this electronic publication are greatly
appreciated.
Thank you.
Contact Information:
In Armenia:
Armenian Assembly of America
NGO Training and Resource Center
39 Yeznik Koghbatsi St.,
Yerevan 375010
Tel.: (3-741) 54-40-12; 54-40-13;
53-92-04
Fax: (3-741) 54-40-15
E-mail: ngoc@ngoc.am
Website:
In the United States:
Armenian Assembly of America
NGO Training and Resource Center
122 C Street NW, Suite 350
Washington, DC 20001 USA
Tel: (202) 393-3434
Fax: (202) 638-4904
E-mail: ngoc@aaainc.org
Website: