IN THIS ISSUE:
*** NGO/MEDIA THEMATIC ENCOUNTERS AT AAA NGO CENTER
*** COMMUNITY CENTER OPENS IN GYUMRI
*** FIVE YEARS OF AREVATSAGHIK
*** GOOD WILL, GOOD DEEDS, GOOD RESULTS: INTERREGIONAL VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT
2004
*** SAFE AND RATIONAL USE OF MEDICINE
*** NGOs TO MONITOR ANTI-CORRUPTION STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION
*** PRESENTATION OF THE STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN WEBSITE AND NATIONAL
MONITORING PROJECT
*** NGO/MEDIA THEMATIC ENCOUNTERS AT AAA NGO CENTER
On November 4, AAA NGO Center hosted its regular thematic NGO/Media
encounter titled Diminution Of Unemployment As A Step Towards Poverty
Reduction. These encounters are aimed at raising public awareness on the
diverse problems Armenian NGOs are tackling, NGO sector activities to
address those problems and constraints faced while working towards
solutions. The goal of this seventh encounter was to draw public attention
to Armenian NGO activities aimed at reducing unemployment, with a special
emphasis on the most vulnerable groups of the population – refugees and
disabled people: their vocational training, professional development and job
creation for them. During the encounter, representatives of the Galik
Employment Assistance and Areguni Social Development NGOs made presentations
on involving disabled people in NGO initiatives on unemployment reduction
and Tchambarak region experience in using local resources for reduction of
unemployment among refugees. Other participants included representatives
from NGOs dealing with poverty reduction, Mass Media, and state and
international organizations.
The next thematic encounter, held on November 30, was devoted to the
International Day of AIDS. Vardan Babayan of the Armenian National AIDS
Foundation presented the current HIV/AIDS situation in Armenia and Jina
Sargizova of AAA NGOC spoke about the Capacity Building In HIV/AIDS
Prevention program, jointly implemented by UNFPA, UNDP, UNAIDS, UNICEF, ROA
Ministry of Health, Armenian National AIDS Foundation and AAA NGOC. The
expected outcome of this project is the improved capacity of the Government
and civil society to design and implement effective and well-coordinated
HIV/AIDS work plans and programs at the national, regional and community
levels.
Contact: Margarit Piliposyan
AAA NGO Training and Resource Center
39 Y. Koghbatsi St.
Tel.: 54-40-12, 54-40-13
E-mail: maga@ngoc.am
*** COMMUNITY CENTER OPENS IN GYUMRI
On November 2, a new Community Center opened its doors in Gyumri. The
building was renovated by the Norwegian Refugee Council and houses Community
Social-Healthcare and Pedo-Psychological Assistance Centers as well as a
Kindergarten. Services of the Community Social-Healthcare Center will be
provided by Mission Armenia Charitable NGO and are designed to meet the
needs of vulnerable, single, older and disabled people and refugees residing
in temporary dwellings. This integrated center includes a soup kitchen,
social services center, health post, bath and laundry, hairdressing room,
training resource center, conference room and other more.
The soup kitchen will be operational on week-days and provide hot nutritious
meals to about 200 beneficiaries. The social services center will provide
health, psychological, legal trainings and individual consultations. The
in-home services for almost 600 single older residents of Gyumri are one of
the most significant activities to be carried out through the center:
provision of individual care, personal hygiene, medical assistance,
psychological, gerontological and legal assistance, home renovation, heating
of homes, and more. It will also serve as a good place for arranging
cultural events, meetings and round-table discussions. The health post will
provide primary health care and necessary medications to beneficiaries free
of charge. The bath and laundry will meet primary hygienic needs of older
beneficiaries. The hairdressing room will provide relevant services to the
vulnerable. Through the training resource center, computer, hairdressing and
tailoring skills will be transferred to the vulnerable refugee and local
population of the town, providing them an opportunity to acquire new job
skills. Mission Armenia Charitable NGO implements these activities through
funding support received from USAID.
Contact: Hripsime Kirakosyan
Mission Armenia Charitable NGO
42 G. Nzdeh St.
Tel.: (374-1) 44-47-92; 44-47-93
E-mail: ripsik@arminco.com
Website:
*** FIVE YEARS OF AREVATSAGHIK
November 2, 2004 marked the fifth anniversary of the Bridge of Hope NGO’s
Arevatsaghik (Sunflower) magazine. Today, the periodical is the only one of
its kind in Armenia with a mission of integrating disabled children into
mainstream society. The monthly magazine presents integration opportunities
for disabled children into society and helps develop a positive attitude
towards children with special needs. Children and juveniles with and without
disabilities work together to create the magazine. They develop their
journalistic skills through juvenile journalists training courses held in
the Bridge of Hope’s center. The monthly publication is disseminated in
secondary schools, children’s libraries and other institutions dealing with
children’s issues. Today, the number of readers is 10,000. Arevatsaghik
covers current issues of concern to children and juveniles: disability,
health, education, social, legal and cultural. The monthly has various
rubrics: Brave Spirits; School Mosaics; Discussion Club; Know-All George’s
Corner; Cinema; Your Problem, Our Solution; and more.
Contact: Susanna Tadevosyan
Bridge of Hope NGO
19a Koryun St.
Tel.: (374-1) 56-01-43; 58-91-86
E-mail: arevatsaghik@yahoo.com; bridge@arminco.com
Website:
*** GOOD WILL, GOOD DEEDS, GOOD RESULTS: INTERREGIONAL VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT
2004
The Good Will, Good Deeds, Good Results yearly interregional events promote
volunteer movement and activities of NGOs as an effective institute to unite
communities in solving their local problems. Participants are NGOs, local
and regional authorities and community members. This year, Good Will, Good
Deeds, Good Results events were organized by the Center for Community
Dialogues and Initiatives NGO on October 28 and 29 in eight regions of the
republic. The registered results are encouraging: 910 events in 25 towns of
Armenia with the participation of 102,000 citizens. Some activities included
free services of dentists, hairdressers, cobblers, cleaning areas, material
assistance, cultural and sports events, and more. One participant said,
“This movement enabled citizens of Armenia to make their practical
contributions in the development of their communities while also conveying
the power of the volunteer movement.”
Contact: Naira Hovhannissyan
Center for Community Dialogues and Initiatives NGO
8 Tumanyan St.
Tel.: (374-1) 58-42-79, 58-42-97
E-mail: ccdi@ccdi.am
Website:
*** SAFE AND RATIONAL USE OF MEDICINE
On November 8, Pharmprogress Youth NGO initiated meeting among its members,
representatives of Health and Social Welfare Department of the Yerevan
Municipality and eight policlinics in Yerevan. These parties are involved in
disseminating instructions for using humanitarian medicines to vulnerable
groups. The meeting was part of the Increasing Awareness On Safe And
Rational Medicine Usage Among Representatives of Economic and Social Risk
Groups in Yerevan project. The cooperating parties have tasked themselves
with ensuring the provision of Armenian and English versions of instructions
of medicines disseminated by Yerevan policlinics to vulnerable groups, and
their participation in training courses on safe usage of medicines.
Participants agreed upon cooperation mechanisms.
Contact: Hrant Danagulyan
Pharmprogress Youth NGO
18 Heratsi St.,
Tel.: (374-1) 57-82-05, 57-82-04
E-mail: pharmprogress@medicina.am
Website:
*** NGOs TO MONITOR ANTI-CORRUPTION STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION
On November 24 and December 1, the first sessions of the Protection of
Economic Competition (preventing anti-monopoly and conflict of interest) and
the Healthcare working groups of the ROA Commission on Anti-Corruption
Strategy Monitoring were held. The first working group unites 15 NGOs and
the second 27. Activities of the working groups include: implementing
anti-corruption strategy and monitoring implementation of departmental
anti-corruption projects; studying and summarizing the experiences of
international organizations in anti-corruption efforts, developing
suggestions to improve the mechanisms used, conducting expert review of
legislative drafts, suggesting amendments and submitting those to the
Commission on Anti-Corruption Strategy Monitoring.
Contact: Abgar Yeghoyan: Commission member; Coordinator of the Protection of
Economic Competition working group
E-mail: upcr@web.am; abgar@freenet.am
Greta Mirzoyan: Commission member; Coordinator of the Healthcare working
group
E-mail: armgreta@arminco.com
Marianna Stepanyan: Commission exptert
E-mail: marianna.stepanyan@cascadecapitalholdings.com
*** PRESENTATION OF THE STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN WEBSITE AND NATIONAL
MONITORING PROJECT
The November 25 presentation marked the beginning of a series of events by
the Women’s Rights Center NGO within the framework of the 16 Days of
Activism Against Gender Based Violence. The project is being implemented in
Armenia with the financial support of Network Women’s Program and Open
Society Institute Assistance Foundation – Armenia with the goal of creating
an information source on the problem () and promoting
cooperation among organizations dealing with gender based violence and
drawing the attention of the public and relevant structures to this issue.
The newly-launched internet page () presents links and
resources including the National Plan of Action on the Improvement of
Women’s Situation and the Enhancement of their Role in Society; Research and
Reports; Treaties; Legislative Trends; Women’s NGOs, and more.
Contact: Susanna Vardanyan
Women’s Rights Center NGO
17 Abovyan St., #20
Tel.: (374-1) 58-36-18
E-mail: wrcarm@arminco.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
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NGOC, which is a project of the Armenian Assembly of America, is provided by
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