QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER

Summer 2013, Issue 13

Promoting Peace in the Region Remains a Priority

It has been many years since Syunik-Development NGO became involved in peace building initiatives for youth in South Caucasus. Among various initiatives, the two major ones are Summer Academy on Peace Building for college students and young activists, and Peace Summer Camps for teenagers and youth. This year both, the Summer Academy and Peace Summer Camps were implemented and both were great success.

Summer Academy
One-week Summer Academy (SA) on conflict-related topics was launched on August. The Academy took place at the newly build LucyTour Hotel Resort at Hermon village, which is located in the beautiful Yeghegis Valley of Vayots Dzor region, Armenia. Twenty young activists selected from Armenia and Georgia took part in the Academy. Local Armenian and Georgian trainers led sessions which focused on topics related to conflict transformation and mediation. Cultural tours were also part of the SA. After the Academy, participants are required to organize peer-to-peer follow-up workshops in their communities in order to promote peace in their area. The Summer Academy was organized within the framework of Social Development Programme in South Armenia, Vayots Dzor region, a program funded by the German Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst organization (EED).

Peace Summer Camps

This year also, with the financial support of our partner HEKS EPER from Switzerland, Syunik-Development NGO gathered together youth from different regions of Armenia, Georgia and Abkhazia (including ethnic minorities from these regions) to develop peace-seeking behaviors and promote friendships among them. Peace Summer Camps were organized in Akhaldaba, Borjomi region, Georgia and in Yeghegis, Vayots Dzor region, Armenia. The camp in Armenia was organized from August 4th to August 15th. As with previous years camps in Yeghegis, Armenia, participants this year were given dental examinations and treatments donated by our long-time partner Armenian Dentist Association in California. The farewell party of Armenian peace camps took place on August 15 and was attended by many high ranking guests including Edgar Ghazaryan, Governor of Vayots Dzor region, Bishop Abraham Mkrtchyan, the primate of Vayots Dzor Diocese.

Armenian Youth are Ready to Implement Their Eco-Projects

From 23 to 29 of June, the practice seminar of EcoLab, the Armenian Country Program of Joint Civic Education (JCE) initiative was held in Hermon, Vayots Dzor region. This was the continuation of the introductory seminar which took place on April 27 to May 5 in Vanadzor, Lori. Practice seminar participants were to design their volunteers micro projects, which will be implemented in their local community within three months. During the training, participants gained all the necessary skills and knowledge for developing their projects. From 27 to 29 of June, mentors, representatives of partner organizations and other alumni participants of MitOst and JCE joined the group. During these days public presentations of the projects were organized by the participants. Arusyak Nersisyan, Syunik-Development NGO staff member, was also a participant of this project. Her project is entitled ECOVolleyball. She was impressed by the result of these two seminars because they helped both her personal development and project design skills. More information on JCE participants local projects will be included in our next newsletter.

EcoLab is the Armenian country program of Joint Civic Education. EcoLabs partners are the MitOst Association (Berlin, Germany), the Institute for Democracy and Human Rights (Yerevan, Armenia), Peace Dialogue NGO (Vanadzor, Armenia), Syunik Development NGO (Vayots Dzor, Armenia), and Journalists Club Asparez (Gyumri, Armenia). The program is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (Portugal) and the Robert Bosch Stiftung (Germany).

Glasses for Armenia - Collaboration with a Local NGO

experienced doctors on how to examine and find children with visual problems. In the final stage, a team of Ophthalmologists came to Gitelik University to examine all the identified children with visual problems and prepare free glasses for them. A gratitude is extended to Shen NGO and others who contributed to the Glasses for Armenia project - in initiative that is very much needed especially in rural communities of Armenia. On August 18, 2013, Shen Non-Governmental Organization with the help of Syunik-Development NGO organized a week project entitled Glasses for Armenia in Vayots Dzor region. This was the final stage of a 3-stage project aimed to diagnose children with visual problems and give them glasses. The first stage started from April and lasted until June. During that time school or village nurses assisted the project organizers to discover schoolchildren with visual problems. Then the local nurses were trained by

Border2Border - Promoting Healthy Lifestyle and Environmental Awareness

Thirteen Peace Corps volunteers recently completed the third annual Border2Border childrens healthy lifestyle and environmental awareness education project with the support of YMCA Armenia, Youth Bank of Yeghegnadzor and other Armenian partner organizations. Throughout three weeks in June, two groups of six to seven Volunteers walked the entire length of Armenia one group starting from the northern border with Georgia and the other from the southern border with Iran. Each group hiked over 275 kilometers with weather ranging from rain and hail to the blazing sun. Along the way, the Volunteers partnered with community members in each of the 22 towns and villages they passed through to teach simple but important lessons through interactive seminars about nutrition, anti-smoking, environment, respect, hygiene, and avoiding alcohol. Additionally, local children brought old plastic bottles and were taught to make self-watering flower planters with them as an example of reusing a common form of trash. 853 children attended these lessons. The teams adventures were documented on the following blog: http://walkacrossarmenia.wordpress.com/. In the coming months, the Volunteers will be providing support and supplies to the community members they visited to deliver these messages in additional schools and villages to reach even more children with these important lessons. Border2Border was in Vayk on June 23rd and taught 51 students. The sessions were held at the Vayk community center as well as the park area outside where they could do lively activities. Syunik NGO helped mobilize the community members and students in both Vayk and Yeghegnadzor. The volunteers were in Yeghegnadzor on June 26th at Gitelik University and taught 86 students with the help of 6 team teachers from Yeghegnadzor and organizers from both Youth Bank and Syunik-Development NGO.

Training on Conflict Mediation and Transformation

In June, 2013 HEKS-EPER conducted training on conflict transformation and mediation for leaders from Armenia, Georgia and Abkhazia who later worked at Peace Summer Camps for South Caucasus. The training took place at Borjomi, Georgia and covered topics related to conflict mediation and transformation. During the training participants were offered practical knowledge and skills for the most effective ways of solving conflicts. After the training course participants came back with enhanced knowledge and skills, which they used during the camp time.

Local Officials Visit Hermon Community Center

On August 9th, Armen Gevorgyan, Deputy Prime Minister of Republic Armenia, Edgar Ghazaryan, Governor of Vayots Dzor region, Bishop Abraham Mkrtchyan, the primate of Vayots Dzor Diocese and other high ranking guests paid a visit to Syunik-Development NGOs Hermon Community Center. The Community Center is located in Hermon village in the beautiful Yeghegis Valley of Vayots Dzor region, Armenia. The Aim of the visit was to learn about the classes and clubs offered in the Community Center through which many village children have a chance to gain new knowledge and improve their skills. The guests met with community center students and people in the community where they discussed problems of the village.

Training on Interfaith Dialogue

From the 23rd to 28th of June, Nara Harutyunyan, one of Syunik-Development NGOs staff members, participated in an Interfaith Dialogue training course organized by the Youth in Action Program. The training took place in Lviv, Ukraine. The training course aimed to reflect and discuss on the need for youth to engage in interfaith dialogue and cross-communities work. The course also discussed the challenges and how to exchange best practices through project examples on engaging young people in interfaith dialogue (in the form of discussion, exchange and not debate on opinion). The course equipped participants to implement future Youth in Action projects dealing with interfaith dialogue or with youth from different backgrounds, taking into account the current situation across Europe.

Training on Conflict Management and Negotiation

New long term cooperation was established with EPNK (European Partnership for the Peaceful Settlement of the Conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh) project by Marine Aghajanyan, one of Syunik Staff members. This project is a partnership of five European Non- governmental organizations, who intend to cooperate with local NGOs in South Caucasus for widespread peace making project and supports to improve the conditions of Nagorno Karabakh in the process of managing the conflict. From 23 to 27th of July Marine took part in the first training where conflict management and negotiation were the main topics of the training. Different simulation games and practical workshops about the topics were organized. Now the team is in charge with organizing the second training. During the three year project the participants will have opportunity to develop their own peacemaking or peacebuilding projects.

On August 16, 2013, Syunik Development NGO was visited by the USAID-funded Enterprise Development and Market Competitiveness Project (EDMC) to discuss the Local Tour Guide Training project, which is financed by EDMC. The Local Tour Guide Training project has two main objectives: to develop local tourism in the Vayots Dzor region by designing a course curriculum and certification program for tour guides in collaboration with local tourism actors and field experts; and to select and train 15 students as tour guides by using participatory methodological approaches with participating SMEs. The major partners of the trainings are two local universities: Yeghegnadzor Branch of the State Economic University and Yegheg-

Members of Partner Organizations Visit Syunik NGO USAID

nadzor Branch of the Gitelik University. 15 participants have already been trained on tour guide skills specific to Vayots Dzor region by methods of lectures and infield practicums. Two participants have already been placed at jobs: one student started work in Lucy Tour LLC and the second one at Vayq Tourism Center. Kristine Grigoryan, EDMC Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, and David Stein, EDMC Project Assistant met with Syunik-Development NGO staff members and got acquainted with the NGOs mission and the many projects and initiatives implemented in Yeghegnadzor. Future collaboration between EDMC and Syunik-Development NGO were also discussed.

HEKS-EPER

EED
On July 1st, 2013 Claudia Hinderer, Programme Manager Personnel Services, EED visited Syunik-Development NGO. This was Ms. Hinderers first visit with us. We discussed our Social Development Programme in South Armenia, 2012-2015. After a brief presentation of Syunik-Development NGO and the Social Development Programme activities, there was a lively discussion on further details of the Secondment for having a consultant from Germany. During the meeting, a field visit was also organized to the Vayk Community Center where Ms. Hinderer was introduced to all the clubs running in the Center.

On July 17, 2013, representatives from HEKS-EPER Switzerland visited Syunik-Development NGO for three days. The guests were Vincent Hug and Bettina Filacanavo-Sthli of HEKS-EPER Switzerland, Vakho Mshvidobadze, HEKS-EPER South Caucasus Programm officer, as well as photographer and staff member from Communication Department (COM) in HEKS-EPER. The aim of the visit was to observe projects and meet with partners and beneficiaries, collect stories and prepare media materials for the printed magazine of HEKS, as well as materials for HEKS Website. During the visit the guests organized a 2-day planning workshop for the extension of the current Rural Development Project. They also had an opportunity to meet Syunik-Development NGO summer peace camp leaders, alumni and parents of beneficiaries.
Nara Martirosyan

Office of International & Public Affairs Syunik Development NGO

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

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