QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER

Autumn 2015, Issue 21

Peace Park in Yeghegnadzor

In current times, the two main threats to our planet
are environmental issues and the dissolution of peace
through war and terrorism. Each of us is responsible
for working towards solutions for these problems. Our
world begins from each persons own motherland,
home, and backyard. Together, the community of
Yeghegnadzor established a Peace Park in our yard.

Let the Peace sprouts of our trees cover the entire

planet. These are the words of the young people from
the Vayots Dzor region who implemented the project,
Establishment of Peace Park, on November 27th,
2015. The initiative was brought to life as part of the
Youth for Peace Project implemented by Syunik
NGO with the strong support of the mayors office
of Yeghegnadzor. The trees were provided by Pfr.
Karl-Heinz Scheide. Together with school children
and kids from the local kindergarten, the idea to
plant trees in the promotion of peace was created,
conducted, and celebrated. Archbishop Abraham
Mkrtchyan, Head of the Vayots Dzor Diocese of the
Armenian Apostolic Church, Mr. Vardan Avagyan,
Deputy Mayor of Yeghegnadzor, Syunik NGO Staff,
Syunik NGO Georgian partner Kristina Arakelova,
and Peace Corps Volunteer Brooke Burrows, all
joined together to make the initiative possible.
Each tree of the Yeghegnadzor Peace Park carries a
small peace message, ideas that will hopefully grow
as strong and tall as the trees planted next to them.

Field Visit for Farmers

Being a farmer has been my occupation for the
last few years. I dont have a big farm now but
I want to have a big farm which will help me earn
more money later on, noted one local farmer.
Like during summer and spring, farmers remain very
busy in autumn. In autumn, farmers are tasked with
planting trees and pruning their gardens. But in order
to do these jobs in the most effective way possible,
farmers can benefit from the theoretical teachings
and hands-on demonstrations of agriculature experts.
Syunik NGO took five beneficiary farmers to a two
day seminar organized in Yerevan by Shen NGO. The
seminar aimed at providing appropriate technologies
and equipment to the farmers across Armenia. Thirty
seven farmers were introduced to the agricultural
machines of SPECMASH Company and the agricultural
tools and equipment of the My Garden store. During
the Yerevan visit the farmers had a chance to tour
the New Fruit dried plant facility and the Natali

Agro plant treatment shop. These educational

seminars help to build the capacity of our local
farmers, providing them with tools they can later
use to create bigger, more productive farms.

Peaceful Change through Understanding Training Course

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will

be called children of God. Matthew 5:9
In current times the promotion and strengthening
of a culture of peace has become an important
and necessary condition all over the world.
Syunik NGOs youth programs and initiatives
are guided by the goal of promoting a culture
of
peace
and
strengthening
harmonious
relationships locally, nationally, and internationally.
2010 was a new start for Syunik NGO to carry out
summer academies on conflict analysis, conflict
management, and conflict transformation for active
Armenian and Georgian youth leaders as well as for
ethnic minorities living in these countries. Due to the
consistent work of Syunik NGO, the Peaceful Change
through Understanding project was brought to life,
and successfully promoted intercultural dialogue
and peaceful conflict resolution. The training course
was held in the Lucy Tour Hotel Resort in Hermon

Village, Vayots Dzor Region, from the 22nd to

28th of November with financial support from the
German Foreign Office. The partner organization of
the project was Youth for Diplomatic Engagement,
Georgia. President of the organization, Kristina
Arakelova, was our cross-border peace project
alumni in 2011 who implemented the project with
financial support from Ifa. I got my first degree in
a somewhat different area of social science and
art history. In 2012 I participated in a cross-border
ToT on peace by Syunik NGO. Syunik NGO was a
great boost to proceeding with my professional
development and career. It played fundamental role
on my future professional education and in 2013
I did receive my Master in International Relations
and Caucasian Studies. In all my activities I have
demonstrated my ability to work hard under time
pressure, in small and bigger teams, and in various
cultural environments. Together with my professional

development, I also chose the path of social activism.

I have founded a non-governmental organization
(NGO) Youth for Diplomatic Engagement
that focuses on youth involvement in public
diplomacy and security issues in Georgia and in
the South Caucasus noted Kristina Arakelova.
The project was attended by university students and
young leaders actively involved in non-governmental
organizations both in Armenia and Georgia. The
support of Germany, one of the main driving forces
in the European Union, for a project that would
help lead to improved recognition and relationships
between these two ancient countries of the
Caucasus, indicates a welcoming of the countries into
the larger European network. The final ceremony
and cultural celebration of the training course was
attended by many high ranked guests including
Abraham Archbishop Mkrtchyan, head of the
Vayots Dzor Diocese, representatives from the local
government, Sveta Dovlatyan, editor of the regional
newspaper Vartadzor, Kristina Arakelova, president
of Youth for Diplomatic Engagement, partner NGO
in Georgia, and Tilo Krausse, Syunik NGOs German
consultant. The project coordinator, as well as
many of the guests, proclaimed their well wishes
to the participants and highlighted the importance
of sustainability of the peace-building partnership.

Success Story: Peace Building Trainings Supported by BfdW

For many years, Syunik-Development NGO has
organized international, cross-border, and local
trainings for people active in the field of youth
development. This kind of initiative allows youth to
become more activelyinvolvedintheirsocieties.SyunikDevelopment NGO aims at building the capacities of
young people who are the future of our countries.
In the summer of 2012 in the Vayots Dzor region of
Armenia, a one-week training on peace building for
young leaders and journalists from different regions
of Armenia and Georgia was organized by Syunik in
the frame of Social Development Programme with
financial support of BfdW. Giorgi Tumasyan, an ethnic
Armenian young leader from the capital of Georgia,

Tbilisi, was one of the many program participants.

The skills acquired during the training provided
an opportunity for me to strengthen my efforts in
the field of peace-building. Specifically, by using
conflict-resolution and leadership skills obtained
as a consequence of participation in the summer
peace building trainings, I have organized a number
of events related to promoting peace in Georgia
and all the Caucasus noted Giorgi Tumasyan.
Building off the successes from his initial peace
building training experience, Giorgi has been able
to continue his work through ever-increasingly
important career positions, becoming the
representative of the international organization
Universal Peace Federation to Georgia, which actively
engages issues of peace and security worldwide.
Besides this, Giorgi founded the Peace Foundation,
a non-governmental organization operating in
Georgia that plans to help contribute to the peaceful
settlement of both internal and local conflicts.
Like for Giorgi, the peace building trainings have
helped other participants to become more involved
in the process of building peace, allowing them
to take part in international conferences in the
USA, member countries of the European Union,
Israel, and other countries across the entire world.

Syunik NGO Hosted its Moldavian Partners

A three-year agricultural project entitled
Improvement of the Livelihood of Rural Households
in Vayots Dzor and Gegharkunik Marzes through
Horticulture Development is currently funded
by HEKS-EPER and has been implemented since
January 2015. In relation to the development of
this project, Syunik NGO hosted its Moldavian
partners on October 12th, 2015. The aim of the
visit was to exchange experiences and organize
field visits for the interested work partners. The
guests first visited Syunik NGOs headquarter office
where they were introduced to the programs and
projects implemented by Syunik. After this meeting
the guests visited Syunik NGOs demonstration
plot and had the opportunity to learn about the
history of agriculture development in the Vayots
Dzor region. The guests were introduced to Syunik
NGOs agricultural developing project as well as their

previously implemented projects and achievements.

In the words of one beneficiary farmer, This kind of
exchange is a good chance for us to get to know each
other as well as to share experiences and learn from
each other.

Bakery Vocational Center in Vayk Community Center

In the Vayots Dzor region of Armenia, the small
town of Vayk continues to struggle against
unemployment, especially for women. The issue of
high unemployment for women is correlated not only
with an absence of job placements, but also with a lack
of applied education and qualifications for women
in the labor market, womens social isolation in the
business sphere, a conservative family mentality,
and a lack of elder and child care services. In order
to address this gap, Syunik NGO implemented a
number of relevant trainings on cooking and baking
for women aged 30-55 in the Vayk community.
With financial support from Brot fr die Welt, Syunik
NGO brought to life a social enterprise based on
baking in the Vayk Community Center in order to
apply womens skills gained during the trainings.

The bakery production consists of two objectives.

The first objective is to provide a platform for
young women to participate in practical trainingcourses on how to bake and the second is the
creation of a new bakery capable of producing
various baked goods (cakes, pies, sweets and etc.).
It is worth mentioning that profits received from
the bakery will be directed towards community
development projects organized by Syunik NGO.
This initiative will provide an opportunity for at least
seven women to work at the bakery and have income
which will help them support their families financially.
This initiative is one of the main strategic components
of Syunik NGO to empower womens participation in
social and economic development at a local level.
This new bakery will help to decrease unemployment
problems in the city of Vayk by employing local women.

The Beekeeper Club

Recently, in the frame of Social Development
programme, Syunik NGO announced a call for
applications for people interested in beekeeping.
The aim of the Beekeeper Club is to give information
on beekeeping to people interested not only in the
traditional but also new technologies of beekeeping.
The club also aims to give necessary information about
how to increase honey production as well as how to

develop different bee-breeds. In addition, the club

will give information about the separate stages of
honey production, the harvesting and processing
of beeswax, and the ways in which the diseases of
bees can be combatted. Finally, the best Beekeeper
Club participants will be given a beehive from
Syunik NGO in appreciation for their hard work.

Bio Humus Production Training for Farmers

Each year Ecolab (Armenian country program of

Joint Civic Education) announces its acceptance
of applicants, selecting 25-30 bright young people
to participate in three seminars on topics such as
environmental issues, sustainable development, and
project design and management. This year Hasmik
Galstian, a Syunik NGO staff member, participated
in the Ecolab program and developed a small project
entitled Bio Humus. Using the Ecolab framework and
in collaboration with Shen NGO, a one-day seminar
was organized in the Vayots Dzor region for people

living in Yeghegnadzor and surrounding villages on

November 18th. During the seminar, participants were
introduced to the technologies needed to make bio
humus and were instructed on how to use compost as
an organic fertilizer for farming. After the theoretical
part of the training, participants had a chance to visit
the demonstration orchard of Syunik NGO and see the
process of making compost. Participants were also
given informational material to be used later on in their
own processes of making bio humus and compost.

From November 5th to 11th, 2015 a seminar

entitled EmPOWERing YOUth was held in Krakow,
Poland. The seminar was organized around the
Erasmus+ Program initiated by Stowarzyszenie
WIOSNA Organization. The project gathered together
27 participants from nine countries including
Poland, Armenia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Egypt, Italy,
Jordan, Lithuania and Turkey. Syunik NGO staff
members Tatevik Harutyunyan, Naira Harutyunyan
and Gohar Karapetyan presented on behalf of
Armenia during the seminar. The seminar aimed at
building strategic partnership between organizations

working in the field of youth development.

HEKS- EPER Head Office Switzerland in cooperation
with HEKS- EPER South Caucasus conducted three
days of training on Project Cycle Management in
October 2015 for the staff of HEKS EPER South
Caucasus partner organizations. Syunik NGO staff
members Naira Harutyunyan, Arus Nersisyan and
Hasmik Galstyan participated in the training course.
The trainings were held by the representative of HEKS
EPER Switzerland, Kimon Shneider and the Regional
Director of HEKS-EPER South Caucasus, Nana
Topuridze.

Syunik NGO Staff Trainings and Activities

Theater Performance

Nowadays in addition to the traditional musical,

dramatic and puppetry theater forms, new theater
methods based on innovative technologies are also
developing. One of these new methods is Kropka
Theater, created in Sydney, Australia, by Polish
actress Jolanta Juszkiewicz, which emphasizes an
organic approach to text recitation and acting.
With the help of different artists from different
cultures, Jolanta developed new working methods
for demonstrating the spontaneous and rhythmic
qualities of the body. Kropka theater performances
held in English have already been organized in
Australia, Poland, Romania, France, Germany, Iran,
Kosovo, Karabakh, Armenia and other countries.
The Kropka theaters main activity in Armenia
was implemented in the city of Yeghegnadzor,
Vayots Dzor Region. On October 8th, after a 20 day
preparatory training period, the final performance
entitled The Identity Woven into the Carpet was
held in the Gitelik University of Yeghegnadzor.
The performance was initiated and implemented by
Jolanta Juskievichi with the support of the Ministry

of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of

Poland, the Polish Embassy, and Syunik-Development
NGO. Following the training period, four talented
Armenian members of the Yeghegnadzor Community
Center, Siran Vardanyan, Narek Babayan, Harut
Hovhannisyan, Artak Babayan, as well as Arine
Sukiasyan from Yerevan, presented the performance.
Among the guests were Archbishop Abraham
Mkrtchyan, head of the Vayots Dzor Diocese, and
Ara Harutyunyan, head of the Mim Studio Theater
Group. After the performance, Mr. Harutyunyan
donated his time to talk with the students, giving
them necessary and important professional advice.
Following their Yeghegnadzor performance, the group
was also given a chance to perform in the Yerevan
State Institute of Theater and Cinematography,
later discussing their performance with current
Institute students. Yeghegnadzors Kropka theater
group was praised for their dedication and talent,
having discovered and demonstrated their artistic
abilities in such a short time period and without
the help of a formal theater arts education.

Office of International & Public Affairs

Syunik Development NGO
Momiki St.5, 3601 Yeghegnadzor
Vayots Dzor Province, Armenia

Tel/Fax:+374(281) 20409
Email: oipa.syunikngo@yahoo.com
Email: gevorg.syunikngo@gmail.com
www.syunikngo.weebly.com

Syunik NGO PR Manager: Gevorg Matevosyan

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