QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER

Autumn 2014, Issue 18

Peace in My Eyes

Peace in My Eyes photo and drawing contest is

one of Syunik NGOs initiatives organized within
the Camps for Peace in South Caucasus project.
For 10 days teenagers and school children depict

Peace through cameras and brushes. The results

were exhibited at Gitelik University, Yeghegnadzor,
on October 13th, 2014. The official opening of the
exhibition was attended by authors, parents, and
friends of authors, teachers and other community members. During the event attendees learned
about Peace in childrens eyes as well as Peace in
Archbishop Abrahams eyes. At the end of the exhibition all participants painted their hands to a
poster entitled Let Peace Reign in the World and
Let it Start From Me. The winners of the contest
were announced during the exhibition as well. The
works of Meri Harutyunyan, Lucy Karapetyan and
Emma Sargsyan were acknowledged as the best
in the exhibition. They will participate in Syunik
NGOs Summer Camps for Peace in 2015.

Syunik Takes Part in Black Sea Silk Road Corridor Exhibition

On November 7th, 2014 the official trans-regional
opening of the Black Sea Silk Road Corridor project
was held at the Erebuni Plaza hotel Business Center
in Yerevan. The Black Sea Silk Road Corridor project
was implemented by AMAP Human Development
NGO with the help of its partner organizations from
Georgia, Turkey and Greece. The aim of the project was to promote cultural cooperation and economic development of the 173 communities in the
four countries of the Black Sea Silk Road Corridor.
During the official trans-regional opening of the
Black Sea Silk Road Corridor project traditional
and national art and crafts, national food were
presented in addition to performances by New
Name of Armenia music ensemble. Syunik NGO
also was represented in the project by exhibiting
handicraft works produced by its community center students and other artists in the region. A let-

ter of appreciation was received from Richard Ney,

the president of AMAP Human Development NGO.
He thanked Syunik for its active participation in the
project by stating that It is only through supporters such as you that we achieved our goals. I cannot stress enough just how important you are in
our work, our team and our cross-border efforts.

Syunik Opens a Therapeutic

Massage Center in Yeghegnadzor
Within the frame of
Small Funded Community Projects of our Social
Development Program in
Vayots Dzor (sponsored
by Brot fr die Welt),
we recently opened a
therapeutic
massage
center in Yeghegnadzor city. The center will
provide reconstructive
therapeutic
massage
services specifically for
children with disabilities

and those having health

problems.
Therapists
working in the Center are
trained and experienced
in therapeutic massage
techniques. Psychological counseling will also be
provided in the Center.
The establishment of
the Center is a unique initiative in the region. The
Center has a potential to
grow and provide more
services to the community.

Syuniks Zartonk Dance Ensemble

Celebrates its One Year Anniversary
students, and guests from neighboring communities. Gagik Matevosyan, the Mayor of Taratumb
village, extended gratitude to Syunik NGO for its
continuous support to the community. We do
not have much of a cultural life in our village. Such
event is extremely important for not only promoting cultural life in our community, but also encouraging young people to be actively engaged in their
community, stated the Mayor.

It has been a year since Zartonk Dance Ensemble

was established in our Taratumb Community Center. The ensemble has grown since then and performed in many festivals and competitions. On November 16, 2014 the ensemble celebrated its one
year anniversary. Other ensembles form our community centers in Yeghegnadzor, Vayk, and Hermon
were invited to take part in the celebration as well.
The event was attended by community members,
the mayor of the community, teachers, parents,

Syunik Receives a Spraying Machine

It has been several years since Syunik NGO started collaborating with PUM organization from the
Netherlands. As a result, a number of initiatives
have been implemented in Vayots Dzor region. Frequent visits by Mr. Frans Heldens, an agricultural
expert from PUM organization, has strengthened
the collaboration. During his visits Mr. Heldens not
only provides valuable advice to local farmers, but
also notices the needs of our nursery and tries to
help in any way he can. As a result of his last visit

and his continuous efforts to help local farmers,

Syunik received a Spraying Machine which was
much needed in the nursery. The machine was purchased with the help of the Rabobank Peel. The
transportation of the machine was paid by Hans
Blankert foundation which is special part of PUM
organization. A special graditute from Syunik NGO
is extended to Rabobank, Hans Blankert foundation
as well as the PUM organization for thier support.

Representatives from HEKS

Visited Syunik NGO
On October 13th and 14th Syunik NGO hosted
Mrs. Jolle Harren Laufer, the head of Media and
Communication, and others from Swiss HEKSEPER organization. At Syuniks headquarters office in Yeghegnadzor, guests had an opportunity
to learn about various projects implemented by
Syunik NGO. They visited Syuniks demonstration
orchard and nursery where they met local farmers
and discussed current project activities. This meeting was very helpful as some of the guests from
Switzerland were farmers as well and they were
able provide professional advice to local farmers.
It was very important for us to come to Armenia,
visit Syunik NGO and get acquainted with the projects implemented by the NGO as well as the people
involved in the projects, said some of the guests.

As we contribute to these projects, we wished to

visit Syunik NGO and meet the beneficiaries of the
projects. Now we know much more about the seven target communities of the project.
On September 8th, 2014, we hosted visitors from Swiss HEKS-EPER organization. At our
demonstration nursery and orchard the guests
learned about our Community Development project, problems addressed within the framework
of the project and how the local farmers benefit
from these initiatives. Meeting with the project
team, talking to farmer advisers and seeing development progress we realized that the project is
implemented in the right place for the right people, stated Mr. Ritz, the head of the delegation.

Ecolab 2014 Reflection Seminar

implemented a project called Clay and Culture
which aimed to promote the social integration
of underprivileged and disadvantaged youth into
the society. Anahit Yeghiazaryans project was entitled The Sun and aimed to provide jobs for five
unemployed youth living in a rural community
in Vayots Dzor region. By using sun energy, participants learned how to make dried fruit - a low
cost product which could generate good income.

From November 15th to 21st, the Reflection

seminar of Ecolab, Armenian country program
of Joint Civic Education, was held in Yerevan, Armenia. This seminar was the continuation of Introduction and Practice seminars which were
organized in April and July, respectively. During
the seminar, participants reflected on 15 projects which were implemented between April
and November in different communities across
Armenia. These projects covered topics such as
environmental issues and sustainable development and were initiated by Ecolab participants.
Gevorg Matevosyan and Anahit Yeghiazaryan,
Syunik NGO staff members, participated in the
Reflection seminar. Gevorg Matevosyan was one
of the mentors of the program and supported
the implementation of Anahit Yeghiazaryans and
Amayia Hakobyans projects. Amalia Hakobyan

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
Offie, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (Portugal) and the Robert Bosch Stiftung (Germany).

International Dance Festival

On November 23, 2014, International Dance Festival was held in Tbilisi, Georgia. Dancing groups
from 21 countries participated in the festival.
Among them were Hover dancing group from
Yeghegnadzor and Zartonk dancing group from
Taratumb, Vayots Dzor region. Choreographers
Anna Rafyan and Armine Harutyunyan presented Armenian national dance with fire and were
awarded the 1st prize. As Anna Rafyan and Armine
Harutyunyan noted, Such dance festivals give us
an opportunity to present Armenian Dance in international festivals.

Ingo Mller Continuous Providing

Consultancy for Syunik NGO
reporting techniques. Evaluation questionnaires
were developed and pilot tested during the workshop. These questionnaires will be used for Syuniks
internal evaluation of its Development Program of
South Armenia. Discussion and a brainstorming
session on the future development of our Community Centers were also part of the workshop.
The workshop was an excellent opportunity
for our staff members to reflect on their experiences, to learn about evaluation techniques, as
well as to discuss the future direction of the NGO.
Syunik NGO continuous its professional development trainings for its staff members.
From August 4 to 13, 2014 Ingo Mller, Syunik
NGOs Brot fr die Welt (BfdW) consultant,
was invited to conduct a consultancy workshop for the staff members of Syunik NGOs Social Development Program in South Armenia.
The focus of the workshop was program evaluation. During the workshop, participants had an opportunity to discuss all aspects of an evaluation:
the role of evaluation, its process, the main terms,
data collection methods, and data analysis and

Syunik NGO Staff Trainings and Activities

From 25th to 28th of November, 2014 Arus
Nersisian and Gohar Karapetyan participated
in a training course entitled Project Cycle Management (PCM), which was sponsored by HEKS.
The training focused on European Unions PCM
Guidelines and was held in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Naira Harutyunyan attended a workshop on
Community Managed Risk Reduction in South Caucasus and Moldova, which took place from 27th
to 31st of October, 2014 in Kvareli, Georgia. The
workshop focused on practical skills on Community
Managed Risk Reduction in programs and projects

as well as on integration of risk reduction and resilience building into Project Cycle Management.
In November 2014, Naira Harutyunyan participated in a four-day training for facilitators which
was conducted in Kvareli, Georgia. The training
course gave participants a chance to organize
and facilitate meetings and events in an effective
and efficient way. The training for facilitators for
Mercy Corps, HEKS and MOLI Project in Georgia
gave participants basic skills on how to participate in debates and decision making processes.

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.weebly.com

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