2010 was another successful year for Syunik NGO. Among many accomplishments, we were honored to receive two awards during the Momik 2010 NGO Ceremony, which was conducted at the end of year by the Vayots Dzor Youth Center in collaboration with the local regional government. There were nearly 200 participants at the ceremony, among them Samvel Sargsyan, a member of National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, representatives from local regional government, mayors, youth, representatives from the media, other non-governmental organizations and representatives from rural communities and other high-ranking guests. The award ceremony had five categories. We were recognized as the Most Active NGO in the region for 2009-2010 and our Summer Academy pilot project (funded by EED and implemented in summer 2010) was recognized as the best Youth Project in the region. Certificates and awards were given and special greetings and appreciation words were ex-tended to Syunik NGO during the ceremony. Additionally, Syunik NGO’s Development Program for South Armenia was nominated for the Best Community project. The awards

and the nomination were recognition for all the hard work done by Syunik NGO in order to develop local communities in Southern Armenia.

QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER

Winter 2011, Issue 3

Helping people in need

Syunik receives NGO awards

Benevolent NGO

Nara Martirosyan (left) receives the Award from Mr. Samvel Sargsyan (second from right)

In order to help people in need, the Youth Bank of Syunik NGO initiated a Food Bank project that aims to assist needy

families in the region with the help of donations from local stores. As part of the initiative, the Youth Bank sent letters to 43 local store owners and asked for food donations that could be distributed to needy families. The list of needy fam-ilies was obtained from the Mayor’s office in Yeghegnadzor.

Of the 43 stores contacted, 21 provided food donations. These generous donations were collected, sorted, and later delivered to 11 needy families by the Youth Bank members, who were joined by local, American and German volunteers in the region. Along with the beneficiary families, we extend our gratitude to all of the stores who supported the project and we hope that their good will spread to other stores and encourage them to join a very worthwhile effort that sup-ports people in need.

Youth Bank members with beneficiary family’s children

International skills for young activists Young activists in Yeghegnad-

zor are eager to improve their English language skills and learn more about development co-operation. A couple of months ago, our Youth Bank initiated an informal English Club, which met regularly in Yeghegnadzor’s Social Service Center to discuss the use of a variety of tools for professional work with commu-nity members. During the Club meetings, they compared political systems, learned about the his-tory and different approaches of

international development coopera-tion, and worked on the vocabulary related to their activities and proj-ects. The English Club was attended by activists of the Youth Bank proj-ect, the Armenian Young Women Association and the Civil Center of Yeghegnadzor. Sessions were facilitated by Lennart Lehmann, the CIM-consultant to the Syunik NGO, who has been providing con-tinuous professional development activities for young staff members at Syunik. English club group work session

Lucine Harvey Visits Syunik NGOThe charitable support of Di-

aspora Armenians living in the United States has been a signifi-cant help to Syunik NGO since its foundation. Generous contri-butions of many individuals have made it possible for us to imple-ment our mission of helping the underprivileged population in ru-ral Armenia. One such individual is Lucine Harvey from Florida, a person who in the last 15 years has helped us to coordinate various fundraising activities in her home state and sent donations to Arme-nia. Recently she was again visiting Armenia and delivering goods to underprivileged children in different parts of Ar-menia. We had the honor of hosting and interviewing her, which allowed us to learn more about her mission.

Nara Martirosyan (NM): We are glad to have you here and thank you for all your support to our NGO. We know that you have been helping us since our foundation and we are very grateful to you. What is the purpose of your visit this time?

Lucine Harvey (LH): I am happy to be here and try to help underprivileged children in Armenia. I came to visit them and deliver various types of goods that they need. With the help of my friends’ generous contributions and through fundraising activities in Florida I am able to support children in several institutions and organizations, one of which is Syunik NGO’s Siranuysh camp. I also try to encourage oth-

ers to be involved in charitable work in order to help rural communities in Armenia to develop and become sustainable.

NM: Isn’t it challenging to orga-nize fundraising and find enough resources to implement your mis-sion? Who are the people who pri-marily contribute to your mission?

LH: It can be challenging but I trust in God. I have many friends who I know through the Armenian Church in Orlando and they have been a great support to my mis-sion. In addition to Diaspora Ar-

menians, I also have foreign friends who contribute to my mission. In this mission, nationality doesn’t play much of a role. It is the human willingness to help others that plays a role and I have been fortunate to meet people who are will-ing to help others as long as they know where exactly their support goes.

NM: On behalf of our NGO I would like to thank you for all your efforts in helping the underprivileged children in Armenia. Your support is greatly appreciated and we hope to see you in Armenia again.

LH: I am already 70 years old and every time I visit Ar-menia I say this is my last visit. But when I meet children and see how happy they are to receive various goods, I know very well that I will be back again. Children’s happy faces are the best satisfaction for me and I want to help them as long as I can.

From the left, Varduhi Aleksanyan, Lucine Harvey and Meline Araqelyan

Syunik NGO young staff mem-bers are trained on a weekly basis on subjects related to their work. The training sessions are conducted by CIM consultant Lennart Lehm-ann. The sessions provide them with an overview of development co-operation systems and introduces our young staff to working tools used by project managers. By building the capacities of young staff Syunik NGO aims to prepare its staff to become produc-tive and efficient project managers in the future.

In February, Ingo Müller, Syunik NGO’s EED consultant, was invited to conduct a consultancy workshop on internal evaluation and program planning for our staff members. 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, data analysis and reporting techniques. Evaluation questionnaires were developed and pilot tested during the workshop. These questionnaires will be used for Syunik’s internal evaluation of its Development Program of South Armenia. Discussion and a brainstorming session on the future development of our Social Service Centers were also part of the workshop.

The workshop was an excellent opportunity for our staff mem-bers to reflect on their experiences, to learn about evaluation tech-niques, as well as to discuss the fu-ture direction of the NGO.

Syunik NGO Young Staff Members

Young staff trainingConsultancy workshop for Syunik NGO staff

members

Workshop Session

Lecture on voluntary workSyunik NGO CIM consultant Lennart Lehmann was in-

vited by the British Council to lecture on “voluntary work” in the context of their Active Citizens Program, an initia-tive that is currently being implemented in Yeghegnadzor. The lecture highlighted different aspects for the motivation and compensation of volunteers. About 20 young activists from the region took part in this training program includ-ing some of young staff members of the Syunik NGO.

Vardan Avagyan was a guest lecturer for training con-ducted by the National Institute of Education, Ministry of Education and Science, Armenia. The training was for school principals in the Vayots Dzor region. Vardan’s lec-ture included topics related to the current legislation con-cerning schools and educational institutions.

Lecture on legal issues

Staff and volunteers develop

professionallyOn December 17-18th 2010 Lennart Lehman attended

Shaping the GTZ EU Approach GTZ Armenia Strategy work-shop in Yerevan. He also took part in the meeting between German ODA staff at the German Embassy on January.

Syunik’s young staff members took part in various meetings and seminars organized within the Active Citizens project implemented by British Council in Armenia.

From January 31 through February 4 EED volunteer Sebastian Müllner took part in a “Weltwärts”-volunteer-midterm seminar in Saguramo, Georgia. The aim of the seminar was to exchange experiences and reflect on volun-tary service in the South Caucasus.

Nara Martirosyan took part in a Civil Society Startegic Dia-logue at the US Embassy in Armenia. The dialogue consisted of a webcast lecture by Hillary Clinton and a round table discussion with representatives from the US Embassy in-cluding Ambassador Yovanovitch.

Nara MartirosyanOffice of International & Public AffairsSyunik Benevolent NGO

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

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

Various Events

The 6th Employment Forum took place on February 2nd in Vayk Tourism Center. The participants discussed ongo-ing strategies and initiatives aimed at promoting employ-ment in the Vayots Dzor region. Presentations at the forum included a report on the results of meetings held between employers and educational institutions. Syunik NGO is an active participant in the Forum, with Nara Harutyunyan acting as Secretary of the Forum.

Employment forum VI

Exhibitions in Vayk and HermonSocial Service Centers

Within the last quarter, two exhibitions took place in our SSCs: one in Vayk and one in Hermon. The exhi-bitions provided an opportunity for SSC students to present their handicraft works to their peers, teachers, parents and community members. During the Vayk ex-hibition, students attending other clubs (e.g., dancing, singing) had an opportunity to perform and show what they too have learnt during the last year. Exhibitions are being organized on a regular basis, not only because they encourage and motivate the children attending

SSCs, but also be-cause they i n c r e a s e c o m m u -nity aware-ness about the youth a c t i v i -ties in our SSCs.

The Vayk dancing club performs during the exhibition opening

On Febru-ary 25th the new Vayk Job Club was in-troduced to the public through an Open Door Day. Among the guests and p a r t i c i p a n t s were top repre-sentatives from German Inter-national Coop-eration (GIZ) in Armenia, the German Embassy, the State Employment Service Agency, the Vayots Dzor Employ-ment Forum, the Municipality of Vayk, the Employment Agency in Vayk, and the Syunik NGO. Bishop Abraham, Chairman of the Syunik NGO, thanked GIZ and its part-ners for bringing together civil society, the Government and the Church through projects like the Job Club. GIZ country director James Macbeth noted that unemployment and jobs were the most urgent issues for the population of Armenia. Job Club Task Force representative Ruzan Ghazaryan called on the unemployed to remain passive no longer and to use the Job Club so that they “become the main actors in their own movie.”

The Job Club is currently open to the public five days a week and offers space for job-seekers to work on their own, as well as provides training and information services to help them in their job searches. The Club is financed by GIZ and hosted in Syunik NGO’s Social Service Center in Vayk.

An agricultural training course for farmers took place on February 10th at Syunik NGO. Topics included nurs-ery cultivation techniques and business plan development skills. Fourteen farmers in seven communities of Vayots Dzor participated in the training course; these farmers are involved in our Rural Development Project funded by HEKS/EPER. The training was conducted by Mamikon Hovhanisyan, our agricultural and marketing expert who has been providing regular training and consultancy ses-sions for the farmers. Syunik’s local and international staff members also participated and had an opportunity to dis-cuss the Project’s future steps with farmers. From the left, James Macbeth, Bishop

Abraham and Nino Schramm

Training for Farmers Open Door Day in Job club