Welcoming 200 New Members at APY, Hosting an International Training Course and Launching 3 Exciting Brand-New Schools in Armenia

The 16th of October 2021 has been a very remarkable day on the calendar of the Armenian Progressive Youth since 200 young people joined our organization, and we formed a big new family. The Membership Ceremony has been a real opportunity for our newly selected members to explore in which possible directions they can be active, get non-formal education and give back to society.

After successfully finishing our annual Membership Ceremony, we kicked off the training course ‘Diverse and Inclusive Youth Work for All’, or simply the DIY. This ongoing project targets 30 young workers, young trainers, and educators to equip them with diversity orientation, diversity management, diversity-oriented awareness and attitudes, as well as key tools and methods in the work with young people across EU and EU Neighboring countries.

In parallel with our ongoing international project, we have launched a call for participants for the training course ‘Media Literacy Ambassadors’, which is going to take place from 5 to 12 November 2021. The training course is aimed at developing competences among youth from regions of Armenia in the field of media literacy, digital literacy, as well as cyber literacy.

The young people from regions of Armenia will have another incredible opportunity as well, which will develop their social and leadership skills and help them to set right career goals for the future. This ‘Employment School’ will be held in Yerevan from November to December 2021.

Whereas our ‘Employment School’ targets young people from 18-25 years old, with the ‘Adolescents Empowerment School’ we target people aged between 15-19. In the frames of this initiative, the adolescents will learn about financial literacy, will explore volunteering opportunities, and get professional orientation counselling starting from the 1st of November 2021 in Yerevan.

As it has always been the case, the Armenian Progressive Youth strongly believes that youth is not the future, but the present. Therefore, we continue to enable and empower youth to be present and be the actors of change in societies and communities in all possible ways.

A Very Productive Summer for APY!

During the summer of 2021 Armenian Progressive Youth has been actively involved in the implementation of its projects addressed to women, displaced people, youth as well as students and teachers. Due to the pandemic and the recent war in Armenia impacting our economy, leading to unemployment and also to domestic migration, our strategy has been directed to more local levels.

With our one-year-long project “Strengthening Stability and Resilience of Displaced People”, started on July 2021, we focused on young people, people with disabilities and women living in regions of Armenia to unleash their employment and entrepreneurial potential and to provide opportunities to develop their soft skills and self-confidence. This project offers a combination of innovative approaches such as skills upskilling and reskilling through work-based learning, sectoral mentoring, paid vocational training opportunities or capacity building.

In the frames of another project called “Actors of Change”, we have trained the teaching staff of several Armenian universities for 2 months, during which they developed competencies in non-formal education. This will enable them to apply their acquired skills while building academic programs of universities, transforming the concept of traditional classrooms and recording measurable learning outcomes amongst students.

Besides our local projects, the “Up to You(th)” training course has created an opportunity to bring together youth workers, project managers and trainers from partnering organizations of North Macedonia, Slovakia, and Armenia to explore what holds young people back from demonstrating more participation in civic society and political initiatives and to learn how we can contribute to maximizing the level of youth participation in 3 countries.

For the next upcoming months, we will continue to enable young people to be part of projects focused on media literacy, empowerment, employment, and entrepreneurship.

«Մեդիան որպես գենդերային հավասարության հանրայնացման գործիք» դասընթաց

2017թ. հոկտեմբերին մասնակիցների մի խումբ հավաքվեց մի դասընթացի համար։

Ծրագիրը նպատակ ուներ զինել երիտասարդներին գենդերային հավասարությունը մեդիայում տարածելու համար անհրաժեշտ հմտություններով։ Դասընթացը տեղի էր ունենում Վիեննայում։ Ավստրիայի մայրաքաղաքը հյուրընկալել էր Հայաստանից, Ավստրիայից, Վրաստանից, Ուկրաինայից, Լեհաստանից և Նիդեռլանդներից ժամանած երիտասարդության ոլորտի ակտիվիստներին։
Օրակարգով նախատեսվում էին տարբեր գործողություններ. սիմուլյացիոն խաղեր, դերախաղեր, խմբային աշխատանքներ, քննարկումներ, ներկայացումներ… Այս ամենը 6 երկրից ժամանած 24 մասնակիցներին հնարավորություն տվեց վերաբացահայտել գենդերի և սեռի հայեցակարգերը, ԵՄ և հարևան համագործակցող երկրների մեդիայում գենդերային կարծրատիպերը…
Խումբը հեռահար կապի միջոցով հանդիպում ունեցավ նաև Հայաստանից գենդերային հետազոտությունների ոլորտի մասնագետի հետ։
Ընդգծվեց մեդիայում գենդերային հավասարության կարևորությունը։ Դասընթացի ժամանակ հնարավորություններ էին ստեղծվել համագործացկության հաստատման համար։ Որպես արդյունք, մասնակիցները նախագծեցին մի քանի ծրագրեր՝ ուղղված գենդերային հավասարության զարգացմանը։
Մասնակիցներն իրենց ներդրումն ունեցան նախագծում՝ մեդիայի տարբեր տեսակների օգտագործման վերաբերյալ իրենց խորհուրդներով։ Միջմշակութային երեկոյի ընթացքում մասնակիցները կիսվեցին իրենց ազգային ավանդույթներով, խոհանոցով և երգուպարով։
Օրակարգով նախատեսվում էր նաև միջազգային ծրագրի նախագծում… Մասնակցիները միասին զարգացրին մի քանի նախագծային առաջարկներ։ Դրանք ներկայացվելու են Erasmus+ ծրագրի օգնությամբ։

Ծրագրի մասին ավելին իմանալու համար կարող եք դիտել հետևյալ տեսահոլովակը՝

—
Դասընթացը ֆինանսավորվել էր Erasmus + ծրագրի և Ավստրիական Ազգային գործակալության կողմից (Jugend in Aktion 2014-2020)։

Managing Diversity towards More Inclusive Societies

Have you ever had that feeling when you are in a crowd of like-mined people who have similar lifestyle and background? It‘s cool to be understood from half a word and easily fit in, isn‘t it? Many of young people have never felt that way.
Our education system, our family, the media and politics have developed certain patterns of our behaviour: fear of uncertainty, being judgemental, rejecting unknown and excluding differences. These are patterns that are often strongly connected to our societal habits and, therefore, can be changed. That‘s why the project “Managing Diversity” was born.
“Managing Diversity” project was born out of a concern that many young people in Europe have lack of opportunities and spaces to get involved and to express themselves. Being different from mainstream societies, many are being excluded and marginalized.
This is why 13 non-profit organizations have developed “Managing Diversity” – a long term project working with youth workers, youth trainers and educators, trying to develop their diversity management skills and support them in learning how to implement a culture of diversity in their working environments.
The project targeted specifically those youth workers and educators who are eager to professionally work against structural discrimination and under-representation of marginalized groups. 26 youth workers from 13 countries joined this multi-layer project in August 2017. The group has undergone a series of trainings and capacity building workshops in the Netherlands which were followed by implementation of small local projects back in home countries of the participants.
For about 2 month between August and October, participants have developed and executed 19 local projects reaching about 500 young people in 13 countries ranging from East to West of Europe. The local projects have worked and empowered young refugees, LGBTQI people, Roma youth, youth with disabilities and many other vulnerable and marginalized youth.
Through different types of projects our participants have worked on very sensitive topics. The activities ranged from an improvisational theatre involving Roma youth in Romania and Human Library in Macedonia to career orientation courses for youth with disabilities in Armenia; from a surfing workshop for people with disabilities and a multicultural football tournament in Portugal to a Forum Theatre with refugees in Germany. Many of the projects have targeted the most vulnerable youth, such as a movie projects promoting LGBTQI rights in Moldova or speaking up about domestic violence against women in Armenia.
All the projects were exceptional having in mind that they were implemented with 0 funding, purely organized through the resources of participants, networks of partner organizations and in kind contribution and support provided by local stakeholders in each respective country. The projects took place in home countries of the participants: Armenia, Belarus, Czech Republic, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Macedonia, Moldova, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Romania. All the projects were implemented through diversity glasses and tackled issues of minority groups living in participating countries.
Following the successful implementation of small projects, the project results were evaluated and presented to public in Yerevan, Armenia in October, 2017. The public event was attended by young people, representatives of NGO’s and international organizations, media and partners.

According to the Project Coordinator Ms. Nelly Paytyan, “Managing Diversity” was a good tool against widespread stereotypes in our societies. She thinks that “promoting diversity matters and will matter until young people in our societies face discrimination, ignorance and life burdens based on their nationality, ethnic, cultural and religious background, social status, as well as their gender identity and sexual orientation”.
—
“Managing Diversity” was organized by Armenian Progressive Youth NGO (Armenia) and Jongeren voor Uitwisseling en Begrip (The Netherlands). The project was granted by the Dutch National Agency under the Erasmus Programme of the European Union.

“ToT Let’ Play a Game” Favara, Italy 11-20/09/2017

Lets Play a game!

On the 11th of August, representatives from Armenia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Georgia, Germany, Moldova, Romania, Russia, as well as Italians, gathered at Tre Torri Hotel, not far from Favara, Italy to find out what is a simulation game, share their experience, and improve their leadership skills.

The training course “ToT Let’ Play a Game” was held as part of Erasmus+ projects. The program was led by Daniela Alexeiciuc and consisted of various activities. Young activists and local leaders from all over Europe participated in diverse exercises focused on simulation games.

Enacting fictitious scenarios, such as discussing a development plan of a city, or composing a survival strategy in a galaxy falling apart, the participants broadened their vision of contemporary society in its complexity, got to know the difficulties of creating a social balance and maintaining control of a situation, and developed their social communication skills. They practiced in managing public discussions, resolvingconflicts, and finding compromises. Such skills are of critical importance in the challenging situation that Europe and the whole world are facing now. As a final contribution, the participants exercised in developing their own simulation games.

Free Minds in Action, the Italian hosting NGO that organized the project, and its head Issam Regragui Soussi, warmly welcomed all the participants in Italy, and secured an impressive cultural program of the event that included a visit to the Valle dei Templi, Scala dei Turchi, and sights in Favara, as well the famous Farm Cultural Park.

It was a creative and a challenge week and thanks organizers be it we got the opportunity to broaden  our horizons  for new experiences.

Everybody Counts: Rural Youth Empowerment in Eastern Partnership Countries

Low level of youth participation in rural or deprived urban areas remains one of the key issues across the Eastern Partnership countries. Specifically in Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine there is a clear lack of youth participation structures in rural areas. At the same time, young people are not able to join the decision-making processes on youth issues at a local level because of the absence of youth consultative bodies or youth councils in the municipalities.

Recognizing the above mentioned problem, “Everybody Counts: Rural Youth Empowerment in Eastern Partnership Countries” project pursues the aim of fostering the integrationand participation of young people from rural and deprived urban areas through:
– Raising awareness on youth participation opportunities,
– Providing job preparation, digital and mobility trainings,
– Developing opportunities and an ongoing conversation with participants on civic engagement/participation.

Most importantly, the project mainstreams rural youth participation issues into state youth strategies and policies among the stakeholders in Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine and encourages the state authorities to put specific efforts in regional and rural youth policy development and implementation.

The project outputs include, but are not limited to the following:
– Empowerment of young people and youth workers through workshops and trainings,
– Summarizing the findings of online research on youth participation and involvement.
– Supporting the development of youth participation structures in rural areas through grass-root work and dialogue with official stakeholders responsible for youth,
– Mainstream youth participation issues into state youth strategies and policies through preparation of a package of recommendations on youth policy,
– Development of a handbook on Inclusion of youth with fewer opportunities.

On December 29th in Yerevan, Armenia an International Youth forum was organized as a part of the effort of mainstreaming youth participation issues. The forum brought together rural youth, the actors from civil society and the state to create and offer to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports the package of recommendations Strategy of the State Youth Policy for 2018-2022.

—
“The project benefits from the support through the EaP CSF Re-granting Scheme. Within its Re-granting Scheme, the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum (EaP CSF) supports projects of the EaP CSF members with a regional dimension that contribute to achieving the mission and objectives of the Forum. The donors of the Re-granting Scheme are the European Union and National Endowment for Democracy. The overall amount for the 2017 call for proposals is 290.000 EUR. Grants are available for CSOs from the Eastern Partnership and EU countries. Key areas of support are democracy and human rights, economic integration, environment and energy, contacts between people, social and labour policies.”