September October 2012
with
#3
Training Course in Georgia
Conflict Transfor mation As part of YIC’s mission to develop and promote active citizenship and participation among youth, the organization offers youth a variety of opportunities to become involved in events, activities, and trainings happening in Armenia and across
Europe. One of the latest opportunities was the training course “Peace Initiatives - Conflict Management Skills - Youth Participation in Conflict Transformation,” that took place in Tbilisi, Georgia from September 18th – 26th. The training brought 28 European youth workers- representing over 10 different countries- together in order to foster a cross-cultural dialogue and allow the participants to share and exchange approaches
Upcoming Clubs Mondays: 14:00 – International Club (Sona Sahakyan) 16:00 – English for beginners (Volodya Khachatryan) 17:30 – Conversational English
(Kimberly VanKirk)
to youth participation in conflict regions. YIC members Armine Khachatryan and Suzan Muradyan attended from Armenia. Using a variety of non-formal education methods - including simulation exercises,
group work, debates, theatre, and evaluation - the training focused on how to strengthen the role of young people in peace-building activities in regions of conflict. The training also provided participants with the opportunity to visit some local historical places and learn about the culture and history of Georgia, as well as to introduce their own countries and cultures to each other during an Intercultural
Tuesdays: 15:00 – Spanish Club (Anna Harutyunyan) 16:00 – English for beginners (Volodya Khachatryan)
Night. The training was implemented by the Slovak-Georgian Society in cooperation with the Academy for Peace and Development in Georgia. Armine Khachatryan and Suzan Muradyan
Wednesdays: 15:00 – Turkish Club (Yeranuhi Hovhannisyan)
Thursdays: 16:30 – Farsi Club
(Galya Hovhannisyan)
More info on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ groups/yic.members.group/
EVS Hosting
Mixture of Cultures in Gyumri During the month of September, YIC was busy preparing
The project also aims to enlarge the scope of knowledge of
for the arrival of the new European Voluntary Service
local youth about European citizenship, to inform youth
volunteers- five of them, all from different countries. This
about other cultures, and to help others recognize that what is
time, YIC will be hosting volunteers from Denmark, Poland,
different is not necessarily wrong; rather, it is an opportunity
Austria, Romania, and Portugal.
to acquire new knowledge and understanding. The project will
The volunteers will work on projects to raise European
actively involve local youth in creating their own future
awareness and encourage cultural exchange in Gyumri. The
through developing their personal lives and contributing to
project is a response to a strong interest in- and the need to
the community in which they live.
facilitate access to- European culture, particularly for young
Besides the activities and information from “European
people from disadvantaged backgrounds, which will largely be
Corner,” the volunteers will work at local secondary schools
done through the framework of “European Corner” at YIC.
and universities, where they will interact directly with local
Additionally, during their service in Gyumri, the volunteers
students. The project will also be part of a wider campaign
will organize language and cultural clubs at YIC to teach
aimed at promoting youth activity and volunteerism in
members about their respective cultures and languages.
Armenia.
Nelli Minasyan
Above: YIC’s five EVS-volunteers (from left to right): Kristoffer from Denmark, Luís from Portugal, Aleksandra from Poland, Victoria from Austria and Iustina from Romania.
Left: The EVS-volunteers are hosting European Club every Thursday at 15.00, starting from Thursday 1st November. Watch the video commercial here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-2H_p26zQs
Let the SUN shine brighter for EVERYONE Since April 2012, YIC volunteer Syuzanna Galstyan has been participating in the Joint Civic Education (JCE) country program. Within the framework of this program, which included training in project management, Syuzanna and Karine Mkhitaryan (another program participant) designed and implemented a project at the F. Nansen boarding school in Gyumri. The project was called “Let the SUN shine brighter for EVERONE,” with the idea that all children are
born with equal rights and the sun must shine “equally bright” for everyone. There are not many boarding schools in Gyumri, but within
The project consisted of the following stages: • getting to know each other through juggling activities and
the few that do exist many of the children do not have the
interactive games
opportunity to work or cooperate with people outside of the
• teaching stencil art
boarding school, which can cause many of them to feel cut
• exhibition of the children’s artwork
off from society. The project therefore aimed at providing the
• presentation of the project at Youth Initiative Centre
opportunity for children at the boarding schools to cooperate with other children in a way which- to some extent – would help facilitate and smooth the process of social integration. Through encouraging this cooperation, the project also aimed at developing the children’s communication and team-work skills.
Originally only 15 children were scheduled to take part in the project, but due to the children’s strong interest and
desire to participate, more than 15 children were involved. In the weeks since the workshop, some of the participants have continued to keep in touch with each other, which demonstrates the success of the workshop in achieving it’s aims. The project also sparked the enthusiasm of some youth and provided motivation for them to become more active. Several local and international YIC volunteers were involved in the project, and many of the local volunteers showed great
interest in taking part in the JCE program. Due to the level of interest, Syzanna Galstyan led a follow-up workshop at the YIC office to provide information about JCE, the available country and cross-border programs, project management training, and information about her own project. Syuzanna Galstyan
Art Residency in Gyumri Near the end of September, residents of Gyumri had a unique opportunity to see the city from a new perspective through art. Flavie Laporte, a French EVS volunteer working at YIC, wanted to organize a project during her voluntary service that combined artwork and cultural exchange. To do that, she arranged an art residency project for three French
artists from the Pas Vu Pas Pris Association in Allevard, France. From September 20th - 29th, these artists stayed in Gyumri and worked with three Armenian artists from the 5th Floor Cultural Group. The project was designed to encourage art awareness and
Meanwhile, the French and Armenian artists also created
understanding, and aimed to increase accessibility to art and
their own artistic pieces, each designed to show the
culture. During the first few days of the project, one of the
contrasting landscapes of Gyumri. During this process, the
visiting artists- a French sculptor named Sophie Dody -
artists visited the district of Mush, where they collected
invited local youth to learn about visual art through an
various discarded objects and materials – including pieces of
interactive,
participants
cement, metal scraps, and trash to be recycled for use in their
designed an original, life-sized statue of a woman made only
artwork. The final exhibition of the artists’ work, entitled
from wire and coloured paper. For participant and YIC
“Building Ruins,” included live performance, installation art,
member Gagik Grigoryan, the workshop was a new
photography, and video. It was open to the public from
experience, unlike anything he had done before. Afterward,
September 28th through October 4th at the Style Gallery in
the youth participants presented their artwork at a local
Gyumri.
four-day
workshop.
exhibition at the Berlin Art Hotel.
Together,
Kim VanKirk
Interview with the member of July - Arthur Yessayan We caught the member of July, Arthur Yessayan, for an interview:
Is there anything at YIC you would like to change? First of all, YIC implements a great number of projects
How did you find YIC?
which can have a very positive impact on society in general,
My friend Anna told me about it.
and young people in particular. But these programs typically
What is the best thing about YIC?
YIC manages to bring together open-minded young people with a new way of thinking, and I really like to communicate and cooperate with them. YIC joined together young people with a non-standard way of thinking and free mentality, who are different from the majority of society and the standard way of thinking; and I like to communicate and work with
involve YIC members and other young people who don’t
need to change their way of thinking. So I think it is very important to involve young people in these projects who really do need to change their mentality. The profile of a volunteer should have a positive character for the society. In this regard I can offer you to create the internet
these people.
video-blog
and
to
promote it through different
What is the most important thing you have learnt at
types of media. The second issue
YIC?
I would like to speak about is that
I think YIC has taught me to identify stereotypes and apply
sometimes successful models are
a comprehensive approach to resist those stereotypes that
not followed. YIC has many
could have detrimental effects on society.
international volunteers and YIC can achieve its goals with their
What do you like the least at YIC? YIC has many members, and many of them don’t know each other. I am sure that if we could become acquainted with each other and put together our efforts, it would greatly facilitate YIC in achieving its intended goals.
help. I would like to emphasize two points which, from my viewpoint, YIC could give some consideration. First, I think YIC has an aim to make positive strides toward a better society with more young people involved in volunteering.
What future plans do you have connected with YIC? I would like to become more actively involved in the
Though YIC implements many youth projects in which its members can participate, young people who are not YIC
projects.
members are often quite unaware of them. So the first point is
What hobbies do you have?
to raise the awareness of other young people about the
I am always trying to do things that I really enjoy, and when
opportunities through YIC. I would suggest organizing a
it is possible I am also trying not to do things that I don’t like.
video blog where all the YIC activity could be shown.
In this sense, it is pertinent to say that my job is, at the same
Additionally, there could be TV and radio programs which
time, one of my hobbies. Apart from my job, there are things
could inform about the activities of YIC.
that can be considered hobbies. As my job is very closely
The second point I would like to mention, again from my
related to computers and technology, my hobby also has tight
subjective point of view, is the fact that YIC doesn’t always
connections to those things. I am fond of surfing the Internet
follow the best practices of, for example, foreign NGO’s in
and finding all that is beautiful and noteworthy, and storing all
solving common problems, though it hosts many international
that stuff in my computer.
volunteers from different NGO’s around the world. At least
What is your profession and where do you work? I work at Shirak Technologies in Gyumri as a Hardware Design Engineer and Programmer. I graduated from the faculty of Radio-Physics at Yerevan State University, with a major in Microelectronics. Then I studied programming and electronics Description
for
in resolving some technical, managerial, and development tasks that are common across the globe, such an approach is ubiquitous. Why should people be aware of YIC? The importance of being aware of YIC, in my deep
Hardware
persuasion, rests on the possibility that young people who are
Languages at the Gyumri Information
not YIC members could imitate YIC members in their style of
two
Technologies Center.
years,
specializing
in
acting and living.
Interviewed by Nune Minasyan
EVS Sending
Vanuhi volunteering in Spain Hi! I am Vanuhi, and I am doing my European Voluntary Service in Santander, Spain. I began my EVS in August 2012 and will complete it in January 2013. Santander is very nice, and a comfortable place for EVS. I work with blind people here as part of my volunteering service. I often accompany them and help with their daily tasks. Sometimes we just go for walks and spend nice time together. It´s very interesting to work with blind people, and to see how independent and creative they are. I am happy to .
have such friends! Working with them also helps me learn
more
traditional
about and
the
modern
lifestyles of Spanish people in the region
of
Cantabria.
Soon, I will also start arttherapy
workshops
for
Spanish people in Armenian language. The first weeks of my service were difficult, but with the help of local people and
other
volunteers
I
overcame all the difficulties and
now
I
enjoy
my
volunteering. EVS has given me
an
opportunity
develop
myself
to both
personally and professionally. “EVS
es
fantabulosa”
(fantastic & fabulous)!!!!! Vanuhi Shushanyan
Contacts Address: Shirakatsi 177a, apt.2, Gyumri 3118, Armenia E-mail:
yic_ngo@yahoo.com
Website: www.yic.am Tel/Fax: +374 312 4-94-97