On June 19 in the frames of "UPSHIFT Spitak” Cultivating Adolescents Growth and Engagement in Community Development programme a “Project Design” training course took place at 8 school in Spitak. 12-18 years old 44 adolescents from Spitak and nearby communities participated in the training. 10 teams, who passed the competition of community development youth projects, selected their mentors by lot. Until July 10 with their mentors teams will work on their projects defining the aim, objectives, actions, responsible persons, existing and required recourses. During the final selection event which will take place in July 10 teams will present their ideas f...

On May 30, a regular cognitive expedition took place, organized by Gyumri "Youth Initiatives Center" NGO. The YIC hikers started their cognitive tour from the Gnevank Church in the Kurtan community, followed by the Arevatsag valley with its unique beauty and Hnevank with its centuries-old power. Zilling made the spring day complete with adventures, extreme and unique emotions. The bright pictures of the expedition, which have become an unforgettable part of the history of YIC, confirm the amazing moments that became memories. The expedition was made memorable and meaningful by the active young people of Kurtan village, Irina and Emin....

We are happy to announce that on May 25-28 of 2021 we held the Midterm Evaluation Meeting of the long-term Erasmus+ programme “Cities of YOUth: Increasing the role of young people in the development of tourism infrastructure”. 11 participants from Armenia, Ukraine, Georgia, Croatia and Czech Republic gathered in Sumy, Ukraine to evaluate the progress of the project and the achieved results and to plan the future activities. In the next phases we are expecting 2 international youth exchange projects in Armenia and Georgia in July and August with the participation of 50 youngsters who currently take part in the coaching sessions at the local level conduct...

On May 19, took place first info meeting of “UPSHIFT Spitak” Cultivating Adolescents Growth and Engagement in Community Development programme During the info meeting, the project manager Artur Najaryan presented the programme's goals, implementation stages, and the format of the project idea proposals made by youngsters. Youngsters also had an opportunity to get detailed information in the format of questions and answers “UPSHIFT Spitak” Cultivating Adolescents Growth and Engagement in Community Development programme is implemented by Gyumri "Youth Initiative Centre" NGO and UNICEF Armenia with the support of the European Union is launching the...

We are very happy to announce that Gyumri "Youth Initiative Centre" NGO and UNICEF Armenia with the support of the European Union is launching the well-known “UPSHIFT” programme in Spitak, Lori region, the pilot phase of which took place in 2019 in Gyumri community of Shirak region, registering unprecedented results.“UPSHIFT” is being implemented within the project Future Today: Empowering women, youth and children for deepening democracy in Armenia. PROJECT AIM UPSHIFT aims to empower 12-18 years old adolescents to be more proactive in practicing civic engagement and in advocating for their rights and positive changes at local and national levels, therefore i...

On May 11, within the framework of “Provision of essential life-saving skills for adolescents” project, the participants of Shirak 3 groups and the representatives of the project team met with Shirak marzpet Hovhannes Harutyunyan. The meeting started with the presentation of the project and the works carried out by the project manager Gayane Arakelyan. Then the adolescents presented the 12 initiatives implemented in the Shirak region aimed at activating community life, and talked about the skills and knowledge they had acquired during the project. Mr. Harutyunyan, welcoming the youngsters' actions and initiatives, mentioned that he is ready to support ...

One of the most exciting moments about the coaching sessions in the frames of the Erasmus+ longterm project “Cities of YOUth” are the meetings with successful entrepreneurs. On February 6th, 2021 the participants of the coaching sessions in Armenia had their eighth thematic coaching. It was a meeting with the director of Berlin ART Hotel Alexan Ter-Minasyan. During the meeting Ter-Minasyan told his story to entrepreneurship and answered the questions of young people. At the end, he organized a tour in the hotel for the participants....

Entrepreneurship. Who is an entrepreneur? How to promote a product? On 23rd of January 2021 the 7th coaching session in the frames of the Erasmus+ project “Cities of YOUth” was implemented in Gyumri. The topic of the meeting was Entrepreneurship, who is an entrepreneur, how to promote a product. The aim of the coaching session was to discuss with the youngsters the criteria of becoming an entrepreneur, strategies which can be used and the main questions one needs to know if they represent the field of tourism. At the session, the participants had an individual work for building their life path by using the “Ikigai” method. ...

On the 26th of December Gyumri “Youth Initiative Centre” NGO in the frames of the Info Centre for Erasmus+ Youth and European Solidarity Corps Programmes in Armenia held a 1-day introductory training course on ESC mentorship in Gyumri. In the frames of the training course young people from different communities of Armenia had an opportunity to learn more about ESC, the opportunities the latter provides as well as to discover vital methods and tools to support and guide the volunteers towards the development of their competences. The Training Course aimed at improving the knowledge of young people involved in ESC by contributing to the development of the pote...

On January 16, Gyumri “Youth Initiative Centre” NGO in the frames of the Info Centre for Erasmus+ Youth and European Solidarity Corps Programmes in Armenia hosted a one day event of EU4Youth Alumni Network “Idea Lab”. In the frames of the event 120 young people from all 6 Eastern Partnership countries gathered online and offline to develop ideas for positive change in youth life in their communities. In Armenia 10 alumni with their team members from different regions (Charentsavan, Shirak, Masis, Mets Parni, Spitak and Oshakan) took part in the “Idea Lab” during which they generated ideas and worked together to better shape projects which will be the...