“Open Youth Work Recognition in Armenia” project

Youth is the basis for societal development, thus the attempts for revealing their potential and developing their competences are of vital importance for forming active and responsible citizens.

The overall objective of the “Open Youth Work Recognition in Armenia” project is to assist to the institutional development of the open youth work (herein and after OYW) in Armenia through the advocacy of local and international experience and the improvement of public policies.

The specific objectives of the project are:

• to study the international experience on OYW and the opportunities of its application in Armenia;
• to discuss the need and opportunities of applying OYW model in Armenia with the relevant stakeholders;
• to assist to the formation of cross-sectorial and CSO–Government–Local Governance formats of partnership round OYW development;
• to reveal possibilities of membership to the international networks and to assist to the formation of a local OWY network.

Gyumri “Youth Initiative Centre” NGO (YIC) has round 10 years’ experience, sufficient professional and competent human resources to enable the implementation of “Open Youth Work Recognition in Armenia” project. YIC is involved in local and international networks, has a large number of local and international partners.

From April 2018 with the support of the European Union and Gyumri municipality and in cooperation with CRRC- Armenia, YIC launched the operations of the first open youth centre in Armenia – the Gyumri “Youth House”. Besides, in 2018 YIC started cooperating with the association of “Professional Open Youth Work in Europe” which has expressed its interest and willingness to assist to the development and recognition of open youth work in Armenia.