DEMOCRACY BUILDING IN ARMENIA: NEW CHALLENGES

In October 29-31, 2004 the USREPAAA has organized three days Seminar on “DEMOCRACY BUILDING IN ARMENIA: NEW CHALLENGES” in Resort House of Writers’ Union, Tsakhkadzor, Armenia. This Seminar and the project were funded by the USA under the DEMOCRACY COMMISSION SMALL GRANTS program.

• Review current situation of democracy achievements in Armenia and outline new challenges;
• Analyze lessons learned and propose new strategies for improvements;
• Disseminate independent views and constructive ideas of Armenian experts and the US Alumni in public, thus contributing in democracy building and civil society formation in Armenia.

Fifty people participated in this event. Among them were 20 Alumni, 7 NGO representatives, 2 MPs, a Government cabinet representative, former Deputy Speaker of the Armenian Parliament, researchers, experts, media representatives, and guests. His Excellency Mr. John Evans, US Ambassador to Armenia welcomed the Seminar participants. Mrs. Evans, Mr. Kimberly Hargan, Public Affairs Officer and Ms. Naira Gyulnazarian, Grants manager were also present in the opening ceremony of the Seminar.

The Seminar was largely covered by mass media. The two Armenian major TV stations H1 and H2 highlighted the Seminar. Azg daily, AybFe, A1+ submitted several articles and reports on this event.

A book with the proceedings of the Seminar is published in 1000 copies for a large distribution to public.

ADVISING RUSSIAN ALUMNI IN CREATION OF THE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION IN RUSSIA - 2001

In June 2001 Russian alumni and the Muskie and Undergraduate Program alumni coordinators visited Yerevan to learn about the experience of US Research and Education Programs Alumni Armenian Association to establish alumni association in Russia. The USREPAAA President and the Board members hosted sergey Votyagov, Marina Zinovieva and Maria Cherkashina. Russian colleagues were provided with the charter of USREPAAA and lot of other informational materials. Several discussions were held in the office of USREPAAA, where the Armeian alumni shared their experience with the Russian friends.

ADVISING BELARUS ALUMNI IN CREATION OF THE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION IN BELARUS - 2001

The USREPAAA was asked for sharing their experience with alumni in Belarus, in order to help in establishment of the Belorussian Alumni Association.
A member of the USREPAAA, Mr. Tigran Ghazarian was authorized to present the USREPAAA in Belarus. He was invited to the Annual Conference of the alumni of the US Educational and professional development programs of Belarus, which was held on May 19, 2001 and presented the USREPAAA history and accomplishments.

ALUMNI TRAINING CENTER - 1998 - Present

With the support of the USIA, the USREPAAA opened a training center for its alumni on June 1, 1998. The official opening ceremony took place on July 15, 1998. More than 50 guests, including alumni, representatives from USIS, IREX, ACTR/ACCELS, as well as reporters from newspapers and TV participated in the opening ceremony. The training center holds frequent meetings for alumni. There have been many such meetings, as well as discussions and debates and Alumni Association general and board meetings.

ALUMNI BULLETIN - 1998-2001

The USREPAAA published a monthly bulletin, which describes the Association, its activities and the future plans of the alumni. The Bulletin has been distributed to the IREX and ACTR/ACCELS offices in Yerevan, as well as the American University of Armenia and other educational institutions.

INTERNET ACCESS FOR ALUMNI – 1998 - 2004

The training center has offered free Internet access at different times in the past. USREPAAA members made use of the Internet facilities as much as possible. It was also open also to the public, but the first priority in was given to the alumni.

The training center has organized many round-table discussions, and also created the opportunity for alumni to get information from international information sources, such as CNN, BBC, and other media sources.

TREE PLANTING IN YEREVAN - 2001

The tree planting was organized by USREPAAA on May 01, 2001 in the garden of Armenian National Library, downtown of Yerevan.

Director of the National Library, the Deputy director and other staff members of the library participated in this event. Mr. Sargsian, the Director of the Armenian National Library expressed his gratitude to the Alumni Association for such a nice initiative. The National Library will take care of these trees. The trees were planted in a safe zone.

The event was largely covered by mass media - two TV-stations have taped and showed this event in the daily news. Tree planting had a very good reception from public. Municipality of Yerevan was informed about the initiative, and they have expressed their hope, that such events will take place in the future as well. The management of National Library was very thankful for this initiative. These trees will always remind them about good relations between the alumni and one of the most important Armenian scientific and educational centers, which is the National Library.

The event was funded through a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) of the US Department of State and IREX.

NGOs DIALOG PROMOTION - 2001

NGOs DIALOG PROMOTION seminar was held on March 3, 2001 at the Armenian National Library Center of IATP project Yerevan, Armenia. 15 representatives of various NGOs were invited to the seminar. Participants appreciated USREPAAA/IREX efforts in organizing the seminar and mentioned that events like this are very important for Armenia, since there are many NGOs in Armenia, but the collaboration between NGOs is very weak.

Anais Troadec, from World Learning NGO was also invited to the seminar.

Tigran Pashabesian, chairman of “ARPI” Benevolent union, mentioned, that in 1996 attempts were made to establish the confederation of NGOs, but it failed. The main reason was the lack of funding and support from donor organizations as well as from the Government.

In his speech Aram Tarakhchyan mentioned that many NGOs doesn’t have defined and clear goals, and very often are used for personal purposes. He is doing business with about 50 business associations members (organizing various trainings) and that way he developed real collaboration with different NGOs. Because of many problems business associations are not united within one structure so far. He noted that NGOs should not relay on the receiving of grants.

In his speech Andranik Alexanian mentioned that NGOs do not use correctly the wide capacities of mass media, which prevents NGOs from being known and prevents their mutual collaboration.

Aramazd Ghalamqarian from NGO Training and Resource Center had very interesting speech. He talked about the role of public relations in NGOs development. By opinion of Karen Zadoyan previous attempts of NGOs dialog failed because people didn’t realize the legal aspects and government was not ready to deal with NGOs.

By opinion of Ara Avetisyan foreign organizations did not want developing and strengthening of NGO sector. Most of the participants didn't agree with him.

There were active discussions held and other speeches made by other participants.

Closing remarks were made by Taron Arakelian, President of USREPAAA. He said that one of the goals of the seminar was finding the problems in NGOs dialog and discovering the ways of future collaboration.

All participants were very satisfied with the seminar and expressed their appreciation to the organizers of the seminar and IREX.

ALUMNI SUPPORT TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN ARMENIA - 2001

The Alumni Association assisted the Armenian Agency for protection of Historical Monuments in developing appropriate materials and making signboards for several historical monuments (Garni, Zvartnots, etc.).

USREPAAA LECTURE SERIES - 2001

SERIES OF DEMOCRACY BUILDING SEMINARS - 1998-1999

In 1998-1999 the USREPAAA has organized series of seminars called "Democracy Building in Armenia", which took place at the Resort House of the Armenian Writers Union in Tsaghkadzor. Around 200 alumni and guests shared their experience and knowledge on economic, political, educational, and cultural development issues. Fifty presentations were delivered, covering the major problems of the implementation of reforms in political, economic, educational and cultural systems in Armenia. Representatives of the US Embassy in Armenia, the US Information Agency, and IREX gave the opening speeches in each of the seminars.

Summaries of the seminars were reported on TV and in other media sources. As a proceeding of the seminar series (on the basis of the written reports of the participants), a book entitled "Democracy Building in Armenia" was published. Most of the 1000 copies were distributed to the government agencies and, universities and libraries, various NGOs and USREPAAA members.

REGIONAL CONFERENCES - 1996, 1999

In 1997, the USREPAAA organized a regional conference on libraries as tools of information. The conference included participants from Georgia and Armenia.

The USREPAAA also initiated and successfully completed a regional conference on public health regional cooperation issues, with participants from Georgia and Turkey.

USREPAAA ON 12 TV PROGRAM SERIES - 1999

One of the successful projects initiated by the US Research and Education Programs Alumni Armenian Association was the series of TV Programs broadcasted on Armenian TV. There were three rounds of the 12 TV program series, called "Back to Armenia" (March-April 1999), "Intercultural Bridges", and "We and our Universities"(February-March 2000). Artem Sargsyan, a leading journalist from Armenian TV, hosted the shows. The guests were mainly USREPAAA members. The programs were open discussions devoted to economic, social, political and public administration issues in Armenia. To make the programs more dynamic and interesting, the second round of the series included live shows in which the panel discussion participants answered the phone calls of viewers, and shared their views and concerns on the issues being discussed. These shows were very successful because of the participation of the viewers.

The main feature of the discussions was the parallel drawn between the US and Armenian political, educational and public health systems. The participants also discussed the operation of US NGOs in Armenia and their impact on society.

On the whole, these programs turned out to be a great success.

Besides the above-mentioned, many other activities were held, such as: seminars, meetings, round-table discussions, tree planting and so on. The major parts of these activities have been executed with the financial support of the US Information Agency and IREX.

ALUMNI REUNION - 1999

On December 10, 1999, the U.S. Research and Education Alumni Armenian Association (USREPAAA) held a Reunion at the Reception Hall of Armenia Hotel. This was a great get-together event to unite all USIA-sponsored programs alumni. More than 100 alumni and their guests attended the Reunion. Among the guests there were top government officials; parliament members; media, private, and third-sector representatives.

In her address to the alumni, Melissa Cooper, Public Affairs Officer of the U.S. Embassy, welcomed and said that one of the main goals of U.S. government sponsored exchange programs is to give students of all levels the skills they need to contribute to their country's development on their return. To keep the programs alive, the results are important. And the only results are alumni, their successful re-entry to their native countries, and their progress in different fields where they implement the experience they obtained during their studies, thus, furthering the social/economic development in their countries. Turning an eye toward the future, Ms. Cooper expressed her belief that alumni would continue succeeding in their professional and personal endeavors.

“The year of 1999 has been very fruitful in terms of organizing USIA-sponsored events in Armenia. These events have been organized with two main goals in mind. The first has been to facilitate the continuing educational and professional development of the program alumni. The second has been to provide alumni with the chance to meet and share ideas and experiences,” said Zara Oganessia, IREX/Armenian Country Director.

Taron Arakelian, President of USREPAAA, complimented the alumni on their achievements over the year, thanked them for taking time out of their schedules and carrying out a large array of alumni activities, and encouraged them to take the night to enjoy themselves. Pointing out the unique opportunities, the programs have afforded them, Mr. Arakelian thanked the U.S. Government for funding the exchange programs and furthering the professional development of ECA (formerly USIA) alumni.

The general reunion-reception, which followed their remarks, gave alumni an opportunity to catch up with old friends from the programs, recall about their time in the United States, and discuss professional issues with their guest-counterparts. For new alumni the reunion was an excellent chance to meet and network with other alumni, as well as representatives from the private, governmental and non-governmental sector. The reunion was a great success and a final touch of all the fruitful projects that the Association implemented throughout the year of 1999.

The Reunion was made possible by the financial support of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State (ECA) and administered by the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX).

COMPUTER CLASSES - 1998-1999

From September 1998 to July 1999, the USREPAAA has offered computer classes in English, which lasted for a month and a half. During these classes, the students received not only practical computer-related knowledge, but also exposure to conversational English, including idioms and expressions that they do not generally encounter in the written texts they use for classes.

This program has been successfully accomplished. All the students (almost 50 people) who participated in this program gained enough knowledge and experience to work as PC users. They became familiar with several popular versions of Windows-based software. The students participating in this program were freshmen from Armenian universities.

WORKSHOPS WITH STUDENTS OF ARMENIAN UNIVERSITIES - 1998-1999

Lengthy discussions at the USREPAAA have concluded that it is very important for alumni to transfer their knowledge and experience gained in the United States to the younger generation in Armenia, so as to meet the demands of the modern world. In addition to computer classes, the USREPAAA has organized workshops on the following topics: