"Youth For Achievements" Educational NGO

News

"For Better Life" Educational Project

Job hunting seminar was organized for 15-21 year old young people from Gyumri orphanage after F. Nansen in the scopes of “For Better Life” Educational project. The seminar included computer, resume writing classes, as well as internet usage and interview skills sessions. Fifteen young people took part in the trainings and demonstrated active participation throughout the whole learning process. Upon completion of the seminar farewell party was organized during which all the participants received certificates.

"For Better Life" educational project starting up

“Youth For Achievements” Educational NGO with financial support of American Councils For International Education has started “For Better Life” educational project which aims at improving lives of young orphans and thus encourages them to continue fighting for better life and never give up their dreams to achieve their goals in life. Job finding, resume writing and basic computer knowledge seminars/trainings will be organized for our youngsters, with the purpose to help them to be ready to step out into adulthood by themselves. The target group of the project are young people aged 16-18 from Gyumri orphanage named after F. Nansen and Vanadzor orphanage.

The most festive and exciting event of the year…

Are consumers’ rights protected in the RA? Is integration into European Union beneficial for Armenia? Does Armenian government support the relationship between Armenian Diaspora and local Armenians? Are monuments of historical and cultural value protected within the territory of Armenia? These were the four topics our participants expressed their opinions on during the National Debate Championship.

On May 4-6^th in Armenia Marriott Hotel National Debate Championship took place in the scopes of “Youth Engaged in Society” debate club creation project, which was full of exciting and interesting debates.

Collective teams from Yerevan, Gyumri, Vanadzor, Armavir, Echmiatsin, Hrazdan, Abovyan, Sevan, Gavar, Ashtarak, Artashat and Masis arrived in the capital city to compete for the first places using their debating skills. As all the teams stated participation and acquiring new friends were the most important for them.

As a result of fervent competition collective teams of Yerevan and Artashat appeared in the final round. In this round the two teams debated on the following topic: “Rights of consumers are protected in Armenia”. The judge panel consisted of such experts as Abgar Yeghoyan – the president of “Protection of consumers’ rights” NGO, Gayane Vardanyan - the media representative of Ministry of Economy, Lusine Hakobyan – representative of “Couterpart International”, Hamazasp Danielyan - representative of IFES and Edgar Vardanyan – independent politician / evaluator.

Judges outlined the fact that both teams were equally prepared and were fighting hard to prove their position, but according to the overall points Yerevan team won the first place, aс Artashat team received the second place award.

If interested you can visit www.debates.am website, which has been created in the scopes of YES project and contains detailed information on all the debate competitions.

National Debate Championship coming soon...

All the YES participant debate clubs have already gone through friendly intra school debate stage and have studied one topic from the overall 4 topics sellected for the National Debate Championship. Each club has already selected its participant for the combined teams that will be representing their towns during the competition.

Twenty combined debate teams consisting of 5-7 members from Yerevan, Gyumri, Vanadzor, Armavir, Metsamor, Echmiatsin, Hrazdan, Abovyan, Sevan, Gavar, Ashtarak, Artashat, Masis towns, as well as from Karbi, Mughni, Karin, Oshakan, Dalarik, Qarakert, Lernagog villages will arrive in Yerevan to compete for the first places in the competition. In general 20 combined teams will participate in 2009-2010 National Debate Championship.

Preparation works have already started and there are only a few days left to the start of the National Debate Championship.

The four topics of the National debate Championship are:

Rights of consumers are protected in Armenia.
Integration into European Union is beneficial for Armenia.
Armenian government supports the relationship between Armenian Diaspora and local Armenians.
Monuments of historical and cultural value are protected within the territory of the Republic of Armenia.

“Youth Engaged in Society” Project team cordially invites everyone who is interested to be present at the National Debate Championship, which will take place on May 4th, 5th and 6th in Armenia Marriott Hotel. (Download the agenda of the Games)

We wish all the luck to our twenty participant teams in their preparation works and of course during the competition itself.

FLEX 15th Anniversary

On February 25^th FLEX exchange program’s 15^th anniversary celebration was held in the Embassy of the United States. During the celebration Award Ceremony for the active FLEX Alumni was held by American Councils For International Education and the Embassy of the United States of America.

“Youth For Achievements” Educational NGO, as the only FSA FLEX alumni led NGO which was founded by the first FLEX alumni in 1994, was acknowledged and awarded with a the Certificate for leadership in democracy building and community service in Armenia by Marie L. Yovanovitch the Ambassador of the United States, Elvira E. Dana Director of American Councils Country and Armen Ashotyan, Minister of Education and Science of Armenia.

The first phase of 2009-2010 YES project was summarized by series of friendly debates.

These debates were a great contribution for development of clubs. The next phase of the project is interschool debates. All 102 participant clubs casted a draw to determine their pairs for the upcoming interschool debates and topics from the following list.

Interschool debate topics:
1. Volunteer work is not encouraged in Republic of Armenia (RA) .
2. Protocol on establishment of diplomatic relations between RA and Republic of Turkey is beneficial for RA.
3. Non-State Higher Education Institutions provide high quality education.
4. Rights of ethnic minorities are protected in the RA.
5. National customs should preserved.
6. The offered vocational education is not sufficient for labor market demands.
7. Armenian government adopted right youth policy.
8. School brings up humanity in youth.
9. Modern textbooks make the study process easier.
10. Economic crises had insignificant influence on the economy of RA.
11. The use of new technologies increases the level of education.
12. New system of entrance examinations is decreasing corruption risks.
13. School cafeterias operate in accordance with health protection, sanitary and hygienic conditions.

The beginning of interschool debates is set on February 3rd, in Artashat. The closing events of interschool debates will be conducted from the end of February till mid March.
We wish all the teams good luck and successful debates.

"Interactive Human Rights" European Law Mooting Competition

Due to its past success "Interactive Human Rights" European Law Mooting Competition project renews its activity for 2009-2010 academic year. The project is implemented in cooperation with "Legal Guide" NGO and is funded by European Union. European Law Mooting Competition project aimes at assisting to Human Rights promotion in Armenia by providing an appealing and interactive mechanism, incorporating awareness raising and self-education in the area of Human Rights for students. It gives them an opportunity to practice their skills and gain new knowledge.

For those interested the registration deadline for participation is 25th of September.
For more information please visit the project's website at http://www.interactivehr.am/

Debate is already a tradition:
“Youth Engaged in Society” (YES) School Debate Club Creation project renews its activity for 2009-2010 academic year in already 102 schools of Armenia, from Armavir, Abovyan, Metsamor, Vagharshapat, Hrazdan, Gyumri, Vanadzor, Sevan, Gavar, Ashtarak, Masis, Artashat and Yerevan.
Due to the efficiency and success of the project, it undergoes its sixth phase of implementation for 2009-2010. New topics will be offered for debating to participants and as always a National Debate Championship will be organized at the end of the Academic Year.
Please, follow the news on our Website and you will get new materials about YES program and learn more about activities of Debate clubs.