The exchange “Water and Youth” aimed to connect youngsters from developed and developing countries to share experience, develop knowledge and skills on environment, water and sustainable development issues; as well as engage and empower them to advocate and participate in solving local environmental issues, especially in water issues. Twenty-eighth people from Armenia, Georgia, Greece and the Netherlands gathered during nearly one week to exchange their national struggles with water safety - too much water or a lack of water. A wide variety of topics passed the conference rooms - from global climate change to Dutch dykes, from medicinal Georgian spring water to the pollution of the Debed river that flows from Armenia into Georgia. The days were filled with water.

Though water was the main theme during these days, however, the hosting group, SYC also created opportunities for everyone to get acquainted with Armenian culture and history, enjoying the beautiful nature of the Lori region, while visiting a weather station and the environmental impact monitoring center in Vanadzor. The group visited the Lori Berd fortress near Stepanavan and the Sanahin Monastry. The project was cooperation with Erkyna Group (Greece), the 21st Century (Georgia) and Falkor (the Netherlands). For more inforamtion see Falkor's webpage for the project.

The event “Singing Europe” was a project which used singing and dancing as means to bring youngsters from various European countries closer. Each of the participating six groups represented their culture and traditions and learnt songs and dances of other European cultures. The participants organized a concert for students in one of the local schools. Eight members of SYC represented Armenia and Armenian culture during the project - Artak Manukyan, Ani Papyan, Karine Matinyan, Arina Ayunts, Rafael Abrahamyan, Kristine Harutyunyan, Arsen Simonyan and Ruzan Simonyan.

Stepanavan Youth Center organized a regional campaign directed to preservation of water resources with the financial support of Jinishyan Memorial Foundation and Armenian Forests NGO. The project had two main aspects: educational activities and campaign raising public awareness on issues related to water resources in Lori region, Armenia.

Educational Activities: Selected group of young people from Stepanavan, Vanadzor, and Spitak got intensive training in water resource management, youth participation and developed their training skills. Upon successful completion of the training, the participants designed and organized over 50 trainings for about 800 children and young people in Lori region on water resources in towns and villages of Lori region.

Campaign: Target population for the campaign was population of Lori region. The aim was to raise awareness on existing issues on Debed River Basin. The Stepanavan Youth Center developed two educational videos and four social announcements and broadcasted them on local TV channels in Tashir, Spitak, Vanadzor and Stepanavan. The SYC designed and published thousands of copies of brochures, coloring books, tale books, posters and calendars. They were spread all over the region among educational establishments and nonprofit groups.

Partners: The main partners of the project were, Banali Youth Organization and All-Armenian New Generation Youth Union (Vanadzor), IATP- Spitak (IREX) and Shogher Youth Center (Spitak). Training and seminars have been organized in 50 various educational establishments and nonprofit groups of Lori region, including schools, kindergartens, colleges, universities, agricultural colleges, youth and environmental organizations.

In Lori region of Armenia, only one ophthalmologist served 35,000 inhabitants in the towns of Stepanavan and Tashir and the surrounding villages - and one in four children suffered from vision problems. With World Health Organization statistics estimating that 90% of vision problems in the world today are preventable or treatable, YouthActionNet winners Jennfier Staple and Lilit Simonyan came together to address this dire need. Founded by Jennifer Staple, Unite for Sight works to improve eye health and eliminate preventable blindness through a network of over 3500 volunteers worldwide.

Borrowing the expertise of Unite for Sight, coordinated by the Stepanavan Youth Center, Eye Health Programs in Armenia with the financial support of International Youth Foundation and United States Peace Corps screened adults and children for treatable eye diseases, distribute eyeglasses to those who need them and implement a training program for teachers so that they are able to recognize signs of eye disease and can educate students about eye health. The activities included eye screening for children and adults in Stepanavan, Tashir, Spitak and surrounding villages for cataract, glaucoma, trachoma, amblyopia, macula degeneration, conjunctivitis, and refractive errors. The local ophthalmologist Marietta Malakyan provided direct on-site eye care and when necessary directed patients to hospital in Vanadzor for diagnosis and treatment. More than 400 patients were screened, diagnosed and treated during the project.

Education component of the project involved training on eye health for children, youngsters, teachers, parents, and representatives of nonprofit organizations. SYC also developed educational, informational materials on preventable eye diseases and eye health care.

Project team: Lilit Simonyan (Stepanavan Youth Center founder), Marietta Malakyan (local ophthalmologist), Jennifer Staple (Unite for Sight president and CEO), Toan Trinh Minh (Unite for Sight volunteer- USA), Kevin Thomas Eade (Unite for Sight volunteer, Canada), Garni Tatikyan (Unite for Sight volunteer Canada), Catherine Cvengros (U.S. Peace Corps volunteer), Don Kramer(U.S. Peace Corps volunteer), more than 15 SYC volunteers and staff members.

Partners: Unite for Sight, International Youth Foundation, US Peace Corps, hospital #2 Vanadzor, policlinics of Stepanavan, BirthRight Armenia, IATP Spitak, municipality of Tashir, All-Armenian “New Generation” Youth Union, “Shogher” Youth Center, Medical College.

“Stepanavan Youth Centre was very cooperative and organized with the screenings. I think without the doctor the screenings would have been less effective and less sustainable”. (Cat Cvengros- U.S. PC volunteer)

“The level of services that we provided was very high. The doctor was well informed and very trustworthy in the community. The local NGO and volunteers worked in almost perfect unison with the Peace Corps and United for Sight volunteers. The location for eye screenings and health lessons are relatively clean and in good working conditions. In sum, the program helped the targeted population and the communities that we served. Most patients were very grateful for the services that we provided.” (Toan M. Trinh- UFS volunteer)

For more information regarding the project please visit the news webpages of Unite For Sight and YouthActionNet

The project “Development of Civil Society through Active Participation of Youth NGOs” was implemented in partnership with All-Armenian Youth Union “New Generation” (Vanadzor, Armenia). The project underlined the importance of youth involvement, activeness and increase of the role of youth in the process of civil society and democracy development in Armenia. The target group of the project was regional youth nonprofit organizations of Armenia. The project was directed to the elucidation of the activities of regional youth organizations, as well as providing and spreading information which can be useful and interesting to these organizations and youth living in regions of Armenia (about programs, financial sources, events, training, seminars, other), and developing public relations capacity of the organizations.