February 1, 2010

Shen members were gathered at the hall of the Writers Union of Armenia for the Annual Meeting to sum up the achievements of 2009 and to discuss the plans for 2010. The meeting was opened by the Bishop of Shirak Diocese Michael Ajapahian who led the participants into prayer.

Shen eight regional representatives presented their reports on the activities completed in 2009 and those on-going. Project managers reported their achievements of last year. Shen criteria on choosing the target communities were reviewed and upgraded by the members. For the first time computer education for children and adults in rural communities became a priority: although the State is providing the schools with computers and even internet connection in some places, however, there is a major lack of training in the field as well as software and computer maintenance. It has been reported that in the majority of places these computers lay unused.

Upon comprehensive presentation of all the results of Shen activities the reports of the M&E officer and the external auditor were approved by Shen members. The proposed projects for 2010 in the field of organic agriculture, ecological and IT education, market development for rural communities, rural infrastructure development, reforestation, integrated community development, as well as public health were also approved unanimously.

As a major achievement of Shen it was emphasised that the NGO has been known for implementing multi-annual projects with significant budgets, amongst which the M4P Meghri project funded by the Swiss Development and Cooperation Agency and the Small Scale Infrastructure Project funded by the USAID are currently ongoing. Shen members are pleased that the Armenian Diaspora is continuously supporting the NGO in achieving its Goal: Yalkezian Foundation, Canada, has joined Shen in implementing the Integrated community development five-year programme in Pambak refugee-populated community of Gegharkunik marz.

Shen is looking forward to a promising and a productive 2010 ahead!

January 21, 2010

In partnership with Orange-Armenia, a member of France Telecom Group, Shen has just completed a project of renovating the kindergarten of Vahagnadzor rural community, Lori marz. This is the first project of rural development in Armenia jointly implemented by Orange-Armenia and Shen within the frame of long-term strategic partnership between these two organisations. Shen and Orange-Armenia share the objective of long-term sustainable development, hence, they will be working towards reaching this objective in the field of education. During the opening ceremony Bruno Dutois, CEO, Orange-Armenia, mentioned that Vahagnadzor project was the first among other charitable projects to be implemented in Armenia. To the question from a reporter as to how Orange-Armenia viewed this project in terms of competition with other telecommunication companies in the Armenian market, Mr.Dutois answered that there should be no competition in any charitable activity. This is a principle that is common to both Orange-Armenia and Shen. We hope that our partnership will set a precedent for further success stories in sustainable development of rural Armenia.

January 14, 2010

According to the decision of Shen board the annual meeting will be held on January 30, 2010 at 1pm. The location is the meeting hall of the Writers' Union of Armenia at 3 Baghramian Ave. All Shen members are welcomed.

January 10, 2010

We have an encouraging update from our Chambarak field office in Gegharkunik marz.

Specialists from Shen have repaired the computers provided by the Ministry of Education and Science of RA as well as by various charitable organisations in all the seventeen rural schools of Chambarak region and new software has been provided. All the teachers from these seventeen schools have participated in special IT training, particularly in software management and network administration. In all the schools intranet was developed which provided an opportunity to use the full potential of modern technologies. Software packages already developed at the order of the Ministry of Education and Science in 6 different disciplines - Informatics, Biology, Chemistry, History, Armenian Language, Manual Training - have been installed and are in use in these schools. The positive feedback received by Chambarak field office from school-teachers and our participatory Monitoring and Evaluation activities shows that the schools have growing interest in the use of internet. They realise that this will multiply the opportunities of further development of the youth from rural communities and will make it easier for them to integrate into the developed society.

We believe that this is a wonderful success story and should be implemented in other communities of Armenia. We strongly hope that this will be a positive challenge for the Ministry of Education and Science of RA to coordinate implementation units towards the development and management of such an activity where the resources of the representatives from different groups of civil society will be accumulated, i.e. local and international non-governmental organisations, donors, general public, etc.

Updated on February 2, 2010

                

A Major Community Developer in Armenia

Vision - To become a reliable partner for vulnerable rural communities in their endeavour to create better life.

Mission Statement - Shen promotes social and economic development and empowerment of remote and vulnerable communities with active involvement of community members. Through transferring new knowledge and skills, creation of employment, improvement of community infrastructures, promotion of community organizations, we strive to make those communities attractive for life and work.

The word "Shen" means a well-to-do, a prosperous village in Armenian. It is our goal that all the villages of Armenia will become "shens" in the foreseen future.

Shen NGO was created in 1988, by a group of professors and students of Yerevan Polytechnic Institute to address some of the urgent humanitarian problems that faced people of Armenia. As time changed, we made a shift from relief projects to integrated community development.

In 2008, Shen NGO celebrated the 20th anniversary of its establishment. This was a time of summarising our achievements. The cornerstone of all Shen development projects is long-term sustainability. This has been our vision since 1988 for all the implemented activities in over 250 rural communities of Armenia. This wouldn't be accomplished without the support of our sister NGO Shen France and the Armenian Diaspora. We would also like to acknowledge hereby our donors - World Council of Churches, Christian Aid (UK), IFAD, EED (Germany), ICCO (the Netherlands), Oxfam Novib (the Netherlands), EPER (Switzerland), KASA Foundation (Switzerland), UNDP, UNFPA, USDA, FAO, DFID, SDC.

Shen's mission is very appealing to Diaspora Armenians. In 1991 Shen-France was founded in Paris, and Shen-USA in 2000. In 2001 Shen opened a branch in Nagorno Karabagh. It has many supporters in Lebanon, Russia, Canada, Italy and UK. Their aim is to help their compatriots in Armenia to become well off and empowered to create their prosperity with their own hands. If this is also your dream, join us.