On March 6, 2012, the ZANG Armenia Legal Socialization Program (ALSP), funded by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), and implemented by Project Harmony International (PHI), partnering with the Alternative Sanctions and Probation Division of the Criminal-Executive Department (RA Ministry of Justice), organized a cultural-educational event for 25 Armenian youth in conflict with the law who are currently under the supervision of the above-mentioned Division.
On Jan. 24, 2012 the U.S. Embassy in Armenia hosted a speed-networking event during which about forty English-speaking USG program alumni, including 8 of PH programs alumni, met the Ambassador, his wife, some USAID and Embassy officers, and a few of the Embassy’s non-alumni business and government contacts.
The alumni represented the full spectrum of exchange programs, from recent high school graduates to government officials. All guests and Embassy participants engaged in an organized mixer in which the alumni rotated from table to table and in groups of eight the participants discussed their experiences, ideas and suggestions on specific questions delivered by the facilitator for each 9-minute session.
Throughout Nov. 01-04 2011, ZANG Program staff Hripsime Amirkhanyan, who is also an active member of the RA Public Monitoring Group over Special Schools, formed by the RA Ministry of Education and Science, participated in a unique training conducted by the Youth Human Rights Group representatives operating in Kyrgyzstan.
High school students from Armenia, Turkey and across New England have successfully completed a one-year initiative exploring topics that include leadership, social entrepreneurship and cross-cultural dialogue. These 72 young leaders were part of Youth LAB, a program funded by the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy in Ankara and implemented by the American and Armenian offices of PH International in partnership with ARI Movement in Turkey.
In August 2011 the cooperation between PH International and “Embarquement Immédiat”, a Belgian NGO resulted in development of reparatory works for four juvenile offenders from Armenia and Belgium to be realized in the summer camp organized by “Armenian Camp”, an NGO promoting social integration of disabled children. Four juveniles, accompanied with ZANG CJC mentor and an educator from Belgium, spent five days volunteering and assisting camp counselors and children in daily activities. The participants of this project shared their experience on PH International web site http://www.ph-int.org/success_story/pr0/48/.
Currently there are eight CJCs working towards the promotion of the restorative justice principles in Armenia. They all are hosted and operated by various NGOs or child development community centers established in seven different regions of Armenia, still closely and regularly cooperate with each other. Six of the mentioned CJCs were established by PH ZANG program and form a well-developed working network.
On September 26 the Penal Reform International Armenia office, which has recently launched a new program – Juvenile Justice Project – had requested a joint event with Project Harmony Armenia ZANG program staff to share the ideas and best practices obtained by PH since the start of ZANG project implementation.
''YouthLAB - Leadership Across Borders'' Program implemented by the Armenian and the US offices of PH International, in partnership with Ari Movement NGO in Turkey, aims to promote a cross-cultural dialogue and leadership skills among Armenian, Turkish and American participant youth. It is also committed to educating them about the ways and mechanisms of introducing significant changes in their own communities.
Since March of 2011, 72 high school students (24 from each country) selected through an open, merit-based recruitment process, within the program actively participate in online discussions about leadership, social entrepreneurship, and peace building in their region.
Throughout July 7-27, 2011 all 72 students got together in Warren, state of Vermont, U.S., where they participated in a 2-week Summer Leadership Camp, after which, for 4 days, the Armenian and Turkish participants were hosted by their American peers' families.
On May 24, 2011 one more Community Justice Center opened in Armenia as a result of successful partnership between PH International and World Vision (WV). The new ZANG CJC was established in Kapan city, under the auspices of the local Community Child Development Center where the Restorative board, trained by PH International, will provide reparative services to the local youth with delinquent behavior.
