Starting from February 2015, the PH Armenia staff have been visiting all seven project sites to monitor the small grants implementation. The grantees are actively collaborating with the PH International by providing their schedule of activities and major events. PH International, in its turn, besides making monitoring visits, provides them ongoing technical assistance to ensure smooth implementation of the projects.
Majority of the projects target the issue of parenting and prevention of violence against the youth, considering that these were the priority themes for 2015. To raise the awareness of the parents and community members, “Family and Community” NGO had organized trainings on positive parenting to the selected groups of parents in Metsamor and its neighborhood communities. The parents receive trainings on conflict resolution, learn about their rights and responsibilities; child rights and responsibilities; as well as age peculiarities and crisis ages. They learn how to prevent their children from smoking and drug addiction, how to address child fears and meet their specific psychological needs. “Cross of Armenian Unity”, the NGO from Ejmiatsin, has established a Family Support Committee which is trained on facilitation and parenting skills to be able to transfer to parents from targeted schools in Ejmiatsin community.
“Kapan Child Center” Community non-commercial organization works with almost 500 parents from Kapan and Kajaran schools to increase community awareness on domestic violence issues, addressing such topics as domestic violence, its legal consequences and negative impact on children, causes of conflicts in families, means of conflict resolution, etc. The trainings are conducted by experienced psychologists, doctors, lawyers, and social workers.
In addition to trainings, parenting clubs are established in a number of communities, including in Tchambarak, where “Astghatsolk” NGO For Advocacy and Inclusion of Children and Youth with Disabilities has organized a series of trainings on parenting and conflict resolution for parents of teenagers, mainly those at risk. A number of active parents among those participating in the trainings have established a Parents Club where parents get together on regular bases to share their common problems and support each other as now they have new skills and knowledge to handle difficult situations connected with their teenager children.
Another attempt to establish a Club of Female Parents’ in Abovyan penitentiary turned to be a success especially considering the challenges related to the environment and the specific group the “Offenders' Rehabilitation Center” State Non-Commercial Organization of the RA Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has targeted. In line with the trainings provided to the imprisoned mothers by a pediatrician and sex health specialist, the group of women participating in the trainings, meet on regular basis to share their experience and “help each other by listening to each other”.
To build parenting skills and raise parents’ awareness on problems their teenager children face, “Arevamanuk” Family and Child Care NGO is organizing ten consecutive radio broadcasting and three local TV broadcasting on effective parenting with participation of child protection specialists who discuss effective parenting and answer questions live. The broadcasts are highlighted in their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Arevamanuk-Family-and-Child-Care-Fund/681332781959493?fref=ts
A draft handbook for parents on effective parenting is already ready. It will be reviewed by the specialists in that field and later will serve as a resource for other parenting trainings.
“Bnakanon” Community Development Center provides trainings to the children aged 14-17 from selected schools in Vanadzor. Conflict resolution, child rights and responsibilities, online security are the main themes covered during the trainings by the experienced trainers from the NGO. Currently the staff is involved in recruiting a group of the most active youth who will produce 2-3 educational films covering topics such as peer-to-peer relations, mediation, conflict prevention, philosophy of restorative justice, which will be disseminated among schools and used during the project activities.
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