Democracy Commission Small Grants Program

PROJECT HARMONY

Final Report on Armenia School Connectivity Program Small Grants 2006 – 2007 Initiative

Activity Brief Background: In the framework of the Armenia School Connectivity Program (ASCP), throughout October 2006 - March 2007, Project Harmony Armenia administered a merit-based, open competition called “Small Grants to ASCP Network Schools”.

The purpose of the “Small Grants to ASCP Network Schools” initiative was to enable ASCP schools to design and implement online and offline projects that support the goals and priority themes of the program.

Through the Small Grants Program, the schools were offered the opportunity to: • Gain experience writing competitive grant proposals; • Implement strategies for independent fund-raising; • Monitor their Internet Computer Centers’ activities through increased school involvement; • Design and implement a project that will benefit the school and community.

The initiative raised a genuine interest among the ASCP schools: ninety-one (91) proposals from the network’s 330 schools (27% of the schools) were submitted from eleven regions of Armenia. The selection committee comprised of representatives from the U.S. Embassy, Harmony Information Technologies and Education Development Fund and Project Harmony-Armenia evaluated all works. Twenty-seven (27) winner applicants were awarded with small grant amounts to implement short-term projects, which were designed for marketing and advancing the resources and opportunities of their Internet Computer Centers (ICC).

On September 28, 2006, a meeting with winner schools was conducted: it aimed to deliver an orientation on ASCP requirements concerning different aspects of the small grants implementation by the schools. During this meeting, contracts were signed with each school, and communication procedures and appropriate mailing list accounts were introduced, as well as program and financial reporting templates were presented. Throughout October 2006-March 2007, Project Harmony staff made more than 50 site visits to provide oversight and guidance to the schools during the projects progress. In addition, regular communication has been maintained between the schools and Project Harmony program and financial staff who attended to all questions posed by beneficiary schools.

All awarded projects were implemented on a timely manner, and in general proved to be very productive and successful undertakings.

Below the summary report of the initiative is presented in greater detail:

1. Total amount of funds allocated to the initiative.

Total amount of funds allocated to the initiative equals 8,510,852 Armenian Drams

- 1 - (AMD): the award sizes varied from 162,400 AMD as the minimum amount to 430,007 AMD as the maximum amount per project. For all projects, 70% of awarded funds were transferred to the schools’ bank accounts before the launch of the projects, and the remaining 30% amounts were reimbursed to all schools after the completion of projects and submission of all necessary reports if these complied with all the announced requirements.

2. Priority Themes

The projects mainly focused on

o Raising awareness about election procedures o Promotion of civil society and democracy o Strengthening of ties between school, ICC, and community o Creation of Armenian language educational resources o Introducing a new data processing system in schools o Establishing an ICC-Affiliated Movie Theatre o Promotion of Volunteerism o Promotion of Gender Issues

3. Common formats for projects implementation in approximate percentage o Seminars - 52 (42%) o Consulting – 11 (9%) o Trainings – 34 (28%) o Presentations – 14 (11%) o Major Resource Creation1 – 10 (8%) o ICC Infrastructure Development - 2 (2%) o Roundtables, conferences – 2 (2%)

4. Tangible outcomes produced within the project; Statistics; Brief descriptions; URLs if applicable

o Brochures – 16 different brochures created 16 projects resulted in creation of brochures presenting election guidelines, cultural and historical monuments, improving ICC – community school links, promoting civil society and democracy, etc. All materials were spread in the schools among students, their parents and teachers, as well as shared with community members. For some communities this was a new way of disseminating the information and as a result of it, many of the ICCs planned publishing of new resources on other popular topics.

o Booklets – 27 project-based booklets created by winner schools Hrazdan # 1 Secondary School published booklets on “Human Rights General Convention” and “Children’s legal status” distributed among the participants. The booklets discuss basic conventional principals and different articles and laws in the Armenian constitution. Moreover, the participants have designed the booklets, and during the project implementation, searched and gathered the necessary info from the Internet and other sources. o Web pages - 4 1) http://schools.ascp.am/norartamed/resurs/ashgharagrutyun.htm - Nor Artamet Secondary School (Kotayk region) developed an Armenian web page on natural sciences. The web page is comprised of 4 sections (Geography, Physics, Chemistry, Biology)

1 This indicates that the whole project was implemented to produce one single final product and intermediary products (like brochures created simply to accompany project main goals and key activities) are not considered to be major resources.

- 2 - 2) http://www.ascp.am/en/websites.html - Anania Shirakatsi Educational Complex (Yerevan) developed a web page on Olympiads (subject-based educational competitions). The site comprises information of Olympiads conducted during 2001- 2006, on different school subjects. It presents Olympiad questions and puzzles, correct answers, generated results, assessment methodology, winner names, pictures, etc. The page also has a separate section for feedback from Olympiad participants. 3) www.hrr.am - Yerevan Secondary School # 177 developed a forum space for discussions on electoral rights. In the space, they posted different useful links that can be useful to download info on laws. The school registered the domain for the whole year, so after the elections in May, the school will be continuing to have online discussions (perhaps different topics and/or legal clinics). The school didn’t have an appropriate PR on the project, thus had limited questions and answers in the forum space. 4) http://schools.ascp.am/vanadzor1/web_mankatun/index.htm - Vanadzor secondary school #1 students and Vanadzor Orphanage children, who passed Web Design trainings at the ICC of Vanadzor Secondary School #1, created a website about the Orphanage, presenting the Orphanage history, its little inhabitants and the Orphanage gallery.

o CDs - 3 “ Improving the Teaching of Civics Education” – 12 (twelve) Armenian Language supplementary resources on civics using PowerPoint were edited and burnt on CDs within the project initiative carried out in Masis Secondary school #1. The CDs were distributed to the host and neighboring schools’ teachers of Civics. “ Creation of Armenian Language Resources/Digitalization of Armenian Literature” – Gyumri Secondary School #29 after M. Mashtots created 2 Armenian language resources, which present both the lives and works of two Armenian famous writers – Hovhannes Shiraz and Avetik Isahakyan. The CDs resemble a film with songs, pictures and fragments of the writer’s life, accompanied by stories about the writer and citation of his poems. All the songs, stories and poems recorded on the CD are performed by the school students.

o Video films - 1 “ Election Campaign and ICC”2 - the entire project implemented by Stepanavan secondary school #3 (Lori region) has been recorded by “Fortuna” local Stepanavan- based TV Station and multiple times broadcast by the local TV Channel. Of high importance is the video film about “Election Games”, the core event of the project. The film, with duration of about an hour, illustrates the elections of the President of the Students’ Council, with participation of the school’s administration, teachers and 154 students. Ninth and tenth grade students balloted for the position. An Election Committee, Court, and Committee of unbiased observers were designated to assist in ensuring a smooth and transparent election. In the interview given to “Fortuna” TV Station, the newly elected President expressed his gratitude to his supporters and his belief that their joint work would make significant changes within the school.

o Posters: 15 thematically different posters designed by schools The design of these posters varied greatly: some included graphics, some were simply hand-drawings, and some were cut-paste thematic mosaics. For example, within the project initiative, Yerevan Secondary School # 69 after A. Sakharov, within their “Active School in Active Community” project developed very interesting posters, on which the participants expressed their perception of harms and affects of an unhealthy lifestyle, such as drug abuse, trafficking, smoking (depending on the participants’ grade). On the posters, the children also suggest ways to fight these vices.

5. Beneficiary statistics

2 This project was very important in the light of Parliamentary Elections scheduled May 12 ‘07 in Armenia.

- 3 - o Students - 879 o Teachers - 250 o Community - Parents - 123 - Local NGO representatives - 22 - Mass media representatives- 7 - Local government representatives - 16 - Political party representatives - 2 - Kindergarten representatives – 10 - Representatives from higher educational institutions – 12 - Representative from the Ministry of Education and Science – 5

6. Successes and Specific Highlights:

a) Model results exceeding expectations of the grant project.

Aygepar3 Secondary School won a grant for the proposed project entitled “The Data Processing System”. This was a unique initiative designed as a pilot project to create a single system to enable the ICC to virtually serve classrooms. The project aimed at strengthening the role of the ICC and other new technologies at the school, finding innovative ways to communicate, and subsequently inspire educators to make classes more engaging for students.

The project included the purchase of three television sets, a DVD player, microchips and a cable to provide connection between the ICC and classroom. The equipment and microchips were specifically installed in one computer to allow for re-translation via television sets in classrooms.

The challenges were many. For example, the geographical location limited the region to two television channels. But as a result of the grant, the Aygepar community now has the opportunity to watch more than five channels through the translation installed in the ICC.

b) Participant Quotes

“ Raising Awareness on Election Campaign” project has had a great impact on my life absolutely for the better, and I am sure it has had the same influence on all the other participants as well. I have learned about the main principles of democracy, voting rights, and how important it is not to be just an observer to make democracy work. And I think that one, who doesn’t vote, has no right to complain. I owe it all to this program that helped me get insights on what to do in my life”.

– Karen Sargsyan, 9th grade student, Metsamor sec.school #1 “ We all are members of different political parties and organizations and have our own points of view which are worth sharing and discussing, but we all just needed a “push” to get together. The ICC and school gave us a chance not only to express our ideas and listen to each other, but also to share them with the students and their parents. We’re getting ready for the elections and this was a very good way to be “better-brained”. Hopefully the meetings will become a good tradition for all local representatives of different organizations and parties”.

3 Aygepar is a border village in Tavush region just one hundred meters from Azerbaijan. In remote isolation, villagers cope with the difficulties of war and a loss of their once-vibrant lives.

- 4 - - Varos Simonyan, one of project leaders, Sissian #2 Secondary school “I learned a great deal from seminars on “How to Improve the Teaching of Civics Education” and I am certainly glad that I made the time investment into it. I have acquired some techniques that I have already applied in my current classes, and these were very successful. Thank you for this opportunity to improve myself so that I may serve the students to a more effective level”. - Karine Martirosyan, Civics Teacher, Masis sec.school #1

“I am truly grateful for this experience. The trainings organized within the framework of “Let’s Create Civil Society” project served as a rewarding experience. Each episode made me reflect on my experiences, my practices and what I can do to improve some situations. The resources are excellent. The comments and ideas from colleagues are invaluable too. I have so many ideas of how to improve my teaching, and I am definitely going to use PowerPoint presentations and resources downloaded from Internet during classes. I will be happy to participate in any other trainings like this”. – Lusine Margaryan, Civics Teacher, Vanadzor sec.school #10

“As a student-participant of “Election Campaign and ICC” project, I have acquired skills which made me aware of my responsibilities as a citizen of Armenia”. – Armine Gevorgyan, 10th grade student, Stepanavan sec.school #3

“We hope that the small brochures created by us as a result of the project will help not only foreigners to find more information about the “hidden” wonders of our region, but also will show the local people what special pieces of history and culture exist around them. The project gave us a unique chance to travel within our region and we used all ICC resources to capture the resources, learn about them and spread the information not only around the region but also world-wide”. - Anna Sahakyan, 9th grade student, Sevan #7 Secondary school