Seventeen families in Gegharkunik Region received new tool kits

Within the framework of the "Community Level Access to Social Services" (CLASS) project, 17 trained beneficiary families were handed over tool kits in four communities of Gegharkunik marz.

Vocational training courses for the beneficiary families included courses in hairdressing, manicure, makeup, sewing and fashion, pastry making, cooking, flower design, cosmetology, graphic design and various other fields.

Community social workers who had been actively working with both the project team and the beneficiary families of their community, within the project, were also present at the donation of the tool kits in all communities.

The first stop was at the marz center where the team met the beneficiaries and donated the tool kits in the Municipality of Gavar. The chief specialist of the Staff of the Municipality, Varsenik Khachatryan, congratulated the beneficiaries and expressed hope that the new professional skills and tool kits would be effectively used in the future and become the basis of financial stability for their families. She also noted that she was able to improve her professional skills and work more effectively with the families of her community as she had taken the special training course of the Yerevan State University, "Community Social Work," within another professional education and training component of the CLASS project.

The tour continued in the Martuni community, where the community social worker, Naira Gasparyan, handed over the tool kits. Active work with the beneficiary families over many months allowed her to consider the achievements of the beneficiaries partly due to her efforts.

At the event, the Secretary of the Staff of the Martuni Municipality, Svetlana Hovhannisyan, also emphasized the effectiveness of the cooperation with the "Community Level Access to Social Services" project in terms of working with vulnerable families, especially in the context of crisis situations in the past year.

In the next community of Vardenis, the first Deputy Head of the Community, Karen Mkrtchyan, personally welcomed the beneficiaries and the project team and acknowledged the work of World Vision Armenia in implementing various support programs in their community for years.

Marine Mnatsakanyan, a social worker, noted that the accurate assessment of the situation by the social worker was very important in the selection of the beneficiary families, as it determined the targeted organization of further support. In this regard, extensive work has been carried out by the project team and social workers.

The tour ended in Tchambarak, where the last group of beneficiaries of Gegharkunik marz received tool kits. 

Project activities within the Economic Resilience component of the "Community Level Access to Social Services" (CLASS) project aimed at increasing the economic resilience of vulnerable groups and started as early as 2021. In total, 500 beneficiaries from vulnerable groups selected from all the marzes of the Republic of Armenia and Yerevan participated in the project, 494 of whom have received working tool kits in order to obtain a profession. 368 of the selected beneficiaries also participated in a three-month specialized training course, to obtain a new profession or improve their professional skills.

This article is made possible by the generous support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of World Vision Armenia and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.