Family Strengthening Program in Gyumri
The Family Strengthening Project was launched in Gyumri in 2006 and was closed by the end of June 2018. It was the first program realized in the area of the social orphanage. The direct program intervention and assistance was realized by the local partners - “Meghvik” Children and Youth Center and the “Center of Community Development and Social Assistance”.
Both non-governmental organizations implemented considerable work in the sphere of child rights protection. The program has had great contribution to the area of satisfaction of educational needs of vulnerable children. Many trainings on the healthy lifestyle, parents-children relationships were held with the aim of raising the awareness of the project participants. Children had the opportunity to attend different hobby groups (chess, singing, painting, dances, tapestry and others), which essentially contributed to the mental and emotional development.
Within the framework of the program, much attention was paid to the development of parenting skills, which had a positive impact on the quality of the children care. Thanks to the individual and group psychological work, we succeeded in recording stabilization of the psychological state of parents and children and overcoming of various fears. As a result of the implemented activities, the general atmosphere in the families engaged in the program improved.
The program greatly impacted the mobilization and activation of the community. Due to the active day-to-day cooperation with the governmental and non-governmental organizations, working in the sphere of child protection, it became possible to find comprehensive solutions to the problems of the beneficiary families and achieve their self-reliance.
Within more than 11 years of the project implementation, “Meghvik” Children and Youth Center and “Center of the Community Development and Social Assistance” acquired considerable increase of the capacity building and achieved a certain level of stability which served as a base for termination of the project financing by SOS Children’s Villages International organization.
