Violeta Baghumyan is a fourteen-year-old student of Armenian Caritas’ benevolent social organization, the Emili Aregak Centre, where she receives an inclusive education.

Violeta likes to dance and paint. She paints postcards with the help of the art-therapist Mariam Vardanyan, which are either dedicated to Centre visitors or put up for sale at auction. Violeta has a Down Syndrome and an additional 5 children with Down Syndrome also attend Emili Aregak. Violeta and her friends know that March 21 is World Down Syndrome Day and every year since 2012, the United Nations has observed it. Its main purpose is to raise public awareness concerning Down Syndrome and to help contribute to the development of a more inclusive and barrier-free society.

In the framework of the project “Preparation of 10 gold jewelry professionals in Jradzor and Aregnadem communities of Amasia region”, 10 young people gained professional skills in jewelry and metal art. The trained young people will have the opportunity to engage in individual and entrepreneurial activities in the future.

The project was implemented in the Shirak region of Armenia, in Jradzor and Aregnadik communities of the Amasia region, located in the Armenia-Turkey bordering zone. Distance from Gyumri is 18-28 km. Under the new government decision, the communities of Jradzor and Aregnadem are included in the list of borderline and high mountainous communities.

On February 27 in the International Day of Non-Governmental Organizations “Armenian Caritas” Benevolent Non-Governmental Organization presented projects funded by the European Union.

12 schools and youth from the region will participate in the project “Community action for full inclusion in education” who are trained within the framework of projects. During the meeting project teams presented the results of the work done before.

The projects “First inclusive bakery and coffee shop in Gyumri” and “Community action for full inclusion in education ” are funded by the European Union, Austrian Development Cooperation and Caritas Austria. The projects aim at creating a more inclusive environment in schools as well as train and direct young people with disabilities to labor market.

On the 25th of May, 2018, for the first time the “Little Prince” social center of Gyumri participated in the Presidential Award for “the best local organization of child care and protection” competition in Vanadzor. Children from different regions of Armenia participated in the competition by 12 groups with 10 participants in each of them.

The final competition took place at the sport center of Vanadzor. The aim of the competition was to make the physical culture and sport popular, as well as to raise the importance of physical culture and to organize health care and large-scale local activities among the child care and protection institutions in Armenia.