WFD NGO has repeatedly presented the success, achievements and positive outcomes of “Our community is our home” project implemented in Arpeni not solely in the target communities but also during the international meetings, training and events held abroad. The project initiated by a group of women in this little village of Shirak marz (Totally 70 families) became a wonderful example of mobilization and collaboration among the community members.
Arpeni’s success story served an example for WFD NGO’s target community Torosgyugh. Like Arpeni, Torosgyugh too has a restored Events Hall with a large and bright room. The hall is not furnished a reason why it did not operate. In most cases, during large-scale events villagers had to rent tables, chairs, as well as tableware from neighbor communities.
Quite recently Torosgyugh village mayor Armen Sargsyan procured 16 tables and 32 benches for the Events Hall by the means of the village municipality. This encouraged the Community Center officer Mariam Ghukasyan and other active women from the center to follow Arpeni’s example and organize fundraising to procure tableware for 200 people and other necessary accessories. “Women for Development” NGO, too promised to bring its support to the project.
By the initiative of WFD NGO, today a group of women from Torosgyugh visited Arpeni to exchange experience and provide consultation. They went to the Events Hall where Arpeni Community Center’s officer Armenuhi Muradyan and several volunteering women presented in detail how they had the idea of writing such project, establishing the group of volunteering women, doing fundraising, they also spoke about the principles that made all this operative until now. Those present talked about the difficulties and hardships faced during the project and the means used to overcome them.
It should be mentioned that Arpeni community members use the Events Hall and the tableware for renting purposes during various events, whilst the collected money is used to procure necessary accessories for the Hall. The latter is a successful self-management example of the group.
In Torosgyugh volunteers’ words this visit was really a valuable one, for almost all the communities are alike both by their issues and problems, and the way people think. In this sense exchange of the available experience gave answered to most of the questions raised.
Women of Arpeni initiator’s group who will establish a foundation in the village quite soon, are ready to pass their knowledge and experience to members in different communities and the non-governmental organizations implementing projects directed to rural community development and mobilization.
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