Armenia LEAD (Leadership, Education, Action, Development) Project (2021-2023)

PH International identified youth education and empowerment as an important precondition for Armenia’s development to a sustainable democracy, therefore, throughout its 20 years of operations in the country it has designed and delivered effective, high-quality educational programming for youth development.

The goal of the Armenia LEAD Project was to equip Armenian regional youth with essential soft and hard skills helping them to mature into successful professionals and engaged citizens of Armenia and of the world. Additionally, the project worked with their schools and educators to create an enabling environment for youth development and civic activism.

The project aimed to accomplish the following objectives: (a) organize 250 hours of English instruction (targeting intermediate level) and 70 hours of personal enhancement/development activities for 180 youth aged 13-16, from socially disadvantaged backgrounds, living in 9 regional communities of Armenia (b) provide 50 youth aged 13-16 from socially disadvantaged backgrounds living in 9 regional communities of Armenia with opportunities to learn methods of community needs assessment and project design for implementing community action activities. (c) Train 18 in-service English teachers from selected regions in observation skills for better identification of their own strengths, areas for improvement and for more informed decision-making about their students.

Towards the end of the 2-year cycle of the Access program, using the skills that they have learned, the 180 alumni of the program formed teams with peers from their communities to design and apply for 9 Access Small Grants aimed at identifying and solving community issues by engaging other youth, their teachers, parents, and key community members.