About the Project
The international training course “ACTIVATE: Agents of change-the vital entrepreneurs of tomorrow” aims to create an active and creative platform for the development of new ideas and exploring possibilities for youth employability and social entrepreneurship by focusing on youth empowerment tools.
The training course gives youth workers and youth leaders the possibility to discover methods, strategies and tools to cultivate and support entrepreneurial thinking and skills of young people they work with.
The training aims to create a learning space with better self-awareness and awareness of the needs and goals of the groups of young people they work with to enhance the results of the learning process and give birth to high quality projects led by the participants in the future.
Armenian Progressive Youth
Armenia
Mkrtich Dallakyan
Biography
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Mkrtich Dallakyan has a six years of nonprofit experience working with “Youth Cooperation Center of Dilijan” NGO in Armenia, where he was engaged in community development projects focused on civic education and youth participation. Mkrtich has earned Master Degree in Management of Development from Turin School of Development, International Labor Organisation, where among number of theoretical, conceptual and operational framework he has been equipped with analytical and operational competencies in the field of sustainable development that are indispensable for effective participation and working as a development project manager. Mkrtich holds his BA degree in Environmental Economics.
Mkrtich is Certified Facilitator of Non-Formal Education trained by MitOst e.V. / Theodor-Heuss-Kolleg, Berlin, Germany (2016). He has an extensive training provision and consultancy experience working
as an invited trainer and consultant for various organizations including Inspiration by Motion.Latvia, EUROSUD Italy, H2O Portugal, EcoLab in Armenia. Mkrtich’s expertise in non-formal trainings include topics of youth participation, civic engagement, coaching, volunteer management and policy development.
Mkrtich is a fellow at Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations in Germany, Country Representative in Armenia for Cross-Cultural Fellowship program on political education & youth participation. He has working experience on youth policy development working with with Kreisau-Initiative e.V. in Berlin, Germany. Through these experiences Mkrtich developed good ability to adapt to multicultural environments, communication skills gained through multicultural circumstances in life, and through non-formal education .
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Do you have any experience in similar project?
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I'm part of the organizing team from APY.
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What's your motivation in taking part to this TC (Training Course)?
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I'm part of the organizing team from APY.
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What are your main expectations regarding your participation in this training course? How do you envisage to incorporate what you have learnt during the TC in your work?
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I'm part of the organizing team from APY.
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Please describe your knowledge and experience on entrepreneurship.
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I'm part of the organizing team from APY.
Suren Mkhitaryan
Executive Director
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“International Center for Intercultural Research, Learning and Dialogue” NGO
Suren Mkhitaryan has over 7 years of professional experience in the field of civil society, social entrepreneurship, non-formal education and quality assurance of higher education. He is currently Executive Director at “International Centre for Intercultural Research, Learning and Dialogue” NGO.
Suren has extensive experience in managing various local and international projects focused on social entrepreneurship (SE) where he managed to connect with 300+ social entrepreneurship representatives worldwide.
During the last 3 years he was the project manager of “Community Development through Social Entrepreneurship” (CODE-SE) EU-funded long-term project. Within the framework of the project, among other accomplishments, Suren managed to establish effective collaboration schemes between various players including public, international, educational and other institutions working in the field of SE and support establishment of 10 social enterprises in Armenia.
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In addition, Suren has extensively contributed to the development of the concept of SE in Armenia through continuous collaboration with state institutions, as well as promoted the development of educational courses on SE in the educational sector.
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Suren has organized and supported many national and international conferences, training courses and seminars (including Erasmus+ projects).
Currently Suren is also an individual entrepreneur, providing trainings, consultations on self-development, entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship.
Silva Mesropyan
Silva Mesropyan is a qualified business consultant, trainer, mentor and coach, and has a number of international qualifications, including CMC, CEFE, OVOP. She is an Executive Director and board member of the Management Consulting Institute of Armenia (IMC Armenia), President and co-founder of Innovative Women Entrepreneurship (InWEnt), Founding Director of "Mill" Consulting Company, Member of Certification Committee of CMC Global Institute, CMC Mentor and Assessor, as well as independent consultant-expert.
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Silva is specialized in business development services, such as market research and surveys, business training delivery, start-up business development, project management, business planning and development, strategic planning and development, event management, business process management, social entrepreneurship, management consulting (internal and external), sponsorship and fundraising, marketing strategy and planning, marketing campaigns and promotion, etc. She is co-author of 4 books; one of them is well known “How to start a business in Armenia”.
Silva’s 15 years work experience includes a large geography, including all of regions of Armenia, Eastern Partnership countries, as well as her CMC activities include Mongolia, Spain, Botswana, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Trinidad and Tobacco, etc. Besides geography, her experience includes an extensive list of areas: tourism, education, food processing, service provision, creative industry, etc. She works with different groups: young women, youth, unemployed, farm cooperatives, farmers, disabled, needy, migrants, start-up businesses, associations, NGOs, CSOs, SMEs, educational centers, etc. Being a business trainer and consultant she works with a number of local and international organizations, including ETF, EBRD, CARE International, JICA, UNDP, Unicef, UNDP Moldova, World Bank, EU4Business, EEN, Eurochambre, Business Advisory Moldova, , ERDSC, OECD, OSCE, Counterpart, UMCOR, FREDA, Mission Armenia, SME DNC, Mission Armenia, APY, Ecolab, YCCD etc.
Program
The TC “ACTIVATE” “Agents of change - the vital entrepreneurs of tomorrow” aims to train and equip youth workers and youth leaders working directly with young unemployed people and disadvantaged youth from refugees, asylum seekers and migrants with essential entrepreneurial and business tools, methods and skills to enable them to contribute to tackling of the problem of unemployment among youth through quality youth work that promotes self employment and entrepreneurial culture. The training course will be based on non formal learning methods and principle ¨intercultural dialogue and communication including group discussions¨ interactive presentations¨ participant’s lead workshops¨ teamwork¨ etc. The methodology of the project will stimulate active participation¨ sense of initiative and involvement of the learners. It aims to create a learning space with better selfawareness and awareness of the needs and goals of the groups of young people they work with to enhance the results of the learning process and give birth to high quality projects led by the participants in the future.
Language: The language of the course is English. Participants should be able to communicate in English.
Intercultural Evening
During a special evening we will share characteristics from our culture. We ask you to bring foods and drinks to share! You can also think of some other things to share with the group from your culture: stories, dances / songs etc. In case you play an instrument, it might be very nice to bring it. Just no power point presentation or country promotion videos, as it would be the best if you can share something in your own words! By the way, to present something from your culture does not mean it has to be something from your country: it can also be from a region, a city etc.
Homework and Daily Program
Two weeks before the Training Course we will send you a small homework to complete in your Country group. The Daily program will be also sent after the homework.
NGO Fair
One of the aims of the Training Course is to develop cooperation and new projects between the NGO’s/ That is why we are going to organize an NGO fair where every organization will have a chance to present itself. Make sure you bring some informational materials, flyers, booklets or publications representing your organization.
YOUTHPASS Certificates
All participants will receive a Youth Pass certificate in the end of the Training Course. Upon their request participants will get also Annex to Youth Pass with 8 Key Competences.
FULL DETAILED PROGRAM WILL FOLLOW
Gender balance is recommended.
Profile of the participants:
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Aged 18 and older.
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At least basic knowledge of the role of youth work.
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Knowledge of the situation of young people in the own country and of the specific work context for empowerment work with young people with fewer opportunities.
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Motivation to take part in a mutual learning process in a large intercultural setting.
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Good level of English to follow the course and to contribute to it.
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Resident of one of the participating countries.
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Available for the whole duration of the Training Course.