Invitation letter

OSI AF, UNICEF Armenia and NGO “Bridge of Hope” are pleased to invite you to participate in the International Conference on “Rethinking of goals, values of Special Education in Eastern European states” that will take place in Yerevan, Republic of Armenia July 1 and 2, 2009 in the frame of project “Human Rights based approach to Special education: Rethinking of goals and values of Special education in Armenia” funded by OSI East East: Partnership Beyond Borders program.

SUNFLOWER 6th MEDIA COMPETITION

“Bridge of Hope” NGO, “Mission East” organization, together with the Ministry of Labor and Social Issues of Ra and with the assistance of DANIDA announced the 6th “Sunflower” media competition on disability issue “Equal Opportunuties”.
The aim of the competition was to speak up about disability problems in Armenia and to promote the idea of equal opportunities for all.

All TV, radio, printed and online materials published from November 2007 to November 2008 applied for the competition. 26 journalists participated in the competition representing 33 materials: 16 articles, 8 radio and 9 TV programmes. All the winners received prizes and certificates.
In the nomination “The Best TV programme” Varduhi Manukian (Erkir Media) won the first prize. Artak Vardanian (H1) was awarded with the second prize for the material “The little man of the big city”. Narine Ghalechian (Radiostation “Azatutyun”) got an encouraging prize for treating disability issues by radio.

Unlike last year, the commission was contented with the materials of printed and online media. Susanna Shahnazaryan’s article “When the words are needless” from Goris “Ban u Gorc” newspaper won in the nomination of “The Best Article”. The second and third prize winners were Edgar Amirkhanian (Panorama.am) and Haykuhi Barseghian (“168 hour”). An encouraging prize was given to Ruzan Badalyan for her article “We are Equal on the Both side of the Fence” (AZG Daily newspaper). Lilit Yolchian was awarded with a special prize for her film “Look at the Sun with the eyes of Soul” (Vanadzor, “Mig” TV station).

Healthy start with new phase

The official lunch of the second phase of “Healthy start” project has been organized on 28th March in Ani hotel. The project is directed to early identification and prevention of childhood disability, improvement of their health and social status of children with disabilities, change of attitude towards children with disabilities and their families to enhance their inclusion in their respective communities and advocacy of disability rights in Armenia.

The project “Healthy Start” is initiated in 2006 and since that time implemented by Danish international relief and development organization “Mission East”, Arabkir Medical Centre - Institute of Child and Adolescent Health and “Bridge of Hope” NGO. The project is funded by Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA). The project is implemented in cooperation and support of the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labour and Social Issues and Ministry of Education and Science of Armenia.

Official lunch of the project in the project engaged marzes took place on 9th May in Gavar and 17th June in Tavush Marzpetarans during round tables organized by project partners. Project partners presented the main objectives and goals, as well as outputs of the project to Marzpets and to officials of relevant departments.

At th end of the project in 22 communities of Gavar and Ijevan social-psychological and health services will be available for children with disabilities. Their families will have ebough capacities to joint together for advocating for the rights of their children. Early disability identification, prevention and treatment sustainable system will exist and function in marzes. The project will support organization working in disability field to be more united and work in solidarity to raise issues about protection of rights of people with disability against local government.

On 3rd December 2007 on International Day of Disability president of Bridge of Hope Susanna Tadevosyan was awarded a medal by Prime Minister of RA for strong input in solving problems of people with disability and for long work in mentioned field.
This is already the second award of Susanna Tadevosyan granted by Prime Minister Serj Sargsyan. Previous acknowledgment was granted on 31st May 2007 on International Day of the protection of children's rights for long and productive work in the field of children's right protection .
Susanna Tadevosyan, president of Bridge of Hope:
- I'm glad that our work is highly valued. I have always said that Bridge of Hope’s cooperation with state will last forever because without assistance and support of government it’s impossible to reach significant results in solving problems in such an important field such as the field of protection of rights of people with disability.

Acknowledgement

“Children with disabilities need education from an early age,” said Ani in her statement to the United Nations. “In every society there are stereotypes towards people with disabilities, which are difficult to eliminate. It is through children that we can change our societies and make them more inclusive. Children more readily accept others the way they are – no matter how different.”

Following the high level meeting in New Yourk, the Minister of Labor and Social Issues Mr. Aghvan Vardanyan invited a press conference "Our country has made tangible progress in ensuring that the rights of persons with disabilities are respected and that the environment conducive to their full integration into the society is created...",- said the Minister emphasizing that,- ...”it is much more important to focus attention on implementation of existing laws, rather than develop new ones”.

The Ministry of Labor and Social Issues and UNICEF have been working closely to address problems of people with disabilities, particularly those faced by children with disabilities through improving services, assisting in mainstreaming children with disabilities into inclusive schools and raising public awareness to promote their full integration into the society.

"This Convention is the first treaty focusing exclusively on disability rights to be adopted by the UN General Assembly, " UNICEF Representative Sheldon Yett said during the press conference.
The Minister and UNICEF representative congratulated two young Armenian advocates with disabilities who traveled to New York to participate in the signing ceremony at the UN General Assembly on March 30, 2007.

United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities