The charitable Armenia Round Table Foundation of the World Council of Churches has also included Syrian Armenians in its projects. Karine Baghdasarian, Program Officer of the foundation, told ARMENPRESS the “improvement of living conditions of Syrian Armenian refugees in Armenia” project was implemented, with the purpose of contributing to the improvement of economic and social conditions of vulnerable Syrian Armenian families and integration in Armenia.
The project, which lasted from May 1, 2015 until August 31, 2016, fifty Syrian refugees got the chance to get trained in hairdressing, manicure and makeup, cooking and table decoration, as well as clothing design. “Our goal was to teach several skills to namely women, taking into account the fact that in Syria it’s not common for women to work. This way, they will make their daily living to some extent”, Baghdasarian said, adding that 21 Syrian Armenians also had the opportunity to study programming with the assistance of “Microsoft” Armenia. 12 of them are already permanently employed. Baghdasarian pointed out namely the food distribution initiative, which was acknowledged as an innovative approach in the field of humanitarian assistance by international partners of the Round Table.
“We decided to distribute the food for Syrian Armenians in an innovative, it’s more correct to say dignified way. By cooperating with food networks, we provided them with plastic cards, which enabled them to choose the necessary products, of course excluding alcohol and tobacco”, she said.
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