Freedom of Information Center of Armenia.

Name of the sub-grantee: “Tookhmanook” Educational and Human Rights Protection Center” NGO

Name of the sub-grant project: “Together for the Quality Education”

Brief Description: During the four months of the project implementation monitoring of the policy of the Government of Armenia in the field of preservation of the cultural identity of national minorities and the right to quality education, as well as transparency of funds allocated by the state for these purposes shall be conducted. In particular, the amount, proportionality of distribution of funds according to the size of communities, the cost-effectiveness of the projects implemented, how the national minorities themselves assess the effectiveness of measures, the quality of education received by the children. With this purpose a study in five villages of Armavir marz (Nalbandyan, Tandzut, Ferik, Arax, Aknalich) shall be conducted, the aim of which is to identify the efforts by the state to provide quality education of the children of the Yezidi national minority, the policy and measures undertaken by the government for preservation of national identity and national education, the level of implementation of the state commitments in this field.

Actions in Brief: For the aforementioned purposes, a study of the allocated financial resources, the ways and forms of their provision, examination of their size, expending and results shall be carried out. At the same time, the level of provision of quality education in 5 villages of Armavir community shall be studied, in particular, the allocation of national minorities, means for preserving the national identity and / or steps undertaken in that direction. The situation shall be examined also by means of interviews conducted with the representatives of sectoral organizations and experts.
Visits to Armavir marz center and five selected villages shall be paid, during which individual stories shall be gathered and focus group surveys shall be conducted. The implemented works will be presented through 4-5 small materials. The results of the program shall be published in a survey and presented to the public in a long-read format material.

At the same time, research of the international best practices will be conducted. The received data will be presented in a survey which shall also contain recommendations for changing the situation and policy. A dialogue between the public and the state shall be initiated to find best solutions to the issues, as well as awareness on the issues of national minorities, their little known cultural features, and the importance of preserving as part of the cultural wealth of Armenia shall be emphasized.