Empowering Lives: Czech Support for Armenians Displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh
Published: Aug 28, 2024 Reading time: 3 minutes
Thanks to the support from the Czech Republic, Armenians who fled Nagorno-Karabakh are rebuilding their lives and businesses in Armenia. The aid provided included vocational training, family small business support, and material assistance for the displaced.
One such entrepreneur is Vrezh Hovsepyan, who now runs a glass workshop in Sevan, producing glass for windows, doors, mirrors, and more. Despite the challenges of starting from scratch after leaving his successful business in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023, Vrezh has flourished to the point where he can employ his brother. He was one of five entrepreneurs selected for business support under a project funded by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Ruzanna Gevorgyan, fulfilled her childhood dream of becoming a beekeeper. With the equipment she purchased through the project, she is eagerly awaiting her first honey harvest and hopes to expand her business into cosmetics made from bee products.
Nearly 130 people from Nagorno-Karabakh enrolled in vocational education and training (VET) programs funded by Czech aid.
IT and graphic design courses were particularly popular. Zaruhi, excited about the opportunity to learn new skills, shared her experiences: “I was very happy, when I found this opportunity targeted especially on us, displaced people. I love to learn new things and I also appreciated that my mind was busy in those days after displacement,” says Zaruhi, who attended course at TCO Gyumri school in Gyumri town. Also, Anush was part of the training. She is showing branding packages and posters she had designed during the lessons.
Garik Dadasyan, a 19-year-old with a dream of opening his own café, took vocational educataion training in bartending. He learned and practiced serving coffee at a café in Gyumri. “I hope that this experience will help me achieve his goals,” he says.
In addition to VET programs, skills development extended to agriculture, with 24 beneficiaries receiving poultry training and 56 undergoing farming training. Vigen Sargsyan proudly showed his garden, which now grows potatoes, strawberries, herbs, and more. Reflecting on his past life in Artsakh, he lamented the loss of his once-large garden.
The project also provided 215 livelihood kits for economic activities, including equipment for cooking, farming, IT, sewing, manicure, and poultry, among other fields. This support has been crucial for those with vocational skills who lacked the tools to generate income.
From December 2023 to May 2024, over 500 people displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh were supported through the "Emergency Response to Displacement of Population from Nagorno-Karabakh Region to Armenia" project. This effort was a collaboration between People in Need, local partner Mission Armenia, and the generous support of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, amounting to 5,000,000 CZK.
