The EU-funded Community Development through Social Entrepreneurship (CODE-SE) programme contributes to a sustainable community development and to enhancing the capacities of CSOs in generating income through running social entrepreneurship (SE) projects for the benefit of the communities in seven regions of Armenia.

Facts & Figures

Implementing organisations in Armenia: International Center for Intercultural Research, Learning and Dialogue (ICIRLD)

CRIS number: ENPI/2015/366-674

EU Budget: € 289 379

Duration:  21 months | October 2015 – June 2017

Location: Kotayk, Gegharkunik, Shirak, Syunik, Lori, Tavush, Vayots Dzor marzes/regions | Republic of Armenia

Objectives

• Deliver tools to develop the entrepreneurial competence in the field of social economy;
• Strengthen the capacities of CSOs from the seven target regions;
• Encourage economic development of the target regions.

Results

• Ideas of 27 NGOs competitively selected to take up their realisation.
• 3 sets of intensive week-long trainings organised and grew into an online educational site with 500-600 active users.
• 7000-euro subgrants given away to implement the selected projects on a local scale.
• Consultation and support provided for a number of interesting projects, including 2 eco camps, plastic recycling, souvenir-packaging of desserts, 3D modelling of traditional Armenian cartoon characters by people with disabilities, curtains with Armenian ornaments, a bohemian café, etc.

Testimony

“I receive calls, requests and questions every day from different regions that also have social entrepreneurship ideas they want to realise,” says Suren Mkhitaryan, the Project Manager of the programme. “One example of a successful case was the village Vardenik in Gegharkunik region where “Pulse of Community” Youth NGO came up with the idea to gather herbs and other organic foods from the mountains and introduce them to the bigger market. “Mountain goods” provides jobs for more than 70 families in the village and received a gratitude diploma from the President of RA. They called me today from Ashtarak asking for advice on starting something similar. These small cases seem trivial to the bigger picture. We’ve been told many times that the amount of our sub-grants, 7000 euros, is too little to start anything but experience shows these small scale initiatives solve local problems and then they spread across the country.”

ICIRLD was key at every stage of Sevan’s Bohem studio-teahouse’s creation: inception to business plan and branding consultation to shaping the future direction.

“The clash, the flow of ideas with the programme’s team was a powerful driving force behind our idea. Now we plan on expanding our space, on working with schools and art institutions to organise events and master-classes and get more customers at the same time. It’s not about the tea,” says Gohar Mnatsakanyan, the café’s Director and President of Sevan Youth Club, “It’s about the mood, the atmosphere we try to create.”