Project Harmony:

Armenia Connectivity 2000 Program


Project Harmony builds strong communities by fostering civic leadership, harnessing Internet technology and facilitating cross-cultural experiential learning.
The objectives are to encourage participants to examine closely their own assumptions and perspectives on the world, cultivate cultural awareness and sensitivity and develop the relationships, knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary for participation in an interdependent world.

Currently Project Harmony-Armenia is implementing two programs.

The Armenia School Connectivity Program (ASCP (www.ascp.am), a program of the US Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, funded through the FREEDOM Support Act and implemented by Project Harmony, expands the reach and scope of the Armenia Connectivity 2000 (AC2K) program and further builds local capacity to assume responsibility for the long-term sustainability of the program. Three focus areas for ASCP are technology, education, and community.

The program provides resources, Internet access, and training for a growing network of schools across all 11 regions of Armenia. ASCP allows students, educators, and community members opportunities to access and share information, to engage in online collaborative projects, and to develop technical skills marketable in a digital world. The program increases school-community interaction, US-Armenian partnerships at the school and community levels, and civic engagement on the local, national, and international levels. ASCP supports the integration of educational technologies in a way that strengthens democracy and support civil society and cultural understanding.

The program works in diverse areas, such as school involvement, creating a network of 350 schools; resource development, supporting and assisting Armenian secondary schools with developing Armenian online resources on different subjects and areas of study; collaborative projects, establishing cooperation with US based schools and involving Armenian schools into online collaboration.
Project Harmony also continues to strive towards ensuring diversity within the school connectivity program, including into ASCP special needs schools and working with target groups, such as minorities, refugees, etc.

Mobile Lab is one of the achievements in the sphere of communication. The mobile lab project is a cutting-edge initiative designed as a pilot program to create one traveling computer lab to serve 20 remote schools in between Chambarak and Vardenis towns in the Gegharkunik region. This project includes the purchase of an appropriate vehicle, the transformation of the vehicle into a learning lab, and the provision of an appropriate computer package. This package includes 5 workstations, a printer, a scanner, a digital camera and satellite connection. The equipment is specifically installed taking into consideration the need to withstand the road wear of being in transport for a significant amount of time, the provision of Internet connectivity, the staffing of the traveling lab, and the key operational expenses.

On September 2, 2003 Project Harmony launched a new program in Armenia: "ZANG" - Armenian Legal Socialization Project (www.projectharmony.am/zang) ("ZANG" in Armenian being an acronym for "Developing Knowledge and Promoting Justice") which is funded by the US State Department's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (www.state.gov/g/inl).

"ZANG" is a twelve-month pilot project that will partner Armenian law enforcement officers with secondary school educators, providing them with training that will enable them to develop learning units for secondary school classrooms, designed to assist youth and teachers in preventing crime and corruption in the Armenian society. Armenian professionals will have the opportunity to study American legal education models, and develop and deliver eight legal socialization lessons in 22 Armenian secondary schools. This curriculum will, in part, be based on guidance, feedback, and training from US experts in curriculum development, law, and law enforcement. Legal socialization is a form of education in which values, attitudes, and behaviors with respect to rules and laws are developed.

Eight technology-assisted lesson plans on legal socialization will be developed and tested during the program implementation period. Following a revision process, the tested and improved curriculum will be distributed regionally to encourage teachers to continue using the materials to engage students in strengthening Armenian civil society and understanding their role in society. Throughout the program, Internet Communication Technology (ICT) will be leveraged, thanks to Project Harmony's Armenia School Connectivity Program, to support those leading the program coordination and the teachers implementing the units in order to share ideas and lessons learned.

Contacts:

Address: 45 Sevastopolyan Street
Yerevan, 375 028, Republic of Armenia
Phone: (374 1) 26 06 86, 26 06 87, 26 06 88, 22 74 73
Fax: (374 1) 22 74 58
E-mail: ph@projectharmony.am
URL: http://www.projectharmony.am