On the 14th of April “Women Empowerment Academy” has started. On the first day, participants got acquainted with each other and discussed the agenda.

The beginning of the second day was marked by the speech by the ambassador-at-large of Armenia, leader of the “Bright Armenia” party Edmon Marukyan. He spoke about “Women’s role in politics”.

He mentioned that there is a legislative demand of involving women in the list of electoral candidates, but there is another problem: it’s mandatory to have to involve women but there are not so many women eager and ready to be involved in politics.

Mr. Marukyan stresses the effectiveness of combating stereotypes with one’s own example, and this kind of academies can promote women’s empowerment.

The 2nd speaker of the second day was the chairperson of the “Institute of Liberal Politics”, a member of the Chamber of Advocates Tatevik Matinyan, with whom the participants developed their own personal canvases. She shared her stories and experience with the participants. Using the canvas, the participants discovered the challenges for their personal and professional life, troubles disturbing them, and the positive circumstances and motives, which push us towards goals and desired social role.

The special guest of the “Women Empowerment Academy” was the Kingdom of the Netherlands ambassador to the Republic of Armenia Nico Schermers.

He presented the ongoing and past projects of the Embassy toward women’s empowerment. The ambassador answered the questions of the participants and heard their opinions about the challenges of the field and the suggestions for improving it.

 Later that night, with the initiative of Mr. Schermers, the participants watched and discussed a documentary film in which Aghavni Jessaijan is starring. Aghavni was born in the Netherlands her father being Armenian and her mother being Dutch. She is a winner of a famous TV show in the Netherlands. 

She was invited to Armenia by the Embassy, visited women living in provinces, and spent time with them. She met here politicians and women students. All these is represented in the film.

The shooting of the film was made possible due to the efforts of Sun Tree NGO with the assistance of the Dutch Embassy.

The third speaker of the second day was Edgar Marukyan, who conducted a session on critical thinking and cognitive partiality. Different aspects, such as life, communication, and information, how to differentiate between true and false information, and find manipulation, were discussed during the meeting.

An important session on the image of women politicians was conducted by the PR specialist, associate professor at the Yerevan State University, department of social work and social technology department Nvard Melqonyan.

The appearance of public figures, their clothing, gestures, and other important aspects were discussed.

 The sessions of the 3rd day started with the motivational speech of the representative of the VVD International party, a former mayor of Arnhem and Haaga, a senior member of the city council of Amsterdam, and a deputy to the Senate of the Kingdom of the Netherlands during 2015-17 Pauline Krikke. As a successful political leader, she shared her experience and the pathway she passed.

The session was succeeded with a phase of Q&A, during which the importance of women’s involvement in politics, leadership, challenges, and other issues were discussed.

Then, a session was conducted by Armen Ghukasyan. He represented the necessary skills for delivering a public speech to the participants. 

The aim, types, and other important details were discussed.

Օրվա վերջում պանելային քննարկում էր։  Քննարկմանը հյուրընկալվել էին ԱԺ 7֊րդ գումարման պատգամավոր, «Լուսավոր Հայաստան» կուսակցության կառավարման խորհրդի անդամ Անի Սամսոնյանը և Երևանի ավագանու «Իմ քայլը» խմբակցության անդամ, ֆինանսաբյուջետային հանձնաժողովի նախագահ Լուսինե Գևորգյանը։ 

At the end of the day, a panel discussion was held. A deputy to the 7th convocation of the National Assembly, a member of the governing council of the “Bright Armenia” political party Ani Samsonyan and a member of the “My Step” fraction of the Council of Elders of Yerevan, head of the financial and budgetary committee Lusine Gevorgyan. They shared their political experience with the participants, answered their questions, and gave practical advice.

Then, participants were divided into 4 groups. Each group prepared an elections campaign for the elections of the Council of Elders of Yerevan and represented it. Afterward, the speakers pointed out their strong and weak points.

Thus, another cohort of the “Women Empowerment Academy” has ended. At the end of it participants were provided with certificates by Pauline Krikke.

 The project was implemented with the assistance of VVD International.