Stepanavan Youth Center

SYC was established in October 2001 by active young people of Stepanavan with the aim to assist in the development of their home town and country. The organization registered with the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia in June 2002. The Mission of the SYC is to promote active youth citizenship and youth participation in addressing social, cultural and environmental issues in local communities organizing training, consultations, special projects, campaign, spreading information and providing possibilities for exchange of information and competences with their peers. Five main spheres of activities are: Youth leadership and volunteerism, environmental action, social development and peace building, cultural exchange and information accessibility. While concentrating on local issues and challenges, we are actively working with international actors. Our main goals are to assist in the exchange of experience, knowledge and skills of young people from Stepanavan and Armenia with their peers across the world, increase information accessability and opportunities for cultural exchange. The SYC is a member of several international youth networks (YEE, YouthNet, Asia-Europe Youth Network for sustainable development, United, International Youth Leadership Network, etc.). The organization is actively cooperating with local government, NGOs, as well as international youth organizations worldwide. The SYC has got recognition of the Prime Minister of Armenia, Andranik Margaryan in December 2004. The founder and first president of SYC, Lilit Simonyan received YouthActionNet international youth award (June 2004) International Youth Foundation (USA) and Nokia. SYC received European Water Award in 2010.