UNION GENERAL ARMENIENNE DE BIENFAISANCE EUROPE

Founded in 2009, AGBU Europe coordinates and develops the pan-European activities of the Armenian General Benevolent Union. The aims of AGBU are to preserve and promote the Armenian culture and heritage through programs in the fields of education, leadership training, culture, heritage, and through social assistance. Since its establishment, AGBU Europe has built on the organization’s traditions of solidarity, hu-manism and openness to develop programmes for the benefit of the Armenian diaspora in a Eu-ropean context. AGBU has been particularly active in working with like-minded organizations combatting prejudice and discrimination (notably with the European Grassroots Anti-racist Net-work) and in empowering young people through training and coaching (e.g. the Goriz leadership programme). The organization is active on minority issues and cooperates frequently with Jewish and Roma civil society organizations, such as European Union of Jewish Students (EUJS) and Phiren Amenca International Network. AGBU Europe has branches and partners in the UK, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Italy, Bulgaria, Romania, the Ukraine, Poland, Turkey, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Georgia and Armenia. As a European office, it coordinates the activities of its branches known as chapter organizations, in Europe by ensuring the visibility of their events, informing on upcoming activities of the organization globally and providing support when the need arises. Youth is one of the core target groups of AGBU Europe. It’s Young Professionals (YP) network brings together civic-minded and benevolent young professionals aged from 22 to 40, who devote their time, expertise, and leadership to make impact on their local community through organizing educational, cultural, and social events and activities. Another important function of the organization is to provide support and know-how to the office in Armenia to carry out development projects benefiting the country. Located in the European capi-tal, AGBU Europe is involved in an ongoing dialogue with the EU institutions (DG NEAR, DG EAC, EEAS) in consulting and monitoring policies towards Armenia in the scope of Eastern di-mension of the European Neighborhood Policy. The latter helps to better identify the areas of in-tervention and utilize diaspora potential where the need is pertinent. The organization also runs or takes part in EU-funded projects.