Children of Armenia Fund’s (COAF) is dedicated to securing a future for children in Armenia’s impoverished rural villages. Since 2004, COAF has been implementing programmes in education, healthcare, child and family services, community engagement, economic development and infrastructure rehabilitation.

COAF encourages children and youth to be active participants in shaping their environment and society and strive to improve the overall quality of education in rural communities by upgrading physical infrastructures and creating progressive learning environments. Over the last 16 years, they have reached more than 107.000 beneficiaries in 64 villages in Armenia.

Throughout the programme students become self-conscious by exploring their own strengths and weaknesses, learning about their rights and responsibilities and questioning their roles in their communities.

At the same time, students gain financial literacy skills in practice. During the second stage, students assess their community needs and shape their dream community. Then it’s time for action. Students take action to solve a specific community issue in order to contribute to their dream community.

Meanwhile, they gain experience in designing and implementing community projects. The last stage of the programme stands for change. Students choose either entrepreneurship or employability skills and work to develop in these areas. Afterwards, participants use their skills and knowledge to change the world around them.

Recently, one of COAF Aflatounclubs generated 30.000 AMD (around 50 EUR) by organizing puppet theatre performances and installing a new attraction in their school yard. Another club organised a celebration and created an initative to make their school greener. Overall, 90 community projects have been completed by Aflatoun students.