Claus Neukirch, Director of Programme Coordination at the Council of Europe, sits down with a group of young people in the newly renovated community hall in the town of Aparan and asks them to describe their vision for Aparan’s future.
The Council of Europe with financing from the Austrian Development Agency allocated €13,000 to renovate and furnish the community hall that has become a meeting place for young people in Aparan, a town of some 6,000 fifty kilometers north of Yerevan.
The initiative is part of the project Democratic Development, Decentralization and Good Governance in Armenia that has funded numerous community initiatives in Armenia to raise local government transparency and civic participation, especially among young people, in local affairs.
Armenian Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Vacheh Terteryan was on hand at the community hall’s opening and thanked the Council of Europe and the Austrian Development Agency for supporting the project.
Mariam Sargsyan, who runs the Aparan Municipality’s programme department, says the new hall will host series of arts, cultural and sports events this year. Mariam indicates they also want to turn the town into an eco-tourism hub.
