New grant gives education project in Armenia a lasting impact

For the last four years Mission East has been changing the way that children with learning difficulties experience education in Armenia. Now a new grant will enable this work to be consolidated.

Since 2003, Mission East has been working with local partners on the project "Towards Education for All". The project has trained teachers, developed school curricula and helped change the legal framework for children with special needs accessing appropriate education. It has also worked hard to change negative public opinion about disability. As a result children with disabilities and special needs in Armenia have equal rights to an education and the curricula that make this possible have been officially approved.

The new grant enables Mission East consolidate the results of the "Towards Education for All" project. The project will help teacher training institutions to prepare teachers in special needs education, support the ongoing growth of an NGO Coalition on disability, and will assist the creation of fifteen new inclusive schools where children with special needs can learn alongside other children. These activities are designed to ensure a long-term sustainability of special needs education for Armenia as a whole.

"This phase of the project is making sure that all the fantastic things we have achieved since the beginning of the project will reach many more thousands of Armenian children in the years to come," says Managing Director Kim Hartzner enthusiastically.

The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has granted to 2.9 million Danish kroner for the consolidation phase of the "Towards Education for All" project.