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In 2023, more than 20 projects were funded by the Equality Fund, which you can find below:

Institutional support to women’s organizations

• Socioscope NGO – “Institutional support for women researchers” –  It will enhance the capacity of the organization by allowing organizing and conducting an internal audit. The internal audit will help to identify the gaps and shortcomings and work towards the implementation of the recommendations based on the audit report. Moreover, the staff members of the organization will participate in different capacity-building training courses and sessions based on their needs. Socioscope will also organize and conduct the annual retreat by the end of the year to summarize the organizational performance during 2023 and plan the activities for 2024.
• Resource Center for Women’s Empowerment – The goal of the project is to strengthen the support center to provide more accessible, complete and necessary services. Material and technical equipment of the support center will allow it to be more independent and provide full services to the beneficiaries, as well as to become a safe place for them where they will be free to express themselves. The ultimate goal of the new women’s self-help groups and therapy meetings is to create a happier and more meaningful daily life for women, in which they will dedicate a few hours of the day to themselves, their body and mind, without worrying about everyday things.
• Sose Women’s Issues NGO – “Women are safe and secure” project has the goal to strengthen the capacity of the organization’s team and beneficiaries, creating an independent and safe environment, increase the beneficiaries’ knowledge about self-care, to inform about possible age risks/menopause, psychological problems during menopause, etc, to reduce the risks of professional burnout of the organization’s employees/special therapies/. As a result, women’s independence will increase, vulnerability will decrease. Employees’ motivation and work efficiency will increase.
• “For Equal Rights” NGO – “Institutional support for NGO” project – During the project, awareness meetings with women were organized in 9 settlements of the communities of Berd and Noyemberyan, during which the participants talked about women’s rights, feminism, and domestic violence.
  
• Sexual Assault Crisis Center (SACC) NGO – The goal of the project is to increase the visibility of the NGO and help them to continue their work. This is mostly an institutional support to help the NGO maintain its staff. The long-term goal is to increase the recognition of the organization, both within the public and the donor community.
• Women’s Rights House NGO – “Development of organizational potential” project goal is to increase the financial independence of the Organization, the resilience of the team, well-being and prevention of burnout.

Support to 40+ women’s initatives

• Susanna Shahnazaryan – “When I Was Younger” – Susanna organized a series of discussions with women in an informal environment on the topic “When I was younger”, during which women told their stories about what has changed in their lives after 40 and what they would change if it was possible. Short essays about the issues raised during the discussions, stories that present not specific women’s stories, but a more general understanding of the issue were produced.
• “Renaissance FIlm” – Mary Aghakhanyan – Mary, who is a film producer in Armenia is planning to start her long-term project about women who survived cancer. A survivor herself, she wants to make the women’s health and their lives during the recovery visible and their voices vocal. 
• Mariam Aleksanyan/Ani Mkrtchyan – Through the grant, these women addressed the problems related to self-awareness, well-being and mental health of women after 40. The project implies a series of training and mental health courses organized for a group of women in the Berd community of Tavush region, which gave Ani and Mariam the opportunity to help women find ways of self-discovery and self-realization.
  
• Marianna Danielyan – The authors of this initiative are a group of teachers of the music department of the art school named after Haykanush Danielyan. They are all women aged 50+. They performed a new concert program, developed with the support of this grant, and entirely dedicated to the works of female musicians. The concert featured the works of female songwriters whose names are known only in narrow professional circles, their music is almost never heard during various concerts or performances. It is expected that the present educators will include the popular works of the author in the future educational programs, which are now mainly composed of the works of male musicians.
  
• Haje Bakoyan and Ovsanna Harutyunyan – Within the framework of this project, the colleagues intended to show the “other side” of life to the Yezidi women of the Nor Kyank community and the surrounding area. Questions about being able to do a favorite job were discussed, that being “40-years-old” is not a verdict, but just a number. During the meetings with the psychologist, several important issues were addressed: the importance of knowing and valuing oneself, the freedom to express one’s opinions and thoughts, the importance of having a job and earning money, not looking at “40-years-old” as a judgment. A meeting was also be organized with the leaders of the abovementioned region in order to make the voice of women more audible.
• Satik Badeyan – The project was implemented in the Sevan community of Gegharkunik region. In the first phase of the project, seminar-discussions on menopause were held among a total of 50 women aged 40-65, with the involvement of a professional, with the opportunity for questions and answers. Satik and her associates have had such a successful experience among younger women, introducing them to issues related to their bodies and reproductive health. The women who participated in the meetings will spread the knowledge and information they received among their peers. If the group wants, they will also be involved in social entrepreneurship training.
  
• “Aware Women, Powerful Community” initiative group – The project involves the organization of thematic meetings and events among 15 women aged 40-55 of the Charentsavan community to raise awareness, during which, through special art-psychological therapies, women were able to find their own self, discover hidden emotions, opportunities, realize the correct perceptions of body and age and with their help to emphasize their role in solving community problems.
  
• Support for Women and Children – The organization is engaged in the empowerment of women. Various programs aimed at supporting women and children are implemented. The organization cooperated with the foundation within the framework of the “40 + Women” program. The goal of the project was to unite women over 40, motivate them, create a safe space where they will talk about their needs, emotions and many other issues that concern them.
• “Hripsimyants Shunch” NGO – Within the framework of the grant, women over 40 in the Stepanavan region were included, who have tangible and deep-rooted issues such as low self-esteem, negative perceptions of body and age, passive lifestyle, absence of physical and emotional space, etc. The program included both meeting-discussions and external events in which participating women were involved.

Technical support to feminist initatives

• Anahit Ghazaryan – “Technical Support for the movie production on Mariam Shahinyan” – In 2022 Anahit finished filming a unique movie about famous Mariam Shahinyan who opened the first photography house in Turkey “Foto Galatasaray”. Anahit will acquier more technical equipment for editing and finishing the movie for high-profile international festivals. 
• Nara Stepanyan – Nara is from our teenager’s group. She makes handcrafted articles. Nara built a store in Aghavnavank, Tavush, to encourage tourism also in bad weather conditions. The program is aimed at increasing the visibility of her brand “Shaln.”
  
• “Women’s Information-Analytical Network” NGO (WomenNet NGO) – Within the framework of the grant, the WomenNet.am website will be reconstructed and modernized, ensuring its uninterrupted operation and security. The goal is to preserve the archive of the site, which is a valuable resource from the point of view of the protection of women’s rights in Armenia.

• ARE fund/ Marine Karoyan – Through the grant, Marine hosted 5-6 women in the HayArt cultural center, who at the moment have reached high positions in the field of culture: heads of museums, cultural centers, cultural media, curators, journalists. Those women are either from the capital Yerevan or from other regions of Armenia or from the diaspora. These women would tell their success stories, stories of hard work, organization, permanent self-education and, of course, the right use of talent. These stories were recorded on video: as a result, a short film will be made which will not only be very interesting and educational, but will once again show the character of the modern Armenian educated woman, the necessity of her presence in public life.
• Kanani NGO – “Improving the psycho-emotional state of women before childbirth and postpartum”: The aim of the project was to increase the level of awareness of women and their family members about the prenatal and postnatal problems, providing psychological support.
• Coalition to Stop Violence Against Women – The coalition is an advocacy organization whose goal is to overcome the problem of gender violence in RA by improving the existing legislation and amending it. The coalition now consists of 10 member organizations, whose representatives are board members.The Coalition implements the program “Victims of gender-based violence and human rights defenders for justice” with the support of WFA. The goal of the project is to increase the level of awareness among the public about gender violence and to achieve the establishment of a dialogue about legislative gaps in state structures.
• CSN Lab – ”Rec.Construction” project goal is to help make the experience of women forcibly displaced as a result of wars and conflicts visible, to promote the formation of discourse on these kinds of issues, as well as to raise the level of public awareness about the impact of these events on women’s lives. One of the important goals is to create an extensive publicly accessible podcast, which will be a permanent and valuable source of information about the experience of forcibly displaced women as a result of the conflicts and wars that took place in the region in the last decade.
• EcoYouth NGO – The aim of the project“Women and the war: Mastering safety rules in war situations and not only” is to contribute to increasing the level of women’s training in a number of communities of Syunik region, in order to quickly orientate themselves in war situations and master the actions considered to be primary, as well as to contribute to the mastery of personal defense methods among women of the Khot settlement of Tatev community, in order to defend themselves in cases of violence.
• Hayarpi Papikyan – Hayarpi is a researcher that got the support to do her research on Shushanik Kurghinyan. The latter is a female poet of the 19th century, a revolutionary figure that was always preoccupied with social issues. The research is the study of Kurghinyan’s letters. As a result, a bilingual book, in English and Armenian, will be published. Hayarpi also presented the research during the Third International Congress of Gender Institute in France.