Mariam Martirosyan

2023 IVLP Impact Award Project: Social Change Camp for Armenian Civics TeachersArmenia

Mariam Martirosyan has over 20 years of work experience in the NGO sector, with focus in organizational and project management. She has served as Project Harmony’s Armenia Country Director for the past 14 years. Mariam has led large-scale educational, community development, legal-judicial and youth leadership programs in Armenia with funding from the U.S. and Armenian Governments, UN and other donors.

In addition to her formal work, she is a very active citizen and is intensively involved in a number of initiatives contributing to public good. She currently serves on the boards of the Health Fund for Children of Armenia and the Republic of Armenia Child Protection Network. She is a member of the Juvenile Justice Council of the Republic of Armenia and Armenian National Selection Committee for the United World Colleges. She has been a member of the admission committee for the Police Academy during the pilot of the new computer-based admissions system. Plus, she has served in the public board which was adjacent to the country’s Human Rights Defender within the UN Optional Protocol of Convention against Torture and has monitored the state of human rights in special institutions of Armenia.

Mariam holds a master’s degree in teaching English as a Foreign Language from Vanadzor State Teacher Training Institute, Armenia, and a master’s degree in “Gender and Culture” from Central European University, Hungary. In 1998, she received the “Best Secondary School Teacher of English in Armenia” award. She is an alumna of the Manoukyan Public Service 2009 Fellowship and has participated in the “Leadership for the 21st Century: Chaos, Conflict and Courage” of Harvard, JF. Kennedy School of Government. She is also an alumna of Caucasus Research Resource Centers – Armenia 2007 Fellowship funded via the Carnegie Research Fellowship Program. 

2023 IVLP Impact Award Project: Social Change Camp for Armenian Civics Teachers

The Social Change Camp for Armenian Civics Teachers project trained 30 civics teachers across Armenia. It introduced the positive youth development framework and project-based learning to inspire action for positive change in their schools and communities. The trained teachers organized local workshops to transfer their learning experience and impact another cohort of 300 counterpart educators and school administrators to increase youth sense of agency and self-efficacy, to promote youth leadership and civic activism and promote effective intergenerational partnership for Armenia's brighter future. The success of the project is estimated to impact about 4,500 students with the trained teachers' new methodologies of civic instruction and community engagement.

"This part of the training is specifically important and invites us to think deeply on how much agency we have as teachers and how we can influence our students." – Project Participant

2022 IVLP Impact Award Project: Advancing Restorative Juvenile Justice Policy and Practices in Armenia

The goal of the project was to introduce community-based juvenile restorative justice practices applied in the USA, namely the Gang Reduction and Youth Development (GRYD) Office of the LA Mayor’s Office, to the Armenian Juvenile Police, the Armenian Probation Service, and the “Center for Legal Education and Restorative Programs” State Non-Revenue Organization to help localize the inventory of the GRYD’s effective practices and tools, improve the juvenile justice case management in Armenia, enriching it with evidence-based and professional experiences. The project worked with the abovementioned key bodies in Armenia responsible for the formation of policy on restorative juvenile justice and its application on the ground. The institutions learned from their experience of integrated management of cases of juveniles in conflict with law and then worked on the adaptation and adoption of the GRYD best practices.

"We strongly appreciate the literature provided by Mariam Martirosyan and her team because they provide evidence-based methodology for community-based interventions supporting Armenian specialists working with children in conflict with law." - Project Partner

IVLP Exchange Experience

Mariam was a participant in the IVLP Project A Global Moment in Time: Peace and Justice in 2021 and 2022, organized by the U.S. Department of State and the Institute of International Education.

Mariam's exchange experience led her to develop her IVLP Impact Award Project: "My discussions with the IVLP guest speakers and fellow participants about the future of our world prompted that we should jointly concentrate our efforts to producing healthy, engaged and responsible citizens all over the world, mobilizing our efforts for delivering proper Civic instruction to our youth at their earliest age."

U.S. Communities Visited in 2022

Washington, DC; Miami, FL; Pittsburgh, PA

U.S. Communities Visited Virtually in 2021

Los Angeles, CA; San Diego, CA; Washington, DC; Atlanta, GA; Louisville, KY; Boston, MA; Detroit, MI; Minneapolis, MN; New York City, NY; Tulsa, OK; Philadelphia, PA

"My IVLP Impact Award project works with Armenian civic teachers and tries to empower them to be more productive educators and role model citizens for their students. " - Mariam Martirosyan

Country: Armenia

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