Civilitas Foundation opens in Yerevan

by Tatul Hakobyan

Published: Saturday October 04, 2008

Vartan Oskanian. Photolure

Yerevan - In one of the newly constructed buildings on Northern Avenue, the opening of the Civilitas Foundation took place on October 1. The founder of Civilitas is former Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian and its director is Salpi H. Ghazarian. In a press conference on the day of the opening, Mr. Oskanian said that the Latin ­civilitas was not a name chosen arbitrarily. It has many meanings - citizen, civilization, civil society. "In this name we see the responsibility of citizens to society. This will be our foundation's principal slogan," Mr. Oskanian told reporters.

Civilitas, which is funded by individuals and organizations, will work in two principal directions through its Council on Foreign Relations and the Democracy and Development Initiative.

The Council on Foreign Relations will advocate peace and stability in the Caucasus through multifaceted dialogue and open discourse. It will offer a forum through which to inform Armenia's opinion and policy making process as well as the international academic, political, and media communities about Armenia's foreign policy choices, options, and actions, in the context of Armenia's national security challenges. Through public and private discussions as well as research and publications, the council will promote the Armenian perspective internationally and domestically. 

The Democracy and Development Initiative will work in four main directions: education, media, rural development and environmental awareness.

Civilitas' Scholarship Program will enable access to university education in Armenia and abroad for gifted and determined young people in order to increase the knowledge base, introduce national and civic understanding, enhance strategic thinking and managerial skills, and nurture professionals for a knowledge-based economy. Selection will be need-based, and will prefer those unlikely to find alternative sources of support, as well as those wishing to study specific, strategically targeted subjects.

The Civilitas Media Program will produce content for newspapers and television, in Armenian and English, for Armenia and the diaspora to begin to eliminate a social, political, economic and cultural information gap.

The Civilitas Foundation will initiate, execute, and back projects that facilitate and support sustainable, comprehensive and even development in Armenia's villages, enabling villagers to live a self-­reliant, dignified life in Armenia's border areas.

The Civilitas Foundation will use its own high-profile to work with local and international organizations to initiate new projects and back existing ones which educate the public and inform them on how to reduce impact on the environment and protect Armenia's unique flora and fauna. The foundation will also focus on environmental programs as a means to foster regional cooperation.

The honorary board of the Civilitas Foundation includes: Vartan Oskanian, former Georgian Parliament speaker Nino Gurjanadze, former prime minister of Armenia Armen Darbinyan, former Canadian foreign minister Lloyd N. Axworthy, Istanbul's Bilgi University lecturer Murat Belge, Israel's former Minister of Education Yossi Sarid, Ambassadors Stephen W. Bosworth, Peter R. Rosenblatt, and Jivan Tabibian, and others.?