About the project

Abandoned and ruined churches, monasteries, dwelling caves from the Middle Ages, graveyards or prehistoric cult sites…Throughout remote areas in the South Caucasus one can find a large number of neglected cultural assets, that are in deep need of care and attention. Under the slogan “Crossing borders to save, preserve and care” this issue is currently addressed by the SOS Culture project which was launched in January 2012 by the Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets (FPWC). 

With an overall duration of 24 months, the SOS Culture project is funded by the European Union within the framework of the Eastern Partnership Culture Program and is implemented by FPWC in cooperation with the dvv international – Georgia Country office and Research on Armenian Architecture Foundation. The overall EU contribution to SOS Culture project is 492,754 Euro.

The overall objective of the project is to register and preserve endangered cultural assets in the remote border regions of Armenia and Georgia with the involvement of local citizenry. Involvement of local communities will in its turn promote economic, social and cultural development in the areas, covered by the project. 

The approach of the SOS Culture project is rooted in the idea that well preserved and explored historic sites have a tremendous positive influence on the creation of an environment, which nurtures sustainable economic, social and human development in remote and impoverished regions, making those regions attractive for tourists. 

SOS Culture relies on the active involvement of youths (age 14 -23) from different national and ethnic origins living in the target areas of Armenia and Georgia. The young people participate in protection and research activities, implemented in the vicinity of their villages. These activities include cultural assets of different origins and religions, as well as pre-historic sites and medieval architectural monuments. By doing this, the project underlines that “Cultural assets belong to everybody”: regardless of nationality, religious faith or language, people living nearby a monument should care and preserve. This instils a new approach and knowledge about local cultural assets among the members of the youth clubs, established by FPWC and its Georgian project partner dvv international. Participating in the project activities, the members of the youth clubs support the cultural and touristic development of their regions. 

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Latest News

Training for trainers on “Documentary films as an interactive teaching method”

On August 27th the trainers and coordinators of the SOS Culture project, which is implemented by the Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets (FPWC), participated in a one day training organized by the “People in Need” Czech NGO. The topic of which was the “Documentary films as an interactive teaching method”. The training was very interesting and rich. It was led by an experienced trainer of National Institute of Education of Ministry of Education and Science of the Repub[more]


The Honey and Berry Festival in Shamshadin took place

The expected and most delicious festival became reality for all of us. On August 18th the children of the SOS Culture project also had an opportunity to participate in the honey and berry annual festival which takes place in Berd town of Tavush region. The children already knew they would have their own tent and had prepared with strong responsibility, in order to make the SOS Culture project tent the best in Berd on that day. The SOS Culture participants had brought handcrafts with them- embroi[more]


The role of women in today's society

No matter how nowadays actual and discussed topic is “The role of women in society”, it was still quite new for our SOS Culture youth club members. The children watched films with great interest, where some statistics on the women living in Armenia and around the world were shown. Most of these results shocked the children and were a subject of an active discussion. Basically the training was led by presentation of the facts, expression of opinions and heated discussions. There were not only d[more]


Team Building Training

The cooperation between the Armenian Progressive Youth (APY) NGO and the SOS Culture project implemented by the Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets (FPWC) was successfully launched. The representatives of the Armenian Progressive Youth NGO had trainings with the children of the SOS Culture youth clubs. The Armenian Progressive Youth NGO was founded in November 2009. The main goals of the NGO are to provide information about international seminars, conferences, excha[more]


The SOS Culture Youth Club Members in the Colorful World of Batik Art

Another beautiful and interesting training got underway for the SOS Culture youth club members. This time we were getting to know the batik art and entered into it's beautiful and colorful world. Batik is the handmade painting on silk and other textile materials. Its homeland is Java Island in Indonesia where the handmade painted dresses are very popular. The locals used traditional Indonesian batik as amulet. This antique and amazing art branch is has its deserving place among other forms o[more]


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