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

Europe Day Celebration

On 9 May is the official Europe Day and different European Institutions throughout the month of May celebrate Europe Day worldwide. EU Delegation to Armenia is organizing different events in Armenia on the theme of Europe in the World. The main event will be the big information fair on European culture and EU-Armenia cooperation on May 25th in the Northern Avenue. In addition many concerts, traditional dance workshops, contests and games will be organized in the centre of the town. The aim of [more]


Earth Day

On May 4th Alaverdi SOS Culture Youth club initiated and organized a tree planting. This wonderful event was proposed by the youth club members as their own project after the trainings on project writing provided by “Civic Participation” Youth NGO and Vandazor Youth Bank. They organized the whole process –finding necessary equipment’s, trees, place. The weather and the mood of participants were complementing each other being sunny, active and motivated. The event organized by young people w[more]


SOS Culture Films are in the making

After few weeks of hard work the SOS Culture Youth Clubs are approaching the stage of making their own short films. The young club members spent much time and effort to have the final topics for their films and draft scenarios that are going to be completed very soon. The trainers on film-making and journalism will guide them during the film-making process. The topics of the future films are very interesting, focusing on the diverse cultural and natural heritage of Armenia. The Akhtala SOS Cul[more]


SOS Culture local coordinators participated in the environmental education training course

From March 18th until the 22nd SOS Culture project coordinators from Berdavan, Varagavan, Akhtala and Alaverdi participated in the environmental education training of teachers in Vanadzor, Lori region. The training course was organized by the Armenian Tree Project Charitable Foundation in corporation with Ministry of Education RA, National Institute of Education, the International Committee for the Development of People (CISP) and Italian Development Cooperation. Practical activities were used d[more]


Voluntarism by “Civic Participation” Youth NGO’s

On 2nd, 4th, 13th and 14th of March “Civic Participation” Youth NGO’s members provided training courses about civic participation through voluntarism for SOS Culture Youth clubs in Varagavan, Berdavan, Alaverdi and Akhtala. The aim of the course was to give an overview on a topic such as culture of voluntarism, show how you can bring a change to your community and society by volunteering, and how you can benefit from this, too. Students were introduced to the types of voluntarism, basic prin[more]