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

SOS Culture also participated in the Award Ceremony

On March 11th Alaverdi and Akhtala SOS Culture youth club members participated in the Award Ceremony of the Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Asset, where the results of the 5th Pan-Armenian Painting Contest and Animal Carnival were announced.   For SOS Culture youth club members it was the very first time, when they participated in this kind of events such as the 5th Pan-Armenian Painting Contest and Animal Carnival. For youth from the border regions these colourful[more]


SOS Culture in the New Community Centre

On February 22nd a small town in the Lori region Akhtala celebrated the opening of the new Community Center. Akhtala is one of those communities that are actively involved in the local development and the Community Center will be a space where projects will have their continuation and many new ones are waiting for their implementation. The event started with the official ceremony for putting of the first stone of the construction of new Medical Center in Akhtala. After[more]


We have “crossed the borders to save, preserve and care”.

In the frame of the Results Oriented Monitoring the SOS Culture project team visited the Georgian SOS Culture Youth Clubs. The SOS Culture project is funded by the European Union within the framework of the Eastern Partnership Culture Program and is implemented by Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets (FPWC) in cooperation with the dvv international – Georgia Country office and Research on Armenian Architecture Foundation.  The monitoring visit was a gre[more]


My Impressions: Bolnisi

In the morning we arrived in Bolnisi Youth Club which is situated in a nice house with a small garden in the Bolnisi Intercultural Centre. First we met the Youth Club coordinator/leader Irma Zurabashvilli. We also had an opportunity to meet the teachers who participated in the ToT (Training of Trainers): we met two teachers of Georgian Language in the Azerbaijani school Ia Robakidze and Lali Dalakishvilli and a teacher of history in the Armenian school Karine Alikhanjan. The teachers informed [more]


My Impressions: Dmanisi

The first training in the new room of the Dmanisi SOS Culture Youth Club was organised on Saturday, the February 16th. Previously they had their trainings in the building of the municipality. Now they have rented a new 45m2 room. This first training was conducted by two trainers Liana Margania and Tea Shonia who were representing the Alternative Young Generation NGO.  It was their second training on leadership and lasted 5 hours. They played games and discussed the different ruling systems[more]