We have been a lucky nation to experience one of the most beautiful transitions in our history – The Velvet revolution in Armenia. Our nation today celebrates the renaissance of democracy in our society.
But how to make this change sustainable, so that our citizens could feel the impact of it in their everyday life? How to integrate the best practices of democracy from leading and developed countries into our institutional leadership practices and decision-making processes? How to attract talented young professionals from all innovative fields into public administration and how to bring women into politics and leadership positions?
Join us for the day as we will uncover answers to some of these questions at TEDxYerevanSalon event. Our speakers, who represent our innovative and creative young generation, will share their bold and radically honest perspectives on changes and progress.
Mark your calendars for February 1, 2019 to attend TEDxYerevanSalon, which will take place at AGBU Armenia office.
Speakers
Anna Nersesyants
Upon graduation from the Department of Law of Yerevan State University, Anna joined the UNDP Armenia team for four years, working in the field of vocational education. Her further academic interest took her to the American University of Beirut, where she pursued her MA in Public Administration. After completion of the course, Anna was seconded by the Government of Armenia to the OSCE mission in the Kyrgyz Republic, Bishkek, where she worked as the Senior Executive Officer for several years, becoming increasingly interested in the gender- related issues, with the specific focus on women empowerment and political participation. As the gender focal point of the mission, Anna participated in conferences, meetings and trainings on various issues related to gender in the OSCE area and the Central Asian region. Recently, Anna was involved in the YES Armenia Programme, implemented jointly by the European Union Delegation to Armenia and the RA Government, where she supported the baseline measurement of the public administration system of Armenia. Her current professional and academic interests lie at the intersection of public administration and gender with the emphasis on women’s political activism and adequate participation in the decision-making at all levels.
Biayna Amirjanyan
Biayna has graduated from Yerevan State University with a MA degree in International Relations and Shirak State University with a MA degree in Geography and its Teaching Methods/Methodology. She started her career in education with Teach for Armenia programme as a remote rural school teacher, living and teaching Geography and Social sciences to 5th to 12th graders in Katnarat village within a two-year program. After finishing her two-year programme she worked at High School No. 139 after Karen Demirchyan as a School Coordinator and Geography teacher and had an opportunity to have a holistic understanding of the education system in Armenia, and realize the specific needs of schools both in the regions of Armenia and Yerevan.
In November 2017 she has been chosen as a Young Expert at “YES Armenia” (Young Experts Scheme) programme on designing a New System of Teachers’ Qualifications, Grading and Attestation in Armenia. The project aimed at developing and introducing a new policy that will change the system of teacher’s qualifications and relevant grading. The policy worked with Government priority projects and supported the MoES and all the stakeholders to combine their efforts aimed at development of new teaching culture in Armenia.
In November 2018 Biayna traveled to the USA to participate in International Visitors Leadership Program on Accountability and Reforms in Education initiated by the US Department of State. Since 2018 Biayna is an International Exchange Alumni (IVLP), since 2017 is a Teach for Armenia programme Alumni.
Since 2001 Biayna is a Master of Sports of Republic of Armenia.
Lusine Sargsyan
Lusine Sargsyan was one of the participants of EU-funded “YES Armenia” program working with the Statistical Committee of the RA in the scope of the project “Improvement of Tourism Statistics Leading to Stronger Evidence-Based Policy in Tourism”. Currently, Lusine is supporting the Ministry of Economic Development and Investments in designing “SME Development Strategy 2019-2023” Lusine previously also worked in private sector facilitating establishment of data-driven decision-making processes. Besides, she has contributed to drafting analytical pieces while working at the CRRC Armenia presenting socio-economic problems supported with data. Lusine has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Yerevan State University and Master’s degree in industrial Engineering and Systems Management from the American University of Armenia and now works there as a Teaching Associate for Data Mining course. Lusine believes in Armenia’s development through evidence-based policy making as it is the only way to keep the government accountable, transparent and efficient.
Meline Harutyunyan
Meline was born in Gyumri but moved to Belgium at the age of three where she got her Master’s degree from the Catholic University of Leuven in Comparative and International Politics. During her studies, she focused on European Neighborhood policy and wrote her thesis on the Development of Armenian Civil Society and the Role of NGOs. During her time as a Birthright Armenia volunteer in 2016, she worked as a research intern at the International Center for Human Development and Article 3 Club NGO where she helped set up a fundraising for kids affected by the 2016 Artik floods. In October 2017, Meline repatriated to Armenia to work in the public sector as an expert for the YES Armenia Programme. She worked on a manual to increase the performance of higher education institutions and on the development of a National Strategy for Higher Education in Armenia in cooperation with the RA Ministry of Education and Science.