On June 13–14, the DeaLoG project team carried out a two-day working visit to the Syunik and Vayots Dzor regions, holding meetings with representatives of the Goris and Yeghegis communities.
The DeaLoG project team continues its active cooperation with communities in various regions of Armenia. At the heart of this collaboration are the communities participating in the “School–Community” initiative. During the visits, the team explores existing models of school–community cooperation, potential paths for its further development, and the importance of such partnerships within the broader process of education decentralisation.These visits include meetings with representatives responsible for education and local governance.
First stop: Goris
In Goris, the team met with the Deputy Head of the Community, Ms Yolyan, as well as the principals of two schools involved in the “School–Community” initiative — Ms Aleksanyan and Mr Avanesyan. The discussion centred on the current challenges and prospects of education decentralisation, with particular emphasis on how decentralisation can contribute to the sustainable development of both communities and schools, foster effective collaboration, and build mutual trust.
In the second part of the meeting, the team presented a specially developed descriptive questionnaire, Maturity Model, designed to assess the depth of school–community cooperation and identify practical steps to enhance it.
Second stop: Yeghegis
On the second day, the team travelled to Yeghegis, where they held practical discussions with representatives of the local community and school. The participants explored potential forms and directions for future cooperation between the school and the community and outlined the next steps.
The productive and mutually beneficial exchange continued in an informal setting at the home of the administrative head of Yeghegis, where the team shared details of the functional analysis being conducted within the decentralisation framework and presented the programme’s expectations to the school principal and the community leader.