Due to the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic and current public safety measures, the AMAA Armenia provided remote services to nearly 250 children who regularly attend the AMAA Armenia’s 12 Day and Tutorial Centers. While children were unable to physically attend AMAA’s “Shogh” Day Centers during quarantine, challenges were created but children were still impacted in a positive way.

Remote services mainly included:

• Creation of an online community of beneficiaries and AMAA specialists serving as a hot line, consulting service, rapport development, a platform for gaining new skills, and solving problems in an urgent manner
• Teaching different subjects to help complete school assignments
• Social group and individual work to help ensure a healthy and peaceful atmosphere among family members at home
• Psychological support to alleviate fear, apathy, despair and other problems of children and parents caused by the pandemic quarantine
• Raising awareness and providing necessary information on maintaining and following hygiene
• Life skills courses on time management and overcoming failures and mistakes using their internal and external resources effectively
• Therapeutic crafts including making face masks
• Involving parents in various creative games to strengthen the parent-child emotional and healthy connection
• Professional training for staff to work more targeted with families
• Individual work on personal complex cases
• Material support for beneficiaries who have lost their jobs
• Food packages to ensure nutrition is met

Challenges:

• Lack of internet connection for many families
• Lack of motivation to participate in other online meetings as a result of overloading children with school lessons
• Cases of domestic violence preventing participation

Positive impact:

• Proper implementation of school assignments in the face of current difficulties

• Raising awareness of children and families on the created situation
• Strengthening healthy parent-child relationships and overcoming family conflicts
• Ensuring the usefulness of children’s daily lives
• Solving urgent problems through financial support
• Stabilizing the emotional state of children and parents and acquiring new life skills
• Developing employee skills to work in new conditions

To help continue to impact children and their parents in a positive way, please consider donating to AMAA’s “Shogh” Day Centers (Armenia & Artsakh).