Lilit Simonyan (2010 - 2011)
Armenia
Lilit’s mission in life is to connect people to create positive change. At 21, she founded a non-profit youth organization that aims to contribute to the development of her country by empowering its youth. Today, she is the initiator and manager of over sixty youth-focused projects and gives training seminars to youth in Armenia and all over Europe.
Her entry to the nonprofit world was not accidental, but the conscious choice of a teenager who saw poverty and discouragement, lack of motivation and unused energy of youth, big potential and challenges in a developing country, and believed that strong will, collaboration and hard work can change everything. So she connected youngsters in her region and founded the Stepanavan Youth Center, a non-profit youth organization, with the aim to contribute to the development of her country.
Ever since, Lilit has continued to pursue her goals with more energy, larger scope, better strategy, and more effectiveness. Starting from local issues she moved to international collaboration and actions to bring better understanding and partnerships among people, particularly youth from diverse backgrounds, and to promote peace building and a better world for everyone.
Lilit is the initiator and manager of over sixty local, national and international youth projects. Among them are projects directed to empowerment of girls in regions of Armenia (GLOW Girls leadership and empowerment project); European youth projects on intercultural learning, peace building and conflict resolution; environmental education and gender equality. She has worked with a number of international organizations and donors such as U.S. Embassy in Armenia, DAI inc., U.S. Peace Corps in Armenia, OSCE, UNDP, and European Commission.
Her contributions in the non-profit and youth sectors of Armenia have been recognized by the Prime Minister of Armenia (2004); by the International Youth Foundation through YouthActionNet young leaders’ award in 2004; by IREX through Careers for Alumni in Public Sector (2008 and 2010); and by the Aspen Institute Romania Young Leaders program (2010).
Lilit has used all of the resources available to her to improve her competences in youth work and management of nonprofits. In addition to her Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Kansas, funded through the U.S. Department of State Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship, she took a graduate course in Strategic Management at the Maastricht School of Management as a recipient of the Netherlands Fellowship Program. She participates in the TALE (Trainers Active Learning in Europe) long-term training of trainers of Youth Partnership of the Council of Europe and the European Commission. Her experiences in the field also link to internships at the Global Fund for Women (USA), United Way (USA), InterEchange (France) and Akzente International (Austria).
Trying to balance practical work and experience/knowledge sharing, Lilit has started working at the American University of Armenia, transferring her knowledge to students and professionals in Armenia and organizing training and seminars for youth in Armenia and Europe. She is a member of the pool of trainers of the European Youth Forum, and the Armenian team of EVS (European Voluntary Service), trainers of SALTO EECA (Support, Advanced Learning and Training Opportunities European Commission, Eastern Europe and Caucasus , and has organized training and consultations for SALTO EECA; Youth for Exchange and Understanding; Virage Logic; Roche Armenia; IntraHealth; Jinishyan Memorial Foundation; and the Civic Development and Partnership Foundation of Armenia (CDPF).
She enjoys simple things in life and truly believes that it is possible to reach anything in life with strong motivation, purposefulness and optimism. During her time as a Sauvé Scholar, Lilit aims to further develop her skills in training and consulting, as well as in designing, implementing, and evaluating programs. She will work directly with youth-centered organizations in Canada, and learn more about bridging the gap between formal and non-formal (experiential) educational methods. She is keen to develop partnerships between Armenian, European, and Canadian organizations.
Mother Tongue
Armenian, English
Country of origin
Armenia
Country of Residence
Armenia
