Our work began in the Tavush region of Armenia, where hundreds of displaced people from Artsakh found temporary housing during and after the 44-day war. Since then, Teach For Hope has expanded to include other regions of Armenia: Armavir, Ararat, Gegharkunik, Kotayk, Lori, and Syunik. Together, our team of Emergency Education Managers, Assistants, and Specialists have provided hundreds of children with extracurricular activities, mental health services, and lessons in Change-Based Learning, art, history, math, and language. Currently, over 60 professionals and volunteers have joined our emergency education efforts, including 12 teachers from Artsakh. Through the Teach For Hope efforts, our team has reached over 1,000 displaced students from Artsakh.
EMERGENCY EDUCATION MANAGERS
SONA GEVORGYAN
(Emergency Education Manager, Syunik Region)
Sona is an Alumni-Ambassador of Teach For Armenia who taught in Artsakh between 2018-2020 through our leadership development program. Prior to joining the program, she was actively involved in humanitarian work, serving as a volunteer and professional team member in diverse activities. For her, education is the cornerstone of human development and she considers life-long learning a way to succeed.
She is passionate about reading, enjoys being outdoors as well as loves the environments where there is unbiased dialogue and non-judgmental interpersonal communication between people.
SOSE GHAZARYAN
(Emergency Education Manager, Lori/Armavir Regions)
Sose studied Theology at Yerevan State University. Since her years as a student, she has been actively involved in public, educational, and cultural initiatives and managed to arrange many activities, one of them being the seven-day student camp in Shoushi and Hadrut, Artsakh.
In 2017, she joined Teach For Armenia as a Teacher-Leader and moved to Lori region to deliver classes of History and Social Science to local students for two years and became an Alumni-Ambassador of Educational Equity in 2019.
She is keen on arts, culture, and extreme sports, loves nature and animals. Along with her family, Sose has been involved in animal welfare for the last five years, and founded a pet hotel for dogs.
ARMINE GEVORGYAN
(Emergency Education Manager, Kotayk Region)
Armine is the Head of the Department of Foreign Languages at the Anania Shirakatsy Lyceum, where she has been working as a teacher of French for years. She is also a Teach For Armenia Alumni-Ambassador who served as a Teacher-Leader for two years in the city of Ejmiatsin.
She always felt herself as an active member in the sphere of education and will do her best to ensure a better life for our kids. She is an enthusiastic person whose teaching philosophy is to grow professionally, work collaboratively, and prepare students for a dynamic and interconnected future.
ASTGHIK MNATSAKANYAN
(Emergency Education Manager, Ararat Region)
As a member of the inaugural cohort of Teach For Armenia’s Leadership Development Program, Astghik taught in Getashen school in the Armavir Region. She worked both as a special education teacher as well as delivered English classes. Through the two-year experience, she provided professional support to the students with special educational needs, wrote grants proposals, and implemented community engagement activities.
After the fellowship she served as a Project Manager for Erasmus Plus, a program sponsored by the European Union which focuses on education, training, youth, and sport. Also, she possesses a Master’s, specializing in teaching Armeinan as a foreign language.
Currently, she works at the Anania Shirakatsy Lyceum as the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program CAS Coordinator.
ESTER ISAHAKYAN
(Emergency Education Manager, Tavush Region)
Ester studied Geography at Yerevan State University. Before joining Teach For Armenia as a Teacher-Leader, she was teaching Geography and Social Sciences at a Yerevan-based school. Simultaneously, she participated in many training sessions, focusing on the improvement of competencies and bringing new skills for her professional development. During this period of time, she completed a course in Data Management.
Through Teach For Armenia’s Leadership Development Program, she moved to Tavush region as a Teacher-Leader and taught Geography in Vazashen village.
She is passionate about handicraft and fashion design is one of her interests.
Nowadays, she is based in Tavush region. Recently, she was appointed by the Governor of Tavush to support the region’s Innovative and Experimental Projects within the Department of Education.
OLYA HOVHANNISYAN
(Emergency Education Manager, Gegharkunik Region)
Olya is a pedagogue-sociologist. Since her university years, she has been involved in professional and public initiatives. She worked with families of vulnerable groups and special education students. Olya's goal is clear: to create equal opportunities for socialization and education.
She participated in the KAZA Swiss Humanitarian Foundation's “Family Friend" integration volunteer program to provide guidance and assistance to Syrian-Armenian refugee families.
In 2016, she taught at Tsaghkalanj Secondary School in Armavir Region as a special pedagogue under Teach For Armenia’s two-year Leadership Development Program. In 2018, she received the title of "Alumni-Ambassador for Education Equity".
Following the two-year leadership program, Olya founded the "INDIGO Mental Club," a school for mental arithmetic. She did this by taking advantage of the role modern educational methods play in the process of comprehensive development in children. She is the director of the representative office in Armenia.