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Children of Armenia Fund (COAF) and Ameriabank present their joint program “Harvesting Nature’s Bounty”, to be implemented as part of COAF’s Beekeeping to Empower Economic System (BEES) project.

The mission of the program is to promote beekeeping in Lori region of Armenia, improve the practical skills of beekeepers, and enhance the quality of the beekeeping value chain. Complete with educational, economic and social components, the program is designed to engage 50 beneficiaries. Along with attending innovative training courses, the beneficiaries will be provided with beehives and bee colonies to start their own business in future. One of the key goals of the project is to include among the beneficiaries also those COAF SMART Center students, who have been forcibly displaced from Artsakh, are currently enrolled in the  SMART Center’s agrotech program and have shown interest in and possess potential in beekeeping as a field.

“Ameriabank highly values entrepreneurship as an important driver of economic empowerment of our country, especially regions outside the capital city. In this respect we especially highlight resource-efficient and environmentally sustainable spheres. In supporting beekeeping in rural communities, we set it as our aim, along with development of regional entrepreneurship, to improve the quality of life of people in these communities by empowering them with the opportunity to establish sustainable production and pursue effective long-term occupation”, - emphasizing the importance of supporting such projects, says Rebecca Hakobyan, Chief Marketing and Communication Officer at Ameriabank.

Referring to the long-standing fruitful cooperation between COAF and Ameriabank, Haig Boyadjian, Vice President of Development at COAF, says: “Ameriabank is a trusted partner of COAF, supporting us in various initiatives. This cooperation is important as part of the beekeeping development project, as a significant booster of the potential of Lori region. It is common knowledge that beekeeping is a vital sector, by developing which we can contribute not only to preservation of local biodiversity, but also to increased employment and steady earnings in rural communities”.

COAF is no novice to beekeeping. Back in 2022, the fund successfully launched its Beekeeping to Empower Economic System (BEES) project, as part of which the Beekeeping Center was established under Lori’s SMART Center, complete with all the necessary equipment and facilities to enable beekeepers to produce and market quality products.