Summer Camps Develop a New Generation of Women Leaders in Armenia

The teenage years are rocky for most people, male or female, with self-esteem decreasing for both sexes after elementary school. However, the drop is more dramatic for girls, and in a male-dominated society, a lack of strong female role models and opportunities for women can exacerbate the problem. That’s where Camp Girls Leading Our World (GLOW) comes in, says Lilit Simonyan, a 2005 Muskie alumna who has conducted annual summer leadership workshops for young women through her NGO, the Stepanavan Youth Center.

Camp GLOW provides girls with a well-rounded view of different women’s roles in society, Simonyan says. “The role of women in Armenia, especially in rural areas, remains a traditional one,” she explained, citing a culturally induced lack of support for strong, enterprising women. “Women play a minor role in national and local government decision-making and often face obstacles when attempting to achieve managerial positions in the private sphere.” Just 4% of Armenia’s parliament seats are held by women.

The camps connect participants, largely from small towns and villages, with successful Armenian women in different professional fields to learn about leadership and career planning. According to Simonyan, they also provide a safe space for girls to discuss gender issues, domestic violence, human trafficking, and sexual health. After the workshops, alumnae are more active in their communities, do better in school, and strive for more educational and career opportunities. Several have successfully won scholarships to study abroad or enrolled in top Armenian universities.

"The six days of the summer school completely changed my life,” shared Seda Vardazaryan, 16, who is from a village in a southern region near the border with Iran. “I became a different person, as if I found myself and finally realized what I want to do and be in life. I was a very reserved person before taking part in GLOW. The camp allowed me to become a full member of society. Every evening, putting my head on the pillow, I was satisfied to have learned something new, having another dark place lightened up, and was full of excitement for the next day to learn new things.”

Originally developed in 1995 by US Peace Corps volunteers and their local counterparts in Romania, GLOW leadership camps have since been held in more than 20 countries. Heather Conjura, a Peace Corps volunteer, learned about previous camps organized in Armenia and approached the Stepanavan Youth Center in 2007 to implement the GLOW model locally. The inaugural Stepanavan camp was held in June 2008 and successfully repeated the following summer. The camps are run in Armenian, with sessions jointly facilitated by Armenian counselors and American Peace Corps volunteers, opening participation to girls not proficient in English.

The young women—over 70 have participated so far—have formed a tight-knit network and have become “the carriers of the GLOW torch in their communities,” Simonyan commented. Camp alumnae serve as peer educators, sharing information about gender, HIV/AIDS, and human trafficking with other youth in local schools and NGOs, magnifying the impact of the program. Regional seminars and peer education workshops on camp topics have reached over 400 teens.

In small towns and villages that lack extracurricular programs for youth, Camp GLOW fills young women with the inspiration and self-confidence to successfully navigate the transition to adulthood and become leaders. “GLOW became the guarantee of my success,” Vardazaryan reflected. “Returning home, I feel proud that I could do something important for my community.”

The July 2008 and 2009 Camp GLOW workshops were supported with IREX-administered Alumni Small Grant funding from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State. The project has secured $38,000 in cost share over both years from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the US Embassy Democracy Commission Small Grants Program, the US Agency for International Development, the United Methodist Committee on Relief, the United Nations Development Programme, Peace Child International, Crayola, and various individual donors and local sponsors.