Women's Resource Centre opens in Armenia's Syunik province

MEGHRI, Armenia, 2 December 2008 - The Meghri Women's Resource Centre, supported by the OSCE Office in Yerevan, opened today in Meghri, in the remote Syunik region of Armenia.

The Centre will offer local women training, networking opportunities and advice on starting small businesses, legal questions and tax matters to help promote their active participation in the region's public and private sectors.

"The new resource centre will stimulate women's participation and raise their role in economic, public and political life, and thus contribute to the development of the region as a whole," said Sven Holdar, the Democratization Officer at the OSCE Office in Yerevan, at the opening ceremony.

"We believe that the centre will endow the women's community in Meghri with a good opportunity to take up joint initiatives and thus achieve greater success in social and economic life," said Ruzanna Sargsyan, the President of Meghri Women Resource Centre.

The Centre will be run by the Meghri Women's Steering Committee, comprising nine board members. The establishment of the Centre was proposed by the Meghri Women's Initiative Group, which was established last December with the support of the OSCE Office in Yerevan.

Three additional women's resource centres are expected to open in the Syunik region in 2009.

The Meghri Centre is located at the following address: 36/1 Z. Andranik Street, Meghri, Syunik Region, tel: 0286 42320