Hanganak Launches New Active Aging and Social Cohesion Project in Hrazdan
Hanganak Charity NGO is pleased to announce the launch of the project “Social Cohesion Center for Displaced Older Adults in Hrazdan.” The three-month initiative will be implemented from September 1 to November 30, 2026, in Hrazdan and surrounding communities.
The project is implemented by Hanganak Charity NGO with the support of Eurasia Partnership Foundation (EPF) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The Hrazdan office of Mission Armenia Charity NGO has kindly provided Hanganak with office space for the project staff, as well as access to its spacious hall for meetings, training sessions, workshops, and other activities.
The implementation of the initiative will also be supported by the Hrazdan Territorial Center of the Unified Social Service, the Hrazdan Social Work Center, and the Social Support and Youth Affairs Department of Hrazdan Municipality.
The project aims to promote participants’ psychosocial well-being, social inclusion, and active participation in community life. The initiative will bring together at least 50 older adults, including 35 people forcibly displaced from Artsakh and 15 older residents of the host community.
For many older adults, forced displacement has meant not only losing their homes and familiar surroundings, but also experiencing loneliness, weakened social connections, and fewer opportunities to remain active. The new center will create a safe, welcoming, and comfortable environment where participants can meet regularly, receive support, learn, create, share their experiences, and build new relationships.
The center will offer psychosocial and peer-support meetings, healthy-lifestyle and physical activity sessions, educational and cognitive activities, and opportunities to develop English or digital skills. Participants will also take part in creative workshops, healthy nutrition activities, recreational gatherings, and inclusive cultural and intergenerational events. Transportation assistance will enable older adults facing financial difficulties or mobility limitations to participate in the activities.
A particularly important component of the project is the active involvement of older adults themselves. We do not view participants only as recipients of support, but as people with valuable knowledge, abilities, and life experience. A Participants’ Advisory Group will help shape the center’s activities, while individual participation and engagement plans will identify each person’s interests, skills, and support needs. Participants will be involved in planning and organizing activities, share their knowledge and experience with others, and have opportunities to return to an active social life.
Through care, creativity, and shared participation, we hope to strengthen connections between people forcibly displaced from Artsakh and residents of the host community and lay the foundation for a sustainable, community-based support network in Hrazdan.