SDGS and ArmeniaCorps
LOCAL TIME: ...
After earning her M.A. in International Development and Social Science as a Fulbright scholar at Ohio University, Hayasa Tahmazyan returned home to Armenia with a mission: turn knowledge into action for her country’s future.
But Armenia was hurting. The 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War had left deep scars. COVID-19 had shaken communities. The need for unity and a new path forward had never been greater.
Hayasa was ready to serve. Yet everywhere she turned, she heard the same word: “overqualified.”
Instead of giving up, she built her own path.
Drawing on nine years of experience in the humanitarian-development nexus, Hayasa imagined something bigger than problem-solving. She saw an initiative that would focus on power, not pity. Capacities, not deficits. An approach that would connect people, mobilize what they already have, and empower communities to lead their own development and legacy.
Her vision was
No more one-size-fits-all solutions.
No more dependency cycles.
Armenia’s own strengths could fuel change and even help achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Hayasa put her ideas on paper, and ArmeniaCorps Development Initiative was born.
Her fresh, strength-based approach quickly gained recognition, winning support from the U.S. Government Alumni Small Grants Program and Cultural Vistas’ Muskie Alumni Small Grants Program. With this backing, she turned vision into action.
ArmeniaCorps brought together 54 people, including schoolchildren, students, teachers, librarians, community workers, and village leaders from 26 villages and Masis city of the newly consolidated Masis community, Ararat region.
By April 2023, their work had directly engaged over 1,500 people, mostly youth and women, across 18 villages. The results were real, visible, and powerful:
Waste management systems integrated into six rural schools
Tourism promotion projects to boost local economies in two villages
Women’s social inclusion platform connecting four villages
Youth-led development initiative in two villages
Handicraft training for women from three villages to support employment
Financial and media literacy programs for youth in seven villages
Library upgrades with new educational resources in four villages
Street signs installed in two villages
The projects worked. More than 4,500 lives were indirectly touched. Communities grew stronger.
But Hayasa couldn’t shake the question: What happens when we leave?
Projects end. Grants run out. If nothing changes, communities are left waiting for the next outside savior. That wasn’t good enough.
The solution was clear: communities need frameworks they own. Systems to design, adapt, and lead their own future. Economic. Social. Human. Technological. Environmental.
But the usual “experts” were too far removed, too expensive, too rigid. ArmeniaCorps fieldwork revealed the truth: no two villages are the same. One-size-fits-all solutions fail. Fresh, local, unshaped approaches work.
Then came the breakthrough: every year, thousands of graduate students in Armenia are hungry for purpose. Brilliant. Motivated. Looking for real-world impact. But their potential goes untapped. Their innovation is lost.
Hayasa saw the opportunity: make students the experts. Connect them to communities, not as volunteers, but as part of their studies. Give local champions of the communities the tools to lead. Build solutions together, and make them last.
This is why, in December 2023, ArmeniaCorps became an institution [Armenia Corps Development Initiative NGO] to turn a ripple effect into a movement and make community-led development the norm, not the exception.
Today, ArmeniaCorps stands as a dedicated local development organization, mobilizing local assets and universities to co-design systemic solutions, empowering underserved Armenian communities to drive economic, social, technological, human, and environmental progress.
We believe that sustainable development starts within.
Our mission is to strengthen Armenian communities by bringing together local voices and talents of all generations, fostering integrated, data-driven, community-led development that builds sustainable livelihoods and inspires systemic transformation across Armenia.
By placing people and the planet at the center, we work directly with communities to:
Uncover and activate local assets such as skills, knowledge, relationships, institutions, and natural resources through knowledge, collective action, and local service.
Address systemic barriers while building on community strengths
Foster local ownership, minimize dependency, and ensure long-term impact
Collaborate across sectors and levels by linking universities, grassroots, government, and the private sector to create a stronger, more resilient system.
Together, we co-create practical, data-driven, long-term solutions for sustainable livelihoods – easy for institutions to implement and communities to lead.