State Alumni Member of the Month
July 2009
Karine Taslakyan (Armenia)
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As an active member of the U.S. government-sponsored exchange program alumni network, 2004-06 Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program alumna Karine Taslakyan from Armenia organizes and participates in a number of community development projects. Her efforts aim to increase civil society organizations’ capacity building, promoting active democratic citizenship advocacy, and facilitating cross-border cooperation. According to fellow Muskie alumnus Edward Safaryan, “Karine is a natural leader who understands a group’s needs and characteristics. She sets a strong example, has excellent planning and organizational skills, knows how best to use a group’s resources and is ready to counsel when needed."
As soon as Taslakyan returned to Armenia in 2006, she became a board member of the American Graduates Association of Armenia (AGA), an association of U.S. government-sponsored exchange program alumni, and, after serving for two years, was elected as vice president of the organization. Among AGA’s goals are strengthening the network of Muskie alumni and of alumni of other exchange programs through promoting participation in the development process of Armenia and in different aspects of civic engagement.
"As [an] alumna," Taslakyan explains, "I feel responsibility to share experience and knowledge gained through [my] exchange, with this regard, alumni projects are very effective for involving others into learning and active social inclusion and participation through community volunteering and team work."
Seeking to address concerns over environmental damage in Armenia's Lake Sevan region, the largest fresh water reservoir in the country, Taslakyan initiated, designed, and organized a student congress entitled, “Alumni in Eco Action.” This student congress generated public awareness and youth participation in ecological preservation. The project was funded by the U.S. Department of State, Democracy Commission Small Grants in April, 2009. As inspiration, Taslakyan recalled Earth Day celebrations in which she had participated during her exchange in her host state of Washington in the Pacific Northwest. Working with young students and educating them on the region's ecology, she and other alumni served as role models for the participating children, encouraging them to engage in civic participation.
A month earlier, in February, 2009, Taslakyan implemented a project to provide professional development training for rural development NGO stakeholders from remote borderline communities of Georgia and Armenia. With the support of the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan’s Alumni Small Grant program, Taslakyan organized and provided project management training for around 40 rural NGO leaders.
Two years earlier, in May, 2007, Taslakyan actively involved herself with other alumni in the The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission to monitor Armenia’s parliamentary elections. She and fellow alumni assisted key election mission staff and helped interpret for the 250 OSCE/ODIHR short-term observers who were deployed throughout the country in multinational teams of two to monitor the opening of polling stations, the voting, the counting of ballots, and the tabulation of results.
Taslakyan’s alumni involvement has not been “all work and no play,” though. She also brought her U.S. host university’s favorite “happy hour” socializing and networking concept back to Armenia. Together with karaoke and picnic events, the happy hour alumni meet-ups have found a place among AGA’s alumni activities.
Looking forward, Taslakyan continues to work for the Armenian branch of Heifer Project International, in the capacity of program coordinator. In both her professional and alumni activities, Taslakyan is dedicated to the mission of working with people to develop stronger communities and to better care for the earth.