The best path leading us to the country of our dreams is the new generation of Armenians that is educated, smart, intelligent, curious, and happy.

Zartnir is a unique educational program that helps children of Armenia to achieve these goals by creating and operating interactive reading clubs in schools of Armenia and Artsakh. Our mission is to create equal educational opportunities for school students in Armenia and Artsakh by purchasing great books and organizing reading clubs.

We give school students in Armenia and Artsakh access to the masterpieces of the world literature and teach them how to think, explore new ideas, and challenge the status quo. We do that by providing school children with Armenian language books by the world’s greatest authors and organizing reading clubs in their schools that are led by their own teachers.

Starting from 2 schools, 2 classes, and 187 students, now Zartnir is in 81 schools, 110 classes with about 10 000 direct and indirect beneficiaries. We do all this with only one employee and hundreds of volunteers.

We encourage you to help us create 10 more reading clubs and engage 300 students and more than 900 members of their families!

A student from Stepanavan about Zartnir classes:

"Before Zartnir I did not read a single book. Since I joined Zartnir's reading clubs I can't stop reading. In 6 months I am going to the army and I have one request for the team: could you send me many books to read? I want to read as much as I can before I join the army."

According to the World Bank 2019 report, 35% of 10 years old school students in Armenia cannot read & understand a short, age-appropriate text.

In Azerbaijan, it is 23% and in Georgia – 14%. In developed countries, this number varies in the range of 2-7%. Human Capital is supposed to be the main driving force of Armenia, however, when 35% of school students are not able to understand a simple text, the country's prosperity is under a huge threat.

A large number of people do not have access to quality education. Around 42% of the Armenian population lives in poverty [World Bank, 2021]. It is proven that people with less financial capital are less likely to access high-quality education. That is why we created Zartnir.

Multiple studies have found that reading great books and discussing them helps students to think, and develop critical thinking. It is an effective and affordable tool to reduce inequality and improve access to education.

Thanks to your generous donations we will be able to engage 300 direct beneficiaries that will receive great books, read and discuss them with a teacher on a weekly basis.

Engagement of one school costs around $300 and consists of the following:

• one title of 30 books: ~$214
• 6 books deliveries within a year: ~$86

You can find the budget here.

Zartnir has reading clubs in all 10 regions of Armenia and in Yerevan:

• Yerevan: 33 classes
• Tavush: 6 classes
• Lori: 16 classes
• Gegharkuniq: 4 classes
• Armavir: 10 classes
• Ararat: 7 classes
• Kotayq: 15 classes
• Aragatsotn: 4 class
• Vayots Dzor: 3 class
• Syuniq: 4 classes
• Shirak: 8 classes

Recognition and Approvals

• Zartnir is officially recognized by the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports of Armenia. The Ministry affirmed that Zartnir may be implemented in schools because our methodology and program has a positive influence on the continuous development of school students.
• Zartnir has successfully passed due diligence to join the Matching Donation Program of Apple by GlobalGiving, Benevity, and TechSoup. Now all employees of the companies that use Benevity, such as Google, Microsoft, The Coca–Cola Company, Samsung, Starbucks, and others, may donate directly to Zartnir and their organizations will match their donations.

How we organize our interactive reading clubs

• We purchase world-famous books in the Armenian language.
• We agree with teachers in schools to run weekly classes.
• We ship books to teachers who distribute them to students who would like to participate in Zartnir program.
• Students read books at home and discuss them weekly during Zartnir classes with participation of a volunteer teacher. They also do debates and write essays.
• Teachers use interactive tools provided to them by Zartnir to make reading clubs even more engaging.

Our results

• 83% of school students declare that Zartnir positively influences their academic scores.
• 97% of them are thrilled to be in Zartnir.
• 70% of teachers say that Zartnir improves the basic skills of students such as oral and written speech and makes them more tolerant and understanding.

In one of our classes, after reading the "Flowers for Algernon" students stopped bullying their classmate who had developmental difficulties. The teacher called Zartnir in tears and said that students accept their classmate as equal, and the one and that parents are extremely happy with such development.

In many schools, most of the students were not reading books before Zartnir. After joining Zartnir, more than 70% of students started to read.

Our goals

• To have more than 100 schools involved with Zartnir by May 2023
• To be in >95% of schools in Armenia and Artsakh by 2031

Nunik Khudyan, Lori region, Urasar village

"Teaching in a community where there is no library, and at school, there are very few books, Zartnir gave ample opportunities for children from remote villages to read books. Thanks to Zartnir's books, students gained new knowledge, developed their creativity, and critical analysis acquired the skills of language acquisition, communication, and exchange of information and ideas. Zartnir greatly influenced academic progress, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, written and oral speech."

Tamara Vanesyan, Lori region, Karinj village

"At first students avoided discussions, now the children remind us [teachers] about discussions. A culture of discussions has formed thanks to Zartnir. Now school students are counting the days to receive a new set of books. The changes are noticeable, especially in children who were shy and not ready for discussions."

Tamara Mirzoyan, Yerevan, School No. 155 named after Levon Mirijanyan.

"It is a great pleasure to work with Zartnir. It is the best way to boost reading and make it so colorful and interesting. While there is a fall in interest in reading, thanks to Zartnir we have a growth of curiosity towards reading and books. ...They were so impressed by the Zartnir classes that bought those books."

Vitaly Petrosyan, Artsakh, the village of Kert.

"...but the fact that students have started reading and now are interested in reading is obvious. At first 8 students entered the group, and now the number of students has reached 12, which indicates that we are on the right track."

How do we give power to the new generation through reading and reading clubs

Reading and reading clubs themselves are scientifically proven tools that develop many important skills and greatly impact people's lives in a positive way.

Reading literacy—when a person enjoys reading and shares her or his thoughts and hears others—is one of the main criteria for a country's educational system's success. Therefore, the environment of reading clubs is of utmost importance to developing reading literacy among students.

Apart from that, reading improves academic scores, emotional intelligence, oral and written speech, and spreads tolerance. The ones who read a lot are proven to have higher earnings than others [University of Padua].

Reading literacy is one of the key components of basic literacy and is one of the core skills of the 21st century [World Economic Forum].

What is also important in our case, is that the first books in a child's life are very important and have a great impact on their development. And that is what Zartnir does—for most students we provide the first great books in their lives. Books are especially useful for children from disadvantaged families—they increase the performance of children in all educational tests.

Our advisors:

• Vahe Baloulian: management consultant, co-founder of DiVine and Partners. DiVine and Partners brings together The Club, Tapastan, In Vino, Steakarar and Trinity Canyon Vineyards in Armenia, and The Stage and Malaga Cove Ranch Market restaurants in the USA.
• Tigran Sahakyan: Partner, McKinsey & Company. Focusing on strategy development and transformational changes for companies in mining, metals, and oil & gas industries.

Our leadership team:

•  Areg Abramyan, Founder & CEO

Areg has more than four years of experience in management & operations consulting. Areg has experience in PwC and Kearney, one of the leading management consulting firms.

• Lilit Poghosyan, full-time employee [since 08.01.2022]

Lilit is a primary school teacher of Armenian at Ohanyan Educational Complex. Lilit was a volunteer in Zartnir’s Educational Team for two years and became a full-time employee starting on August 1, 2022.

• Gagik Avetuntsi, HR team lead

Gagik has 4 years of experience in different fields of HR: recruitment, talent development, employer branding, and others in both small and big companies.

Has developed Zartnir team in Armenia from scratch in the spring of 2020.

• Seyran Akopian:

With more than 9 years of experience in IT, Seyran currently heads the Business Analysis department in a large IT company. He is involved in Zartnir from the moment Areg's idea was born.

• Venera Arakelyan:

Venera has 8 years of experience in project management and marketing. She is currently in charge of the marketing team in one of the international companies present in Armenia in the position of Trade and Consumer Activation Supervisor. Thanks to her skills, she is leading the Marketing stream in Zartnir.

• Edita Arzumanyan

Edita is a professional in Finance. She has a CFA III certificate which allowed her to manage our finances and forecasting before we switched to an external accounting firm.

• Arpine Vardanyan

Arpine is a former Zartnir student. She is a volunteer in Zartnir's Educational and SMM Teams for 3 years.

Now studies Marketing and Business organization at ASUE.

Our Donors:

• ArLeAm: the first company to financially support Zartnir. Their support allowed us to add more than 1 000 beneficiaries.
• Bridge to Armenia: thanks to their support Zartnir is able to engage more than 1 000 beneficiaries.
• More than 100 private individuals support Zartnir on a monthly basis.
• Employees of Google and Adobe.

Our Partners:

• DiVine and Partners: In Vino and its partners Tapastan, The Club, Steakarar and Trinity Canyon Vineyards support Zartnir by spreading information about the program through flyers, posters, emails, and social media and by collecting donations at their venues as well as contributing from their revenues.
• Antares, Edit Print, and Zangak publishing houses: provide books at a discounted price.
• Armcourier: provides transportations services at a discounted price
• Garun restaurant and Healthy Box organization: supports Zartnir by spreading information about the program to their clients.
• EduArmenia: pro bono helps Zartnir to develop a methodology for each book that is in the program.

This project supports:

Sustainable Development Goals

The Future Armenian goals