ARMENIAN ASSOCIATION OF SOCIAL WORKERS

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PRESIDENT

Mira Antonyan is the founder and president of the Armenian Association of Social Workers. 
 
She is an Associate Professor at the Chair of  Social Work and Social Technologies at Yerevan State University. In addition to teaching at YSU, she is a guest lecturer at universities in a number of post-Soviet and European countries, as well as universities in the United States. 
 
Since 2005, M. Antonyan is the Executive Director of  Fund for Armenian Relief’s Child Protection Center Foundation. During this same time period, she also founded and headed the Child Protection Network in Armenia, which unites more than 30 child protection organizations.  

M․ Antonyan has made significant contributions to the improvement of the social protection system in Armenia through new models of social services such as crisis centers, group-homes, foster care institutes, day care centers, integrated social services, professionalization of social services, as well as social work development and protection of professionals' rights. . 

As an international expert in the field of social protection, she has also been involved in programs aimed at introducing and improving child protection systems in a number of post-Soviet countries, in particular, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, and Abkhazia. 
 
After the last war in Artsakh, she made significant efforts to develop a new concept of social protection in Artsakh, a master's program in Artsakh with a specialization in "Social Work", as well as the introduction of new social-psychological services. 

At present, through her efforts, various programs of family support, people activation and promotion are being implemented, cooperating with many organizations. These efforts are ongoing. 

Author of more than sixty-four scientific articles, methodological manuals, guides. She received a number of national titles and awards from the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, and Yerevan State University. As well as international awards from the International Federation of Social Workers, the Social Workers' Associations of France, Iran and Russia.