“Harmony” Shushi Women NGO was founded in 2021. It is the legal successor of the public organization "Harmony", founded in the city of Shushi in 2004, its members were forcibly displaced from the city of Shushi in the Republic of Artsakh as a result of the war in Artsakh in 2020. The objectives of the organization include:
Over the past 10 years, “Harmony” Shushi Women NGO has twice held the South Caucasus Film Festival “I am Human” (2007, 2008; donor Heinrich Böll Foundation, total project budget up to EUR 1000), during which documentary films shot in conflict zones in other countries were shown and discussed. The film festival became a cultural event in the life of our small city. In the framework of the festival, we held contests of photos, poems and songs, painting and applied art on the theme "World without War", and organized exhibitions of contest works.
Geography of the next three projects: "Inclusion", "Expansion of Inclusion" and "Democratization" (2006, 2007, 2008, donor International Alert, total project budget up to USD 1000) was already much wider and covered both the capital, district centers, and large villages of the Republic of Artsakh. The target groups included people who suffered the most in the conflict, and 60% of them participated in peacekeeping projects for the first time.
As part of these projects, research programs were implemented as well, which including studying the experience of women's organizations on conflict transformation in other regions. Many lectures, round tables and hot discussions were held on the topic "Karabakh Conflict. Political Realities and Tendencies. Ways of Regulation", "Nature and Analysis of Conflict and Methods of its Resolution", "Possibility of restoring Friendly Relations with Azerbaijan", "Role and Place of Women in Peace-Making Processes". Undoubtedly, the training "Culture of Peace" was useful. “Harmony” Shushi Women NGO repeatedly held seminars on "Teaching Project Writing".
During one of the trainings, three documents were compiled, with the active participation of women, and which were then included in the booklet. "Plan of building Bridges of Trust", "Code of the Peacemaker" and "Call to Women of Karabakh and Azerbaijan".
In 2018, our project "Club of Author's Song" was supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Artsakh, and “Harmony” Shushi Women NGO for the first time received financial support from the state of AMD 1,589,400.
In 2019, we coordinated the project "Initiative Groups - as a Mechanism of Civil Activity" (donor Eurasia Partnership Foundation, the total budget of the project was EUR 7,000), the goal of the project was to increase the civic self-awareness of the youth of the rural regions of Artsakh and create initiative youth groups of civil activists in 12 villages of three regions in Artsakh.
In 2021-2022, we implemented the project "Democracy begins with me" in Artsakh (donor European Union Initiative, the total budget of the project was AMD 8,340,000). The project was aimed at raising the level of awareness on the issues of democratic values and legal literacy among the students of Artsakh, at forming the youth interest in democratic processes and the desire to be personally involved in civic activities.
In 2023, the project "War through the Mouths of Female Eyewitnesses" was implemented in Yerevan (donor Women's Fund in Armenia). The project was aimed at mitigating public escapism (escape from reality) in Armenia, as well as at forming a conscious attitude to the situation in the country and the life of the residents of the capital, by means of listening to the audio stories of female eyewitnesses, recorded immediately after the war (November-December 2020), with further discussion of certain details.