Ararat

Ararat

SCOPE – VISION & MISSION OF ARARAT

Ararat is an NGO that was born out of a Caritas inter-balkan program on social and solidarity economy (ELBA) and it aims to spread the idea of solidarity and responsible tourism by sensitizing the visitors and the local population and by offering travel services centered around solidarity issues.

More specifically, the aims of Ararat are:

  • To constitute a proposal for the creation of social and solidarity tourism in Greece, as well as to promote through its programs, a mixture of holidays with volunteer work in solidarity projects throughout Greece.
  • To contribute to the dissemination of the idea of solidarity tourism by improving the relevant information in the local population.
  • To establish a civil non-profit enterprise with a social impact that supports at the same time the local actions of the churches, their members and the marginalized and vulnerable people that they serve.
  • To establish links between the Caritas organizations abroad, with the local Caritas in Greece and other Catholic or non-Catholic organizations.
  • To offer the opportunity to young people of the Caritas network to visit Greece, not only in the traditional way, but through getting to know a small part of the social reality and to exchange knowledge around the cultural heritage, the customs and the traditions of Greece.
  • To assist in the reception and the organization of solidarity tourism programs for parishes abroad and/or other Caritas organizations that come to Greece as a group or as independent visitors.
  • To improve the information amongst foreign visitors about the social impact of the different social projects that are currently taking place in Greece by various institutions, both inside and outside of the Caritas network.
  • To help promote solidarity tourism by creating seminars and organized tours.
  • To engage all with its members and volunteers for the National Caritas Network.
  • To help solidarity visitors in the co-organization of their vacations which will include, in addition to their hospitality in the infrastructures of local Catholic churches, their involvement with vulnerable and marginalized groups of people through voluntary work.

 

Composition of Ararat

The board of the association is composed of three persons. The president of Ararat is Mons. Joseph Bazouzou, bishop of the Catholic Armenian Church in Athens. The office of Ararat is located in the Armenian Church premises. In the office, there is one person dealing directly with the communication of visitors and partners while another is involved with all the back office, the secretarial and visitor’s reception work needed. In addition, Ararat has an advisor working in collaboration with the project and a number of volunteers that periodically help the organization in a number of different ways.

Which main activities – operations and results have been achieved so far?

The role of Ararat is to advise, co-ordinate and support in the management of the social and solidarity traveling programs that are implemented throughout its network of Caritas, volunteers and organizations who share the same values of solidarity tourism.

More specifically, the activities of the organization are:

  • To help travellers in the organization of their traveling plans which include, in addition to the hospitality infrastructure of the local catholic churches, their involvement of voluntary work with vulnerable and marginalized groups of people, over their traveling period.
  • the development of social and solidarity traveling in Greece, as well as the promotion and implementation of tailor made programs by combining traveling experiences with voluntary work in solidarity projects around Greece.
  • To offer the opportunity to young people (both from the international Caritas network but also from non-Caritas environments) to visit Greece, not only through the traditional way, but also, through getting to know part of the socio-economic reality of the country, while sharing knowledge regarding cultural and religious heritage, manners and customs when meeting with one another.
  • To improve the information to foreign visitors about the social impact of different social and solidarity projects taking place currently in Greece by various actors, within and beyond the network of Caritas.
  • To create links and strengthen the connections between the parish Caritas organizations abroad and the local Caritas and non-caritas organizations of Greece.

 

Procedures:

Ararat is involved in covering the totality of the services provided from the planning to the implementation of the traveling for the visitors:

1) Preparation phase: Includes all communication, provision of information, booking and other travelling procedures (through email, telephone & skype).

2) Planning phase: Includes a tailor-made program developed for every journey individually and that is agreed together with every group/traveler.

3) Welcoming phase: Includes the welcoming of the travelers, the provision of practical, on-the-spot, information and a book of solidarity traveling in Greece and placement of the travelers to their accommodation premises.

4) Implementation phase: Includes the provision of detailed information about the different aspect of the program, the escorting of travelers to their “induction” sessions of choice.

5) Evaluation and Farewell: Includes a personal evaluation and discussion with the travelers about their experience and an occasion to say farewell and goodbyes.

The result achieved so far are:

  • The creation of a solidarity travelling tailor-made proposals for the visitors of Ararat which offers to the traveller:
  • Accommodation in premises of the Catholic network in Athens.
  • Induction to social and humanitarian projects that operate in the region of Athens.
  • The opportunity to be introduced and volunteer in several projects dealing with vulnerable groups of people and in a number of ways (soup kitchen, clothes distribution, street unit);
  • Sharing moments (such as the common dinner with the refugees hosted by the “welcoming and listening” project from Caritas Greece) which take place on a regular basis;
  • Induction times on the Greek economic crisis, the development of social economy in Greece and the voluntary sector.
  • Participation in alternative tours around Athens (e.g. “the invisible tour”, “bike tours” or “alternative tours of Athens”) organized by Greek organizations in social economy that bring about unique appreciations of the city.

 

2) Increasing number of visitors who came to Greece through Ararat organizing their traveling experience from around 90 in 2017 to over 200 in 2018.

3) Full time involvement of two persons in the organization of Ararat. One employed on a full-time basis while the other completing an internship for a Master’s program in the management of international solidarity and social actions. Completion of a dissertation thesis on customer satisfaction under the title “Social and Solidarity Tourism: Visitor satisfaction from an organization under construction”.

4) Engagement of several volunteers who have provided support to the organization in a number of ways.

5) Creation of a coherent and practical model of operation for the organization, along with all supporting documentation and material in systematizing all the work involved in the planning and implementation of the programs.

6) The participation (on-going, started in December 2017) in a 2 years long Erasmus+ Project called “Earth” – in collaboration with other partner from the Caritas and non-Caritas network – about the non-formal education for youngsters in the field of the eco and agro-tourism and the spread of the knowledge they will achieve.