History
YMCA in the World 1
In 1844 twelve young men led by George Williams founded the first YMCA in London, England. Their objective was the “improvement of the spiritual condition of the young men engaged in houses of business, by the formation of Bible classes, family and social prayer meetings, mutual improvement societies, or any other spiritual agency.”
Together with the other founding members, George Williams wasted no time in organizing YMCA branches throughout England, Scotland and Ireland. Over the next ten years, YMCA Movements also began to develop across Western Europe, USA, Australia, New Zealand, and India.
The idea of creating a truly global movement with an international headquarters was pioneered by Henry Dunant, Secretary of YMCA Geneva, who would later go on to found the International Committee of the Red Cross and win the first Nobel Peace Prize. Henry Dunant successfully convinced YMCA Paris to organize the first YMCA World Conference. The Conference took place in August 1855, bringing together 99 young delegates from nine countries.
As of 2010, the YMCA worldwide movement counted over 40 million members2. The YMCA is a federated organization made up of local and national organizations in voluntary association. Today, YMCAs are open to all, regardless of faith, social class, age, or gender. The World Alliance of YMCAs is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
YMCA in Armenia
The return of YMCA movement to Armenia took place through Tigran Kocharyan in 1991, who has been leading a local humanitarian aid organization. By the support of Y Care International he had initiated humanitarian relief projects in the south-west of Lori province where Armenian Earthquake of 1988 was most damaging. With further expansion of those projects the need to establish a separate organization emerged and the initiative continued Tigran's brother Ashot Kocharyan, who together with his associates founded a formal NGO to implement crisis relief programs primarily targeting Armenian refugees escaped from Azerbaijan because of the conflict over Karabakh issue, while continuing helping the poor families that had lost their shelters because of the earthquake.
- In 1998 the Armenian YMCA already had operating branches in Yerevan, Gyumri, Vanadzor, Spitak and Vardenis.
- In 1998 the YMCA Armenia was transformed into Armenian National Union of YMCAs, consisting of the former branches registered as independent local NGOs.
- In 1999 the Armenian YMCA became a full member of the YMCA Europe.
- In 2002 the YMCA Europe passed an official resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide of 1915.
- In 2004, the YMCA of USA has provided us with historical records evidencing about the existence of Armenian YMCA movement in Turkey, in cities of Constantinople, Adana, Van and Adabazar. The Armenian letterhead of YMCA Adabazar indicates about its establishment in 1883. Unfortunately, all these YMCAs along with many other Armenian organizations have been shut down in Turkiey since the Armenian Genocide of 1915, and we have no specific records about persons and events that had led to establishing those YMCAs.
As of 2010, YMCA Armenia has 5 member-associations operating in various communities of Armenia and offers youth and child development, civic engagement, camping and rural development programs.