Power to the people

ABCD Innovation Center

📣 Open Call for Armenian NGOs: International Exchange on Outdoor Education in Urban Spaces

Is your NGO working with young people and applying outdoor educational tools?
Join a unique international journey exploring how outdoor learning can be adapted to urban realities — from Berlin to Kalavan.

This opportunity is part of ABCD Innovation Center’s vision to foster place-based innovation, rural-urban collaboration, and youth empowerment. As part of our long-term goal to develop Kalavan into a rural development research and innovation hub, we are taking small but significant steps to build meaningful partnerships and create learning environments that connect nature, people, and progress.


🌿 Project Title: Surviving in the Concrete Jungle – Outdoor Education Revisited Through an Urban Lens
This international initiative brings together youth-focused organizations from Europe and the Caucasus to explore how outdoor and adventure education methods can be used in cities to understand and address pressing social, environmental, and political issues.

Participants will work together to co-create a hands-on toolkit for adapting outdoor learning to urban environments — covering topics like environmental justice, survival skills, access to public space, and visions of the sustainable city of the future.

All expenses, including travel, visa-related costs, accommodation, meals, and activity costs are covered by the project.

🌍 Exploring and Development Visits (EDVs)

As part of the exchange, selected NGO representatives will engage in two immersive visits:

🔹 EDV 1: Germany & Poland
📅 October 25 – November 6, 2025
📍 Potsdam & Berlin (Germany), Lublin (Poland)

🔹 EDV 2: Georgia & Armenia
📅 May 7 – May 19, 2026
📍 Tbilisi & Rustavi (Georgia), Dilijan & Kalavan (Armenia)


📝 Who Can Apply:


  • NGO representatives based in Armenia working actively with young people
  • Proven experience using outdoor or experiential learning approaches
  • Commitment to participate in both Exploring and Development Visits
  • Interest in co-creating and testing educational tools in international settings
  • Working knowledge of English
  • Preference will be given to NGO representatives with a valid Schengen visa


🌿 Our Vision
This initiative is coordinated by ABCD Innovation Center, an organization dedicated to empowering communities through creative, sustainable, and locally grounded approaches.
We believe that Kalavan can become a living lab for rural development — a place where ideas are tested, tools are created, and knowledge is shared across borders. This project is one of many small but significant steps we are taking to make that vision a reality.
Let’s reimagine how outdoor learning can thrive — even in the concrete jungle!


📥 How to Apply:

🕐 Deadline: July 10, 2025
📩 Application Form: https://forms.gle/MEd2wDsm8JQ9dNut8