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Building a Young Constituency for Peace across the South Caucasus and Turkey
Youth Perceptions Survey
Yerevan, Armenia 2012
Grigor Yeritsyan
The internet based youth perception survey was developed by EPF and conducted amongst current and former Youth Bank members in Armenia.
Purpose of the survey: To measure the civic activism level of project participants and their readiness and perceptions of work in the cross-cultural environment, especially with young people from conflicting regions.
Online survey involved 100 young respondents: current and former Youth Bank members aged 14-32 from 10 Youth Bank Committees based in:
YerevanGyumri
VanadzorEghegnadzor
GorisArmavirMartuniAraratKotayqDilijan
Executive Summary
The online questionnaire included 54 questions and was divided into 7 sections.
1. Demography
2. Youth Bank General Impact
3. The role of Youth Bank Members in the Community
4. Social and Political Activism of YB members
5. Media / Social Media
6. Youth Bank Intercultural Impact
7. General Life Perceptions
To measure the level of civic activism of YB members and their role in the field of community development at the grassroots level. To measure the level of engagement and civic activism of Youth Bank members in Armenia. To measure the level of trust among young people from conflicting sides for future cross community collaboration. To see whether personal meetings help young people to change their perceptions, stereotypes and prejudices about one another.
The main objectives of the survey are:
10%
74%
16%
Capital
Urban
Rural
1. Demography of participants
Participants of the Survey:
39 male Youth Bank Members (39 %)
61 female Youth Bank Members (61 %)
Area of Residence
Computer Skills92 % of YB members have a computer and permanent internet connection at home.
50 % of YB members have an advanced level of the computer (Microsoft Office programs)
42 % of YB members have an intermediate level of the computer (Microsoft Office programs)
Language Skills50 % of YB members have an intermediate level of English.
27 % have an advanced knowledge of English
EDUCATIONAt least 53 % of YB Members have a completed higher education (BA/MA).
27 % have complete secondary education (9/12th grades).
11 % have incomplete higher education (1-3rd grades).
7 % have Secondary technical education.
Participants Profile
Yerevan
Ararat
Armavir
Gegharkunik
Lori
Kotayk
Shirak
Syunik
Vayots Dzor
Tavush
10
9
13
9
8
10
15
9
9
8
Geography of Participants
2. Youth Bank General Impact
How would you describe the role YB plays (played) in your life?
49 % of Young people consider Youth Bank to be an important part of their lives.
11 % think that Youth Bank is one of the most important things in their lives.
6 % think that Youth Bank is not important at all.
Do you think your involvement with YB has had any impact on your life aspirations?
0%
20%
40%60%
11%
61%
29%
“My YB experience has contributed towards my career advancement”.
Youth Bank General Impact
Strongly disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Strongly Agree
Don’t want to answer
2%
5%
25%
47%
8%
13%
Skills Improvement of YB members
84% of YB members have had great improvement in teamwork
74% of YB members have had great improvement of their organizational skills
74% of YB members have had great improvement of their program management skills
72% of YB members have had great improvement of their communication skills
67% of YB members improved their ability of unbiased decision-making
33% of YB members think that they haven’t improved their presentation skills
3. The role of Youth Bank Members in the Community
92 out of 100 members of Youth Bank who participated in the survey consider
themselves as active members of their community.
26 of them think that they are the most active young people of the community.
37 young people consider themselves as quite active.
29 young people believe that they show an average level of activity.
50% of YB members are confident that they are known in their communities.
I am known in my community because….
I have organizational skills.
I am very active in Youth Bank.
I am a head of our Student Council.
I am active, smart, energetic and motivated person.
I am environmental activist and active person.
I support philanthropy and raise funds for families in need.
I am civic journalist.
I am hardworking person.
I help people.
I am an active citizen who raises and addresses the most pressing problems.
I am a blogger.
I am always there – where is a problem.
4. Social and Political Activism of YB members
58% of respondents are interested in politics.
80% of respondents work or worked as volunteers for NGO-s and community based
organizations – apart from their YB activities.
The data below demonstrates the level of political and social activism of YB
members during the last 3 years:
42% of young people signed petitions.
17% of them asked someone else to sign a petition or initiated a petition
themselves.
26% participated in a demonstration.
11% assisted a political campaign.
Participation in Elections
92% of respondents participated in different types of elections. Respondents have
different reasons to participate in the elections. Here are the main ones:
68 % of respondents think that their “vote” is important.
13 % support to a certain electoral program.
6 % follow the common example.
5 % support to their relatives or friends.
Main reasons for the members of society to participate in the elections.
People vote because they have material incentive.
People vote, because they realize that every single vote matters.
People support their relatives and friends.
5. Media / Social Media
92 % of YB members have a computer and permanent internet connection at home.
95% of YB members read newspapers (either print or online).
49% read blogs.
40% of young people in Youth Bank both writes and reads blogs.
6% of youth don’t read and write any blogs.
Social Networks
96% of Youth Bank members have a page or a public profile in social networking
websites.
Work with Media 33% of Youth Bankers wrote an article for media 18% contributed with a picture or a video 35% of Youth Bankers gave an interview 12% wrote a blog that media reacted to 9% wrote a comment under a news story 35% organized or co-organized an event that got media coverage
On average how often do you visit your social networking site?
Every day Several times a week Once a week Once or twice per month
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
89%
10%
1% 0%
6. Youth Bank Intercultural Impact
70% of YB youngsters have had a chance to meet and interact at least 1 hour with
people from Georgia.
68% of YB youngsters have had a chance to meet and interact at least 1 hour with
people from Turkey.
40% of YB youngsters have had a chance to meet and interact at least 1 hour with
people from Azerbaijan.
33% of YB youngsters have had a chance to meet and interact at least 1 hour with
people from Iran.
25% of YB youngsters have had a chance to meet and interact at least 1 hour with
Kurds.
Youth Bank Intercultural Impact
70% of Youth Bank Members believe that direct communication and interaction with representatives from above mentioned countries positively influenced on their perceptions about that nations.
64% of YB members have had stereotypes about these nationalities before meeting them in the reality and almost 51% have broken these stereotypes.
Survey shows, that direct meeting help young people to overcome their stereotypes and change their negative attitudes.
40% of young people mentioned that they changed their attitudes toward Turks after meeting
them directly.
23% of young people mentioned that they changed their attitudes toward Azerbaijanis after
meeting them directly.
72% think that personal, direct meetings help to break stereotypes about each other. 67%
think that joint work is the best tool to break stereotypes. 37% believes that communication in
social networks is also helpful to break stereotypes. Finally, 29% think that rest and leisure
activities with each other are the best tools to overcome obstacles in the communication.
Youth Bank Intercultural Impact
In most of the cases people use the notion “Turk” not only to mention citizens of Turkey or Turks, but also nationals of Azerbaijan. According to the perceptions of Armenian young people these are the most spread stereotypes about “Turks”:
Turks are bad people.
Turks cannot be friendly.
Turks will hurt Armenians by any means.
All of them are killers and all they say is a lie.
It’s not possible to communicate with them.
We are too different nations.
I will have some problems with them.
They have no European way of thinking.
We cannot trust each other.
I can't make friends with them.
Our daily lives and attitudes are very different.
Youth Bank Intercultural Impact
48% of Youth Bank members have had an opportunity to sincerely open or attend a discussion about the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan with representatives from Azerbaijan. 46% of Youth Bank members have had an opportunity to sincerely open or attend a discussion about historical issues between Armenia and Turkey with representatives from Turkey.
For 40% of participants these discussions helped to realize the variety of viewpoints. For 29% caused unnecessary tensions.
Although, the majority of Youth Bankers are open and ready for communication and discussions of sensitive topics with their peers from Turkey and Azerbaijan, there is still big tension and obstacles in their communication.
42% of respondents wouldn’t like to see Azerbaijanis as their neighbors.
28% of respondents wouldn’t like to see Turks as their neighbors.
31% of respondents wouldn’t like to see Kurds as their neighbors.
Youth Bank Intercultural Impact
YB members are even more sensitive when it comes to mixed marriages between Armenian women and Muslim men.
Findings of the survey confirm that YB members would not like to see a woman of their ethnicity marry Muslim man.
38% of respondents will disapprove a woman of their ethnicity who marries an
Azerbaijani man.
27% of respondents will disapprove a woman of their ethnicity who marries a man
from Turkey.
15% of respondents will disapprove a woman of their ethnicity who marries a Kurd.
7% of respondents will disapprove a woman of their ethnicity who marries an
Iranian man.
Youth Bank Intercultural Impact
Participants of the survey were asked to assess how much cultural proximity they feel towards other nationalities.
46 % of respondents feel great cultural proximity towards Russians. 44 % of respondents feel great cultural proximity towards Georgians. 31 % of respondents feel great cultural proximity towards Greeks.
Respondents feel some cultural proximity towards following nationalities: 25 % of respondents feel great cultural proximity towards Italians. 28 % of respondents feel great cultural proximity towards Americans
At the same time they feel very small cultural proximity towards Turks (21%), Iranians (19%), Ukrainians (16%), Germans (15%) and Jews (15%).
Youth Bank members think that they don’t feel any cultural proximity towards the following nationalities:
ChineseKurds
IndiansAzerbaijanis
Youth Bank Intercultural Impact
More than a half of YB members (55%) think that it would be very difficult to work on a joint task with young people from Azerbaijan.
About 33% of them think it would be very difficult to work on a joint task with young people from Turkey.
42% of young people think it would very difficult to work on a joint task with Kurds.
36% of young people think it would very difficult to work on a joint task with Indians and Chinese.
28% of young people think it would very difficult to work on a joint task with Iranians and Jews.
One of the interesting findings of the survey is that 16 % of YB members think that it is difficult to work with Armenians.
Data shows that it’s easier to work with Russians as only 13% of respondents thought that it could be difficult to work with them on a joint task.
7. General Life PerceptionsSurvey shows that the majority of YB members aspire to become recognized experts or professionals in their chosen field. Most of them want to be also loving fathers or mothers of a happy family or successful businessmen or businesswomen.
Succe
ssful b
usinessm
an or b
usinessw
oman
Recogn
ized exp
ert/pro
fessional
in a ch
osen field
Influential politi
cal/co
mmunity le
ader
Famous a
rtist
Lovin
g fath
er/moth
er of a
happy f
amily
Don’t know/re
fuse to
answ
er0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
54%
73%
13% 10%
60%
2%
General Life Perceptions
The majority of respondents think that generally speaking most people in the country cannot be trusted and they should be too careful in dealing with people.
71% of YB members think that one should be too careful in dealing with people .
29% of YB members think that most people in the country can be trusted.
Participants were asked if they would leave the country if they have an opportunity to live
and work in another country .
24%
40%
36%YESNORefuse to answer
Reasons to migrate and live abroad
The lack of rule of law in Armenia.
Not legitimate government.
Narrow-mindedness of the society.
Bad economical conditions.
Injustice.
Limited opportunities to grow.
Violations of dignity.
Violations of basic Human Rights.
Unemployment.
If you don’t have money and connections you can’t go forward.
Anarchy in the country.
There are artificial obstacles for everything.
Social Injustice.
Lack of Freedom.
Hidden dictatorship.
Oligarchy and unfair economical system.
Building a Young Constituency for Peace across the South Caucasus and Turkey
Youth Perceptions Survey
Yerevan, Armenia 2012
Grigor Yeritsyan
