Cooking and baking training for Nagorno-Karabakh refugees

Following the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2023, approximately 100,000 people fled the Artsakh region for safety, creating a highly sensitive demographic and social situation. These exiled families have lost a great deal—their property, their country, their point of reference. Their fate remains uncertain, and many of them are deeply traumatized.

Gyumri, in the Shirak region, is now home to more than 3,000 refugees; many still live in precarious, and sometimes unsanitary, conditions. Some live in empty hospital rooms without access to kitchens or adequate facilities. This has made them even more vulnerable and dependent on humanitarian aid.

The Lumière Française association has been supporting these displaced people in Vayk and Gyumri since September 2023 with food, medicine, and hygiene items. The group opened a charity canteen ("Resto du Cœur") on December 1, 2023, to provide hot meals to 50 of the neediest refugees. The association also opened a psychosocial center for people in mental distress.

In this project, Lumière Française goes further by creating a Community Kitchen in Gyumri to meet ongoing demand. The service aims not only to meet basic food needs, but also to promote the social and professional integration of refugees by training them in catering and pastry making. The space will serve as a basis for sustainable organizations and the provision of food security combined with reintegration and personal reconstruction.