Menq

Founder Tigran Kyureghyan on left, with a member receiving assistance

Menq (Menk) is an Agricultural Mutual Assistance Association for the residents of Kashatagh, Karabakh, founded and run by Tigran Kyureghyan.

Information in English

The following information was translated from the Menq website, but some of it is a dated. Today the organization is much more focused on beehives and beekeeping assistance, since the government is now helping residents with loans for animal purchases.

Index page

Welcome Guests

"Menk" is an Agricultural Mutual Assistance Association. We have made very important progress over the past years, by helping residents of the Kashatagh region obtain animals, beehives and equipment necessary in order to provide a sustainable income for their families. One of our recent projects, called Apaga (meaning future) has been a purely charitable effort which Menk has undertaken using its own means. The Apaga project distributed over 1.3 million drams ($3,500) worth of assistance to villagers in the northern Kashatagh region. Our other projects involve finding outside investors to help finance beehives or animals which are given to families, who then slowly pay back the loan. When the loan is paid back, the investor has the option of taking the money back or reinvesting it with the same or a new family. Animals and hives are only given to families who can be trained by other members or experienced neighbors in the methods necessary to keep them healthy. This is necessary to protect the investment.

At the same time, Menk is facing issues related to return of some investments to their investors. We believe these issues can best be mitigated with additional investments and by shifting investments to other projects. Menk's investors agree with this approach.

We at Menk Agricultural Mutual Assistance Association believe that we can successfully implement our programs and increase our membership residing in the Kashatagh, but only with the financial assistance of those who are concerned with the fate of Kashatagh.

So we call on you to help Menk to help us in whatever capacity you can, even be it to simply join and pay your membership dues. Annual membership fees are currently set at 12,000 AMD ($30), which all members of our mutual assistance organization pay.

If you are interested in learning more about Menk and our programs, I am always ready to explain all of our projects and provide complete background and financial information on our work so far. I am also ready to show you our work in Kashatagh in person whenever you come to visit our region, and welcome your participation in our association.

Tigran Kyureghyan President of Menk Agricultural Mutual Assistance Association

Estafet

Estafet is a Menk program, whereby a member receives something, and after a set amount of time they must transfer the same thing to a new member.

With the Estafet program we give cows and calfs to families. Two years later the recipient family must present their investor with their cow and it's newborn. If the recipient does so and has kept to the agreement, he can at this time request an extension of the contract. He can also purchase these animals from the investor outright, or transfer them to a new member to the program. All of the milk produce in the interim is the property of the family that is keeping the cow.

Estafet was Menk's very first program, and has been running successfully since 2002. It is slowly being phased out since the local government has begun a virtually identical animal loan program.

Parz Estafet

Barz Estafet is a program started in 2003. The recipient of a calf or pig has to transfer the same amount of goods they recieve to a new recipient after a set time period without adding anything in addition (like interest or additional animals). This program primarily gives familes a calf or pig, rather than the more expensive adult cows, in order to minimize the expense of the program.

Voske Tslik

Voske Tslik (or golden calf) is a program Menk began in 2003 and has been operating successsfully ever since. This program sees the purchase of male and female calfs by Menk. Menk then gives these calfs to their members to care for throughout the year. The caregivers are paid 2,000 dram ($5) a month per calf during grazing season for their care, plus an additional 2,000 dram in the winter for feed. In addition to this, the caregiver receives a 25% share of the profit from the sale of the cow or bull when Menk sells the animal.

Kari Meghr

Kari Meghr, meaning Honey from Stone, is a program that Menk has been successfully running since 2004. This program invests in the beekeepers of Kashatagh. In return for each beehive a family receives, they must give the investor 5kg of honey, or its equivalent cash value. Kari Meghr is Menk's most իրացվելի program, և միության ծախսերը կատարելու համար հիմնական աղբյուրը. "ՄԵՆՔ" միություն honey ծրագրի ընթացքն առ 01.01.2009.

Contact Us

If you need to contact us at Menk, you can reach us by calling: +374 (93) 36-13-75

We can be reached by email at: menqaa@yandex.ru

Our address is: Nagorno Karabakh Republic, Armenia Berdzor City, Kashatagh, Artsakh 7th district, 3rd house

or in Armenian: ԼՂՀ, Քաշաթաղի շրջան, ք. Բերձոր, 7-րդ թաղամաս, 3-րդ տուն

External links

• http://menqaa.narod.ru - Menq website (not updated)
• http://qashataghci.livejournal.com - blog (updated regularly)