Armine and Meline: the SMART Center’s Social Worker Tandem

Knar Babayan

January 12, 2026

Child & Family Services

They were hired a few months apart, and before long became not only great colleagues but also friends. They respond to all urgent and complex cases together and conduct home visits as a team. Meet Meline Maghakyan and Armine Azagulyan — the social workers behind the SMART Citizenship curriculum and the Homes for Artsakh Families program.

Both of them joined COAF during a particularly challenging period. Meline worked with beneficiaries forcibly displaced from Artsakh within Project H.O.P.E. Armine began her collaboration with COAF in post-war Artsakh, working at the Child and Family Center in Stepanakert.

Armine is one of the rare COAF team members whose journey began in Stepanakert, continued with a short period of work in Armavir, and eventually led her to settle in Lori.

Most of their work is with students of the SMART curriculum and children from the Early Childhood Development and their families in Lori. “Within the scope of supporting the SMART curriculum, we collaborate closely with program leads and the academic counselor, and when necessary, we refer cases to specialists at the Debed Child and Family Services Center,” Meline explains.

Adding on to her colleague, Armine shares that the referrals can vary greatly: some are resolved through a single intervention, while others require longer-term work and the involvement of different stakeholders (the family, the school, the municipality, or law enforcement).

The trust that has been built toward COAF over the years helps the social workers in their work with beneficiaries.

“And one of our advantages is having our own transportation. We’re able to respond to all urgent alerts on the spot and arrive in the respective community within a short time,” Armine says, adding that when needed, specialists from COAF’s Debed Child and Family Services Center (psychologist, speech therapist) are also involved.

Recently, Meline was appointed as COAF’s representative to the Social Cooperation Council of the Tumanyan community.

“This collaboration helps us provide more comprehensive solutions to the issues we encounter,” the social workers emphasize.

Armine and Meline confess that they always consult each other on complex cases.

One look at Meline and it’s clear just how fun and lively their group sessions are—especially when younger children, hearing about bullying for the first time, confuse it with the game of bowling they know so well.

SMART social workers also work indirectly with students’ families through home visits.

Armine admits that working with newly ordained SMART students during intro week is both energy-intensive and inspiring—especially when they receive positive feedback from parents.

Parenting workshops are just one of the community engagement formats COAF social workers employ.

Because the colleagues quickly became good friends, they also like to spend time together with their families after work.

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