On 19 July, the opening ceremony of Yerevan Kindergarten No. 49 took place with participation of  Hrachya Sargsyan, Mayor of Yerevan, Ambassador Andrea Wiktorin, Head of EU Delegation to Armenia, Maciej Czura, Head of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Regional Representation for the South Caucasus, Natia Natsvlishvili, UNDP  Resident Representative in Armenia, and Timothy Straight, Honorary Consul of Norway and Finland in Armenia.

For around two years, extensive renovation works were carried out in the kindergarten. As a result, the building was completely reconstructed, becoming heat resistant and energy efficient. 

From now on, around 300 children will attend their already modernized and warm kindergarten.

“The Government of Armenia prioritization of the energy efficiency in recent years ensured positive developments under state subvention program, and UNDP in Armenia is committed to join efforts in scaling the energy efficiency works in public and especially in residential buildings thanks to the financial support of the Green Climate Fund. As a result, the residents will witness obvious improvements in comfort, and monetary savings can be used for meeting essential social needs,” said UNDP Resident Representative in Armenia Natia Natsvlishvili.

The guests toured the kindergarten and got acquainted with the completed works.

The walls and the roof of the kindergarten were thermally insulated, the old doors and windows were replaced with energy-efficient versions, a new LED lighting system was installed, the earthquake resistance of the building was increased, and capital repairs were made.

Seismic surveys (49 kindergartens), energy audits (46 kindergartens), development of designs (29 kindergartens, 2 more are in the pipeline now) as well as technical and author supervision of ongoing retrofit works (12 kindergartens) were implemented in the frames of technical assistance provided by the UNDP-GCF “De-risking and Scaling-up Investment in Energy Efficient Building Retrofits” project.

The retrofit of the kindergartens was implemented by the Yerevan Municipality, co-financed by the EIB, Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership Fund - E5P (E5P), and the Green Climate Fund (GCF), implemented by UNDP.