On April 11, the opening of the first stage of the Civil Society Organizations’ (CSO) incubators in the framework of the EU-funded “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” Project was held simultaneously in Yerevan, Vanadzor, Gavar, Gyumri and Kapan cities.
During the event in Yerevan, Mr. Karen Zadoyan, Project Manager and President of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association mentioned that the mission of CSO incubators is to provide professional and technical assistance to Armenian CSOs to develop their skills in 9 target sectors and 4 directions.
“The lion’s share of the development of public policies is borne by government, and the government consists of ministries and affiliated bodies. It is necessary to have their contacts, work with them, and conduct a constructive dialogue,” Mr. Zadoyan said.
He also added that soon a contact database would be created; meetings would be arranged between the two parties. “You will be able make our activities more effective through constructive cooperation,” he said.
Karen Zadoyan also presented the 4 discussed capacity directions, which are:
- Monitoring of public budgets and policies:
- Development of evidence based public policies:
- Coalition building and development:
- Constructive participation/dialogue with the Government and Local self Government in public policy development processes.
As well as 9 target areas of the project:
- Justice
- Human rights
- Public Finance Management
- Business
- Education
- Social Sector: social inclusion of children with disabilities
- Agriculture
- Economy
- Energy
The CSO incubators will be conducted in two stages in the following five cities: Yerevan, Gyumri, Vanadzor, Gavar and Kapan. 36 CSOs, which will be selected from the CSOs that have completed the training organized by the American University of Armenia, will take part in each stage. Upon completion of CSO incubators, 33 grants will be awarded on a competitive basis. It is anticipated to provide 16-17 grants in each stage.
CSOs of Tavush Marz will attend the incubator in Vanadzor; Aragatsotn CSOs, based on their geographical location, will participate in the incubators in Yerevan, Gyumri and Vanadzor cities, and Vayots Dzor CSOs, based on their geographical location, will attend the incubators in Kapan or Yerevan.
The seminar was organised in the scope of the “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” project which is is implemented with the financial support of the European Union by a Consortium of civil society organisations, which are the Armenian Lawyers’ Association (lead organisation), Agora Central Europe (NGO based in the Czech Republic), the Armenian Centre for Democratic Education-CIVITAS, the International Centre for Human Development, the SME Cooperation Association and the Union of Communities of Armenia.
The project aims to enhance the influence of civil society organisations (CSOs) and CSO coalitions/networks on public policies in Armenia. This will allow organisations that are already working in sectoral coalitions to access additional resources, new groups of civil society experts to come together and encourage place their causes on the local and national policy agenda, to identify common concerns and priorities and approach government bodies with constructive and strategic policy engagement initiatives. The project will provide sub-grants to CSOs and CSO coalitions for developing public policies and bringing significant changes in the 9 target sectors selected within the project, including those of justice, education and business.
Alisa Chilingaryan
