On June 4, the American University of Armenia launched a certification program for CSOs capacity building organised within the EU-funded “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” project.
At the opening of the five-day training course, Syuzanna Soghomonyan, CSO-Government Dialogue Coordinator of the Project, Lawyer of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association mentioned in her speech that, based on the analysis of the results of similar trainings conducted in five stages, CSOs have developed skills such as the development of evidence-based public policies, conducting monitoring, including monitoring of the budgets, coalitions creation skills, finding supporters, and achieving success, through constructive dialogue with the government and local authorities.
“Representatives of civil society organizations who have won the grant competition and have signed a grant agreement with are participating in this training. No matter what the program of each one is, and in which sector, the two most important results must be achieved through each program. The first, it is the formation of coalitions when there will be problems, everyone will know that there is one important, strong network that they can apply for support, and it can serve as a platform for discussing the issues raised. The other important outcome is the developed public policy. We have talked with everyone separately and reached the agreement, that it is not essential to have a well-developed public policy. The main outcome of this program for us should be the implementation of such public policies, creation of concepts and incorporation of them in special programs,” Susanna Soghomonyan said.
Avetik Mnatsakanyan, representative of “Foundation to Save Energy” NGO, told during a conversation with us that public administration courses are very important in Armenia, and NGOs are now making serious progress. “The objective is to become more informed, more productive in policymaking, as well as to acquire new links and to share new ideas with experts in the sector,” Avetik Mnatsakanyan said.
“We have come to participate in this project with great expectations, first of all, to develop our abilities and skills in this field,” Varsik Norikyan, representative of Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Shirak marz said. According to her, the organization shall implement the project doe efficiency of small and medium-sized business, and the main objective is the development of the sphere. “We are sure that within the framework of this program we will improve our activities and expand our opportunities and capabilities,” she said.
The “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” project is implemented with the financial support of the European Union by a Consortium of civil society organizations, which are the Armenian Lawyers’ Association (lead organization), 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.
