The advanced training courses for the capacity building of civil society organizations in the framework of the EU-funded “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” project is continued at the American University of Armenia.

According to Knarik Garanfilyan, President of “Family and Community” NGO, the trainings provide considerable efficiency to the organisations as they have gained new knowledge in the area of ​​advocacy and policy-making. “These are very important to us, because throughout our work there is a necessity to influence policies or to protect interests. It was quite interesting for me,” Knarik Garanfilian said.

Lia Zoryan, representative of the “Journalists for Human Rights” NGO, is participating in such training for the first time, told us during a conversation that lecturers are trying to teach new skills as much as possible.

“The course is very interesting in the sense that the practical part is maximised and the theoretical part is minimal. We are shown concrete tools, and in practice, we use it on the spot, so that we are able to use them when we return to our work, and this will make our work more operative and efficient,” Lia Zoryan 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.