Mr. Suren Papikyan, the RA Minister of Territorial Administration and Development, met with representatives of the Consortiums of Public Finance Management and Economy which have been awarded sub-grants in the target sectors of the “Constructive Dialogue Commitment” Project.
Mr. Karen Zadoyan, Project Manager, President of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association of and Mr. Emin Yeritsyan, Coordinator on Local Self Government Issues participated in the meeting as well.
Suren Papikyan said that he emphasizes the ongoing cooperation with NGOs and civil society, noting that horizontally interacting of the Ministry and CSOs promotes the rise of civic consciousness and consistent implementation of democratic values. “We are very happy for cooperation, we attach great importance to the involvement of the organisations in marzes and their participation,” the Minister mentioned.
Karen Zadoyan presented the project and the activities on improving local governance and policy development within its framework and the CSOs’ involvement in the strategies of local growth and “smart community” initiatives, which will be key to successful implementation of local economic development plans and public governance in local self-governments, the need for improvements, monitoring and advocacy. “We have collected various issues, which we will present in turn, solve them together and move forward,” Karen Zadoyan said.
The parties reached an agreement to organise intense meetings in the near future and to carry out targeted discussions on individual components of the project.
During the meeting the projects “Budget for Everyone” and “Participatory Monitoring for the Establishment of Smart Communities in Armenia” were presented to the attention of the Minister. “Winnet Armenia” Network of Women Resource Centers and Hamazark (Community Development and Participatory Management Association) Coalition are implementing the projects respectively.
The “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” project 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 is funded by the European Union and launched on 15 December, 2016. Duration of the project is 34 months.
The 9 target areas of the project are: Justice, Human Rights, Public Finance Management, Business, Education, Social sphere: Social inclusion of children with disabilities, Agriculture, Economy, and Energy. It is anticipated to disclose the issues that exist in the sectors through Government – CSO constructive dialogue format with the competent authorities of the sector; develop, advocate and improve public policy programs through innovative ideas and solutions.
