On 31 January 2018, 2 sub-grant agreements were signed with coalitions of civil society organisations in the scope of the “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” (CCD) project funded by the European Union. 

Project Manager and President of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association Karen Zadoyan noted that sub-grants worth up to AMD 8.5 million were allocated to 2 CSO coalitions whose sub-grant projects were already funded by CCD, this time in order to develop their capacities.  

The new agreements have been signed with the Armenian Agricultural Alliance and the Armenian Business Coalition represented by their consortium member organisations, the Civic Development and Partnership Foundation and the OxYGen Foundation for Protection of Youth and Women Rights, respectively responsible for their coalition capacity building. 

On 27 December 2018, sub-grant allocation agreements have also been signed by CCD with the remaining 7 coalitions already implementing grant projects. 

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 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 has provided sub-grants to 9 CSO coalitions that are directed to the development of public policies and will have tangible results in the 9 target sectors selected within the project, which are: Justice, Human Rights, Public Finance Management, Business, Education, Social Sector (social inclusion of children with disabilities), Agriculture, Economy and Energy.