On 16 February, within the framework of the EU-funded “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” Project, 10 CSO Coalitions, with combined membership of about 250 organisations, signed a Declaration of Cooperation, deciding to establish the “Constructive Dialogue Network of Armenian CSOs”.

In the coming days, the Declaration of Cooperation will be approved by the competent authorities of the CSO coalitions that have signed it.

The idea of joining the forces and putting it on the legal basis emerged and was developed during the three-day Workshop for Cooperation and Strengthening of CSO Coalition Sub-Grantees in the Scope of the “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” Project, which took in Aghveran on 14-16 February.

During the workshop, the representatives of nine coalitions presented to their partners the main objectives of their activities conducted under the CCD sub-grant program and the main obstacles they face. As a result of the discussions, the participants came to the conclusion that there are great opportunities to work with each other and to have joint results.

“This is a new quality partnership, and I hope it will contribute to the solution of the major and most problematic issues that exist in public life as well as in economic and social spheres,” Mr. Karen Zadoyan, President of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, CCD Project Manager said.

10 CSO Coalitions have signed this Declaration:

DECLARATION

On the Creation of the “Constructive Dialogue Network of Armenian CSOs”

Based on the need to address the most important issues facing the public life and different socio-economic spheres;

Highlighting the cooperation and solidarity between the coalitions of civil society organizations (CSOs) in Armenia;

Being convinced that serious results can be achieved only through the active engagement of civil society in addressing public issues; creating and developing a real partnership and constructive dialogue with the specialized coalitions of sectoral CSO with the Government, National Assembly, Local Self-Governments, as well as international and other local organizations,

With a view to promote the development civil society and to encourage participation of different layers of civil society in the state governance processes:

CSOs Coalitions participating in this Declaration inform about their partnership and cooperation in implementing their strategic goals, proclaiming the creation of the Constructive Dialogue Network of Armenian CSOs.

The objectives of the “Constructive Dialogue Network of Armenian CSOs” are:

• To strengthen inter-sectoral constructive dialogue and cooperation between CSO coalitions,
• To develop constructive and strategic partnership of CSO coalitions with the Government, National Assembly and Local Self-Government Bodies based on mutual trust for the development, implementation and public control of policies aimed at solving critical problems of citizens
• To develop capacities of CSO coalitions for the improvement of public policies and implementation and public control
• To create an Endowment Fund with the support of Armenian, Diaspora and the international community to ensure the financial sustainability for the implementation of  CSO coalitions and member organizations projects and their activities

The “Constructive Dialogue Network of Armenian CSOs” is a voluntary informal cooperative body, which organizes its work through a board of member CSO coalitions’ representatives and/or executive management, at least once in 3 months through joint meetings or electronically held sessions. Each session of the board is presided by the head of one of CSO coalitions, on rotation basis according to the alphabetical order of names of coalitions. Where necessary, the Board of Member CSO Coalitions of the “Constructive Dialogue Network of Armenian CSOs” approves the Regulations of the Network and/or the Board of the Network, creates inter-sectoral commissions, adopts declarations and applies the whole toolkit for improving public policies and exercising public control. The Board of the “Constructive Dialogue Network of Armenian CSOs” is considered to have been formed from the moment of signing this Declaration.

This Declaration is deposited to the “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” Project, represented by the Armenian Lawyers Association, which temporarily performs the functions of the Network Secretariat.

The Declaration is open to CSO coalitions.

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” NGO, Agora Central Europe o.p.s (an NGO from the Czech Republic), the “Armenian Center for Democratic Education-CIVITAS” NGO, the “International Center for Human Development” Public Organization, the “SME Cooperation Association” NGO and the Union of Communities of Armenia.

The overall objective of the project is to enhance the influence of CSOs and their coalitions (networks) on the public policy process. This will enable the organizations (that already work in target coalitions) to gain new resources, unite civil society experts and encourage them to participate in the formation of local and national policy agenda, identify the common problems and priorities and to apply to the government with constructive and strategic policy initiatives.