Today, on 9 October, the third, last meeting of the Steering Committee of the “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” (CCD) Project took place.

The meeting discussed the work done over the past three years by the CCD project.

The members of the project consortium, members and observers of the project headquarters, representatives of the sub-grantee coalitions of the project, as well as Mr. Gregory Tsouris, PSC Co-Chairperson, Deputy Head of the Cooperation Section of the European Union Delegation to Armenia.

Armen Galstyan and Gregory Tsouris

“When the voice of government and civil society is heard together, it gets stronger. You have to become stronger partners for the government and for us to be involved in the reform process in Armenia,” he said.

Mr. Armen Galstyan, Executive Director of the International Center for Human Development thanked the European Union for assistance and all other organizations for their cooperation.

“The program does not end with our session today. On the contrary, it is the beginning of new programs and new partnerships. We are very impressed by the partnership, the new approaches our partners have put within this project and created such a working environment where it is possible to consolidate, where it was possible to join hands and register serious results,” Armen Galstyan said.

Karen Zadoyan

Mr. Karen Zadoyan, CCD Project Manager, President of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association presented the results for the period of 1 April through 9 October. He noted that three governments have been changed during the project implementation, as a result of which relevant changes have been made to the heads of sectoral ministries, territorial administration bodies, but despite these difficulties, the program has largely fulfilled its main and specific objectives. Listing some of the results achieved within the framework of the project, Karen Zadoyan noted that the program has significantly influenced on ensuring accountability and transparency of transitional justice, anti-corruption, judicial, non-governmental organizations and foundations in the Republic of Armenia, as well as developing and improving public policies in other areas of the project, including through capacity building of CSO coalitions/networks formed and developed within the project.

He also noted that the final event of the program, as well as a conference on Government-CSO constructive dialogue, will be held on October 15. “A very interesting event is expected, during which everyone will have the opportunity to present their results within the framework of the CCD project,” he said.

8 of the 9 coalitions formed and/or developed within the scope of the project, including: The Inter-Regional Coalition to Deal with Issues of Children with Disabilities; Armenian Business Coalition, CSOs for Sustainable and Transparent Energy Development; Coalition for Protection of Human Rights; HamaZarK Coalition; The “Armenian Agricultural Alliance” Coalition; Partnership for Educational Progress; “Support to Probation” National Network presented their project results.

Mr. Artush Khachatryan, President of the “Community Pulse” NGO and “New Development Plan of Vardenik Community: Tourism and Agriculture” Project Manager and Ms Bella Shikaryan, Monitoring of the Workers’ Rights” Project Manager, presented their success stories as well.

Notably, Ms Tatev Msryan, representative of the “CSO Bridge” Project of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (launched in partnership with the Eurasia Partnership Foundation and funded by the European Union), who attended the event as an observer, noted the results already registered under the program.

At the end of the session there was a discussion with all the participants.

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.