On 18 July, the students of the 9th stream of the Anti-Corruption School for Young Leaders, the 1st anti-corruption professional educational initiative operating in the Republic of Armenia, were hosted at the Government of the Republic of Armenia within the framework of the master classes and practical skills development phase of the 9th stream of the school, where Ms Lilya Afrikyan, OGP Coordinator/Point of Contact of the Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia received them.

The whistle-blowing system, the structure of the Government and the powers of the Prime Minister’s office were discussed during the meeting.

According to Lilya Afrikyan, currently, citizens trust azdararir.am less and prefer to send their inquiries and complaints through the e-request system or hand them over. Now various initiatives are being implemented to make the azdararir.am platform more affordable and accessible for citizens.

During the meeting, reference to the Open Government Partnership was made as well. Lilya Afrikyan noted that the goal of the initiative is to contribute to the improvement of the governance system with the active involvement of civil society, to promote its efficiency, increasing the level of transparency, trustworthiness and accountability of state-citizen relations.

“We are participating in the implementation of a number of reforms of the anti-corruption agenda, including the improvement of the register of declarations and gifts, the establishment of the Institute of Beneficial Owners and the work of the state procurement system,” Lilya Afrikyan said.

The students were impressed by the meeting that took place in the Government and by the complete and comprehensive information provided to them on the topics under discussion.

Notably, the training in the Anti-Corruption School for Young Leaders will be organized in the following phases:

1. ONLINE TRAINING PHASE, during which the students will pass a basic anti-corruption course consisting of 25 topics through the school’s online anti-corruption training platform. Those students who have completed all the knowledge test questionnaires and received the appropriate points for completing the online training will be considered completed the online training phase.
2. MASTER CLASS AND PRACTICAL SKILLS DEVELOPMENT PHASE, during which students who have successfully completed the advanced stage of school will be divided into groups and each group will conduct a study, monitoring or investigation on one of the in-depth anti-corruption topics. During this phase, the work will be organized in the form of group meetings, discussions, and meetings with representatives of the sectors and other relevant bodies and organizations. Attendees will learn a range of innovative tools and gain related skills. At this stage, mentoring for groups is planned.
3. PUBLIC AWARENESS PHASE, during which students who have successfully completed the practical skills development phase of the school will have the opportunity to disseminate their anti-corruption knowledge among young people through public awareness seminars.
4. ADVANCED TRAINING PHASE, during which the best 15-20 participants who have achieved high results in the online training phase of the school, successfully completed the in-depth interview phase and are selected, will participate in the outreach (out of Yerevan) in-depth anti-corruption training. The in-depth training phase of the school will consist of the modules: “Anti-Corruption Advanced Training” and “Pillars of National Identity”.
5. FINAL PHASE, during which the students, who have successfully completed the practical skills development and public awareness stages of the school, will present their research and public awareness results to the reputable jury and the public.

Students who have passed and successfully graduated from all five phases of the School will be awarded GRADUATION CERTIFICATES of Anti-Corruption School for Young Leaders.

The Anti-Corruption School for Young Leaders was founded by Karen Zadoyan, the President of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, a member of the Anti-Corruption Policy Council. “The Armenian Lawyers’ Association” NGO is organizing the Anti-Corruption School for Young Leaders in cooperation with the CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia.

The information partner of the Anti-Corruption School for Young Leaders is Iravaban.net,  independent professional news website.