On 1 May the winning NGOs of the 1st round of Small Grant Competition were awarded with an amount of more than 5 mln AMD.

The following NGOs have been awarded with grants of the “Multi-Faceted Anti-Corruption Promotion” Project: “Center for Regional Development and Research”, “Informed and Protected Consumer” NGO, “ArmComedy” CUltural NGO, “Peace Dialogue” NGO and “LogoS” Youth NGO.

The heads of these organizations signed the respective agreements with the AYLA President, “Multi-Faceted Anti-Corruption Promotion” Project Manager Karen Zadoyan.

The President of the “Center for Regional Development and Research” NGO Satik Badeyan informed that since 2004 the NGO has taken the direction of revealing corruption risks in the health sphere. “These are mainly connected with system issues. Through this project we`ll study the medicine circulation in hospitals and the existing corruption risks and manifestations there”, said Mrs. Badeyan. The Project is worth 1,219,000 AMD, and it will be implemented in the region of Gegharkunik.

The “LogoS” youth NGO will conduct anti-corruption monitoring in the orphanages and special care houses. The President of the NGO Ara Melikjanyan states that the targets are 4 special care houses and orphanages in the Shirak region. “We`ll conduct monitoring of the issues of rights` and interests` protection of children, as well as the possible corruption risks in the interrelationship parent – institution – children. The Grant Project will be implemented jointly with “Araks” Charity NGO and “Legal Clinic” NGO”, said our interlocutor. The project is worth 1,111,250 mln AMD.

The corruption issues in the transportation sphere in Lori region will be kept in the focus of “Peace Dialogue” NGO. The President of the NGO Edgar Khachatryan informed that the project will be implemented through the engagement of journalists, so that the society is better informed of the existing corruption risks in the sphere. “I think this issue is of interest to everyone, we all understand that the quality of this service provision is not the best, and on the other hand we see that a lot of money is spent from the Community Budget. But this is an opinion, and there is a need to analyze and reveal issues and give solutions”, stated our interlocutor. In the framework of the Project the NGO has been awarded an amount of 919,800 AMD.

The “Informed and Protected Consumer” NGO will try to reveal the corruption risks in the field of the free-of-charge provision of drugs. “In the first stage we`ll conduct document analysis on the imports. And then we`ll undertake a compliance evaluation, separating the issues. Naturally, we`ll conduct a small study to understand to what extent these drugs are helpful, as well as to reveal the reasons for receiving and not-receiving”, said the representative of the “Informed and Protected Consumer” NGO, Manager of the funded project Siranush Zakaryan, who`ll lead the project. 940,000 AMD is provided for this grant.

And the “ArmComedy” Cultural NGO will focus on the Anti-Corruption Strategy and Council. “We`ll to some point help the Council to be more efficient and not fail”, said the Speaker of the Show Sergey Sargsyan. Otherwise the “ArmComedy” will reveal through humor the corruption risks. “Very often we see that an ungrounded cost is made, for example recently we noticed that they spent 7000 AMD on buying a cup, while we know that the maximum amount that can be spent on it is 2000 AMD. We can simply write another article on it, and it will just pass and go, but if a satirical material is prepared, the readers also have the desire to share it. Thus, the society gets more informed on the actual issue and becomes interested to have it spoken about”, underlined the President of the NGO, speaker of the show Narek Margaryan. The Project is worth 900,000 AMD.

“Multi-Faceted Anti-Corruption Promotion” Project Manager Karen Zadoyan said that the building of public control capacities of the CSOs is the major aim of the Project. “In this framework 105 CSO representatives passed anti-corruption trainings in Yerevan and the regions in 2014. It is much important now that the CSOs apply the gained knowledge, experience and skills in practice. And the provision of small grants is aimed at this objective, and through these the CSOs can implement public anti-corruption control”, said Mr. Zadoyan.

The “Multi-Faceted Anti-Corruption Promotion” Project is implemented by the Armenian Young Lawyers Association and the “Freedom of Information Center” NGO, by the financing of the EU and the OSCE Yerevan Office.

Iravaban.net