For over a year, NGOs have been given the opportunity to engage in entrepreneurial activity. However, as a result of legislative shortcomings and stringent provisions, a number of NGOs avoid using this opportunity.
On January 16, training on new legislative requirements and engaging in entrepreneurial activity was held for NGO representatives in the framework of the EU-funded “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” project. The training was attended by about 20 NGO representatives, most of them women and young activists.
Trainer, Executive Director of the Project Partner SME Partnership Association of Armenia, Hakob Avagyan, Business and Related Sectors Coordinator of the project, presented the social entrepreneurship, the types of taxation regime, the problems that may arise in practice, both connected with the legislation and other issues.
He presented the sources of income of NGOs and how their reports are presented. According to him, after the adoption of the new law “On Non-Governmental Organizations,” it became rather complicated to distinguish which income is taxed and which is not taxable if the NGO begins to engage in entrepreneurship. The problem initially is solved in the following way: a commission has been set up at the Ministry of Finance, to which it is possible to submit the relevant documents and receive consultations on whether or not they will be taxed for concrete income.
Hakob Avagyan also outlined that the objective of the “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” project is to strengthen CSOs’ impact on the public policy process and the specific objectives are to strengthen the ability of CSOs to build coalitions and focus on constructive and strategic policy engagement with local and central government partners.
Currently, the program provides legal assistance to CSOs on harmonizing the NGO statutes with the requirements of the new law by 4 February. Currently, the process of providing grants to CSOs and CSO Coalitions in the scope of the projects shall be launched. The project has 9 target areas, including justice, education, and business.
Upon completion of the training, Hakob Avagyan provided individual counseling to the participants.
It should be noted that 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 (lead organization), 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.
