Non-governmental organizations can also engage in entrepreneurial activities, but it is not clear to organizations what it is and how it should be properly organized. Representatives of civil society organizations (CSOs) attended training on legal, tax and business consulting on social entrepreneurship. The training on 27 February in Gyumri, was facilitated by the representatives of the consortium member organizations implementing the EU-funded “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” project.
Free expert consultation was provided within the framework of another EU-funded “STRONG CSOs for a Stronger Armenia” project.
Trainer, Executive Director of the Project Partner SME Partnership Association of Armenia, Hakob Avagyan, presented the “Commitment Constructive Dialogue” project, noted that it is aimed at raising the influence of civil society organizations in the issues of the development of public policies, and teaching of constructive dialogue skills, initiating dialogue with the local self-government bodies and the government, as well as formation of coalitions in 9 targeted areas, including justice, education, and business.
Through active questions and answers session, Hakop Avagyan presented to the participants when their work could be considered as entrepreneurial, as well as the peculiarities of creating social entrepreneurship and the nuances of their accounting.
Training participant Eliza Petrosyan, from “Lori Development Center” NGO of Vanadzor noted that being an active member of the CSO, she was interested in amendments to the new law on NGOs. “During this course, I gained a lot of new knowledge to create social entrepreneurship, and what preconditions are needed, as well as whether our NGO has these opportunities or not? By taking this knowledge with me, and sharing experience with other members of the organization, we can finally achieve the final result,” she said.
“The training was very interesting as our non-governmental organization has not been engaged in entrepreneurial activity and has not been involved in its separate accounting, and through this training it was interesting to know the peculiarities of accounting in the NGO sector,” said Anna Hovhannisyan, from “Community Development and Social Support Center” NGO.
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.
