On 28 February, 16 representatives of civil society organisations participated in a training on the Social Entrepreneurship Institute provided by the new law, which was organised in the framework of the EU-funded “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” project.
Mr. Hakob Avagyan, the Executive Director of the Project Partner SME Partnership Association of Armenia, Business and Related Sectors’ Coordinator of the project described the cases in where the entrepreneurship is considered social, how it is organized, as well as how the accounting shall be conducted and other important issue.
“There has been a change related to NGOs in the legislative field. The idea of social entrepreneurship to which we just got acquainted and began to apply, has been added. We talked about social entrepreneurship, discussed and learned quite new things. There are problems and obstacles that we discussed and decided to submit proposals through the Initiative Group,” Ms Yerazik Alaverdyan, a representative of the “Blossoming Almond” NGO said.
Arman Ghazaryan, representing the Young Journalists Association NGO, mentioned that such trainings are useful for NGOs because they relate to strict professional areas, such as legislation regulating NGO field, a number of tax particularities, and so on. “After receiving professional counselling within these meetings, we can manage our organizations more effectively, avoid the risks of various types, and why not to be able to ensure correct turnover,” he said.
Hakob Avagyan also spoke about the “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” project. He noted that it is aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of CSOs in the development of public policies, as well as to strengthen their skills to initiate effective and constructive dialogue with local self-government bodies and the government.
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.
