Legislative Amendments on Non-Governmental Organisations have been presented to Shirak Marz NGO Representatives

A training course on the New NGO Law and the recent amendments to it was organized today in Gyumri for the representatives of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Shirak Marz.

The training discussion was organized in the scope of the EU funded “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” project. Mr. Marat Atovmyan, Coordinator of the project incubators, introduced legislative innovations to more than 15 CSO representatives. Most of the participants were women.

“We have received detailed information on new legislation. Now I am working on a changes in the charter and I have made a lot of notes that I can include in it. The procedure of engagement in entrepreneurship, involving NGO members, and conducting audit was very important as well,” Mr. Levon Igityan, President of “Akhuryan” Youth NGO said.

He as well as Ms Rosa Avagyan, representative of “AGATE” Rights Defense Centre for Women with Disabilities NGO noted that the provisions on conducting audit were new, and specifically the condition that in the case of receiving over 5 million AMD from public funding, a compulsory audit should be conducted, and in addition it should be conducted on NGO’s expenses.

Marat Atovmyan presented the “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” project mentioning that its main objective is to strengthen CSOs’ influence in Armenia in the process of developing public policies.

At the end of the training Marat Atovmyan answered the questions and informed that legal advice and assistance on the NGO activities are provided within the framework of the project

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.