On 12 September 2018, Marat Atovmyan, the Mentors Group Coordinator/Justice Sector Mentor of the “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” project funded by the European Union, gave personal advice on CSO public policy monitoring and improvement plans to 8 CSOs from the Gyumri CSO incubator.
Victoria Yeghoyan, the Regional Coordinator of the Shirak CSO Incubator, participated in the working meetings, too.
Representatives from the following CSOs received advice at the Gyumri Office of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association: “Equality Index” NGO, “Let’s Discover Our Country” Youth NGO, “MEK” Cultural Experimental Center of Gyumri” NGO, “Arevamanuk” Family and Child Care Fund, “Efficient Governance and Community Development” NGO, “Center for Community Initiatives and Campaigns” NGO.
Then, visits were made to the the offices of the following CSOs to give them advice right on the spot: “Compass” Scientific, Educational and Advisory Center, “Agat” Centre for Protection of Rights of Women with Disabilities NGO, “Youth Initiatives Centre of Gyumri” NGO.
During the working meetings the sub-grants allocated to incubator CSOs through competition were discussed, in addition to the development of public policy monitoring and improvement plans by the participants’ own organisations, as well as the preparation of a brief executive summary of a sub-grant project on a single public policy included in their plans.
During the personal advice sessions Atovmyan mentioned how an organisation’s public policy monitoring and improvement plan should be prepared, how problematic public policies should be presented in a more targeted manner. All the questions raised by NGO representatives were answered.
The “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” project is implemented with the financial support of the European Union by a Consortium of civil society organisations, which are the Armenian Lawyers’ Association (lead organisation), 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.
The project aims to enhance the influence of civil society organisations (CSOs) and CSO coalitions/networks on public policies in Armenia. This will allow organisations that are already working in sectoral coalitions to access additional resources, new groups of civil society experts to come together and to encourage them to place their causes on the local and national policy agenda, to identify common concerns and priorities and approach government bodies with constructive and strategic policy engagement initiatives.
The project will provide sub-grants to CSOs and CSO coalitions for developing public policies and bringing significant changes in the 9 target sectors selected within the project, including those of justice, human rights, public finance management, business, education, and the social sector: social inclusion of children with disabilities, agriculture, economy, and energy.
