First Stream Sub-Grant Agreements Signed Within the “Budgets for Citizens” Program

On November 14, a ceremonial signing of first-stream sub-grant agreements took place at the Armenian Lawyers’ Association central office within the “Budgets for Citizens” project, aimed at conducting budget monitoring and analysis in target areas, as well as engaging young budget specialists in CSOs/Media on an employment basis.

The event was attended by the winning civil society organizations from two sub-grant competitions:

  • “Economic Law Center” NGO
  • “Lusastgh” NGO
  • “Media for Education” NGO
  • “Direct Democracy” NGO

Notably, the ceremony was also attended by four young specialists who achieved the best results in the first stream of the educational program aimed at transferring budgetary knowledge to young professionals within the project: Liana Aghajanyan, Elena Harutyunyan, Anzhela Kocharyan, and Levon Soghomonyan. They will be engaged in the winning CSOs/Media organizations as young specialists in conducting budget analysis, budget monitoring, and developing simplified budgets.

The ceremony opened with remarks from Karen Zadoyan, President of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association and Director of the “Budgets for Citizens” program, who congratulated the winners and wished them effective, collaborative, and productive work.

Subsequently, Tatevik Davtyan, Head of Cooperation Section Programs at the European Union Delegation, delivered a welcome speech, emphasizing the importance of the program and the European Union’s efforts in ensuring civil society participation in transparent budgetary processes.

Karine Harutyunyan, Executive Director of the Center for Economic Development and Research and program expert, also welcomed the attendees, wishing effective implementation of the sub-grant programs.

The event concluded with the ceremonial signing of the sub-grant agreements.

The “Budgets 4 Citizens” (B4C) action (8 December, 2022 – 7 December, 2026) is being implemented with the financial support of the European Union by the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, in cooperation with partners “Economic Development and Research Center” (EDRC) NGO and “Agora Central Europe” NGO (Czech Republic).