On 5 April, a meeting of two focus groups of CSOs was held in the ALA Syunik Branch Office in the scope of the “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” Project. Representatives from 14 CSOs of the region attended these meetings.
The meetings were aimed to identify the sectoral, sub-sectoral as well as organizational issues of the involved CSOs.
Mr. Aleksander Shagafyan, President of the “Armenian CIVITAS” NGO, participant of the project consortium.
A number of issues were identified during the discussions. Specifically, the issues existing in the spheres of small and medium enterprises, the export sector, the education sector, ranging from wages, to rates pf the salaries.
Young people were concerned about the lack of opportunity to education and spending their vacations in the region. They also discussed employment issues.
Mr. Aleksander Shagafyan presented the project and its target sectors and the methods of development of the potential of civil society, public control and constructive dialogue.
The most important issue related to the organizational capacity, the NGO representatives noted the financial shortage. They also stressed that there is a lack of capacity to form effective coalitions and to organize their work.
The “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” Project is implemented with the financial support of the European Union by the “Armenian Lawyers’ Association” NGO in cooperation with its partners; Agora Central Europe o.p.s (an NGO from the Czech Republic), Armenian Center for Democratic Education-CIVITAS, “International Center for Human Development” Public Organization, SME Cooperation Association and Union of Communities of Armenia.
Gevorg Tosunyan
Aleksander Sargsyan
