On 22-24 February 2019, a three-day capacity building forum of the “HamaZarK” coalition created and currently strengthened in the scope of a sub-grant allocated by the “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” project funded by the European Union took place in Gyumri.
Representatives from the coalition member organisations, the Head of the Shirak Marz Administration, representatives from the marz administration, and community heads participated in the event. The number of participants exceeded 25.
Gharib Harutyunyan, the President of the “Compass” Centre, gave a welcome speech. After greeting the participants, he presented the goal of the forum, the purpose of founding the coalition, the activities of the latter. He spoke about the fact that during the forum member organisations of the coalition will be evaluated and the skeleton of their strategy will be formed within the following two days as a result of mutual work. He presented the consortium members, the projects implemented and the fact that they had a goal to turn the coalition into a really serious institution which would continue its activities even after the end of the project.
Afterwards, Tigran Petrosyan, the Head of the Shirak Marz Administration, gave a welcome speech, where the attached importance to the creation of a similar coalition, the goals of the latter, ensuring community participation in the activities. He expressed his willingness to cooperate.
Afterwards, Haykaram Drmeyan, the “Capacity Building of the HamaZarK Coalition” Project Manager gave a presentation. He presented the two projects implemented by them in the scope of the CCD project operated by ALA and funded by the EU (“Participatory Monitoring for the Creation of Smart Communities in Armenia” and “Capacity Building of the HamaZarK Coalition”), their goals, some results of the monitoring carried out. He also responded to some of the participants’ questions on the projects.
The event went as planned and the next presentation was delivered by Arpine Hakobyan, the Head of the NGO Centre. She familiarised the audience with the evaluation tools of the organisations, attaching importance to their possession and application.
Experts Arpine Hakobyan and Karen Sargsyan worked at the three-day forum.
On the first day of the forum, expert Arpine Hakobyan touched upon evaluation of the capacities of the coalition and did a SWOT analysis of the LGB sector together with the participants. On the second and the third days, expert Karen Sargsyan clarified the general mission of the coalition through the participants’ active analyses in teams.
Through team work, the participants came to the formulation of strategic directions and the measurable results coming from them. They also singled out 3 strategic directions: development of smart cities, boosting community development and improvement of the work of LGBs. Real and measurable activities and steps were proposed. It was decided to digitise the list of the activities discussed and discuss them in the organisations, express opinions, justifications and make additions.
