Commitment to Constructive Dialogue

Training for CSO Coalitions entitled “How to Manage Strong Coalitions”: Day 2

On 10 September, the five-day training entitled “How to Manage Strong Coalitions” continues in Aghveran. The training has been organised in the scope of the “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” project (CCD) funded by the European Union and is meant for the coalitions of civil society organisations created and/or strengthened within the CCD project.

To conduct the training, 3 experts have arrived from the Czech Republic to share their own experiences: Petr Čáp – the managing director of National Network of Local Action Groups; Kristýna Fantová – a freelance grant writer with 18 years of experience in the NGO sector both in the Czech Republic and internationally; Miroslava Vitásková – a graduate of international relations and European studies with 10 years of experience with Czech and international NGOs, as well as the business sector.

On the second day of the training, the topics presented to the participants were: networking with similar coalitions from the European Union, effective management and administration of coalitions – advocacy and lobbying.

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” NGO, Agora Central Europe o.p.s (an NGO from the Czech Republic), the “Armenian Center for Democratic Education-CIVITAS” NGO, the “International Center for Human Development” Public Organization, the “SME Cooperation Association” NGO and the Union of Communities of Armenia.

The overall objective of the project is to enhance the influence of CSOs and their coalitions (networks) on the public policy process. This will enable the organizations (that already work in target coalitions) to gain new resources, unite civil society experts and encourage them to participate in the formation of local and national policy agenda, identify the common problems and priorities and to apply to the government with constructive and strategic policy initiatives.

In the scope of the project, sub-grants have been allocated to CSOs and CSO coalitions, aiming at public policy development and achieving tangible results in the 9 target sectors: justice, human rights, public finance management, business, education, social sector: social inclusion of children with disabilities, agriculture, economy, energy.