A training course aimed at developing the capacity of civil society organizations (CSOs) representatives has been launched today, on 4 December. 15 CSO representatives from seven marzes of the RA attended the training. The training is a new educational certification program for CSO capacity development, which is held at the American University of Armenia.
The new educational program will be implemented within the framework of the EU-funded “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” project, which aims at making the voice of civil society heard at public discussions in Armenia. The project is implemented by the Armenian Lawyers’ Association in cooperation with 5 partner organizations.
At present, the Armenian CSOs are self-sufficient in obtaining knowledge. We organize workshops ourselves, share experiences. Today, however, a university education program is being implemented for CSOs as a result of the EU funding, which is a unique event for Armenia,” Mr. Karen Zadoyan, President of the Armenian lawyers’ Association said.
As a result of this training program CSOs will be able to start a sustainable and productive dialogue with government and local self-governance bodies in the development of public policies and their voice will play a major role in the solution of problem facing the public. “If a CSO wants to have its influence on the decisions made by the government, it must have at least serious expertise,” Karen Zadoyan said.
“The peculiarity of these courses will be that they will not be temporary and will be implemented after the completion of the program as well,” Dr. Sergey Tantushyan, the Director of Extension Programs at AUA said and assured that the best specialists will teach this program.
120 CSO representatives from Yerevan and marzes will be trained on the issues of public policy development, monitoring of public budgets and public policies, coalition building and developing CSO-government constructive dialogue. Upon completion of the training course, CSO representatives will be awarded diplomas.
