On January 26, 16 representatives of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) from Yerevan and the regions received graduation certificates from the CSO Capacity Building Program of American University of Armenia’s.
The training is implemented within the framework of the EU-funded “Commitment to Constructive” project, which aims to make the voice of civil society heard at the public debate. On 26 January, CSO representatives completed the 6th phase.
Mr. Tevan Poghosyan, President of the International Centre for Human Development NGO, member of the Consortium of “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” Project handed certificates to CSO representatives from Yerevan and marzes who had successfully participated in the course.
“The course was very useful in terms of development of coalition as well as public policy. The course was really academic. I think that in most cases what we were doing was intuitive, and not calculated we basic knowledge about it,” Zaruhi Hovhannisyan, an activist from the Coalition to stop Violence Against Women said.
Garegin Galustov, Business Development Officer of the European Business Association, noted that during the course, they learned the skills of forming coalitions and networks, and to be strong in developing them and public policies. “It was also a great opportunity to establish links with the regional organizations, to start a reliable partnership,” he said.
The educational program already has 88 graduates. It should be noted that the educational program will be implemented for a total of 120 CSO representatives from Yerevan and marzes. Within the framework of the educational program the participants on the issues of public policy development, monitoring of public budgets and public policies, coalition building and developing CSO-government constructive dialogue.
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.
