On 23 April, 15 representatives from different civil society organisations in Gyumri were informed about recent amendments to the RA Law on Non-Governmental Organisations within the EU-funded “Constructive Dialogue Commitment” program.
Mr. Marat Atovmyan, Board Member of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, Mentors’ Group Coordinator/Justice and related Sectors Mentor of the “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” Project conducted the seminar.
He noted that since 4 February of this year it is no longer obligatory for non-governmental organisations to amend the charter of the organisation and, in case if changes are made to the Charter and re-registration in the state register, they will pay 5000 AMD as a state duty.
Marat Atovmyan also presented the procedure for submitting reports on the activities of NGOs and the implementation of statutory audit.
Upon completion of the training, participating non-governmental organisations the opportunity to receive free legal counseling by law directly from the trainer, as well as receive assistance in bringing their legal documents in line with the current legislation.
The seminar-discussion is implemented in the scope of the “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” action is implemented with the financial support of the European Union by a Consortium of civil society organisations, which are “Armenian Lawyers’ Association”, Agora Central Europe o.p.s (an NGO from the Czech Republic), Armenian Center for Democratic Education-CIVITAS, “International Center for Human Development” Public Organisation, SME Cooperation Association and Union of Communities of Armenia.
The overall objective of the project is to enhance the influence of CSOs on the public policy process, and the specific objectives are to strengthen the ability of CSOs to build coalitions and focus on constructive and strategic policy engagement with local and central government partners. The Project has a sub-granting component, under which grants will be provided to CSOs and CSO Coalitions. The Project has 9 target areas, including justice, education and business.