Commitment to Constructive Dialogue

Current State and Development Prospects of Trade Unions: Government-Civil Society Organisations Dialogue Forum

On 31 July 2018, from 10AM to 4:30PM, the first of its kind Government-Civil Society Organisations Dialogue Forum entitled “Current State and Development Prospects of Trade Unions” will be held in the scope of the CCD (“Commitment to Constructive Dialogue”) project funded by the European Union. The event will be held in Erebuni Plaza, Erebuni and Urartu Halls. It will comprise an opening session followed by four panel discussions: The Movement of Trade Unions in the Republic of Armenia: History, Current State, and Development Prospects; The Compatibility of the RA Labour Code with the Conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO); Prospects for Social Partnership Development in Armenia; Mechanisms of Social and Labour Rights Protection in Armenia. 

The forum is organised by the Armenian Lawyers’ Association in cooperation with the RA Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and the Confederation of Trade Unions of Armenia.

Representatives from the Confederation of Trade Unions of Armenia,the RA Government, major business entities, international organisations, as well as local civil society organisations will participate in the event.

The “Commitment Constructive Dialogue” Project is implemented with the financial support of the European Union by a Consortium of civil society organisations, which are the Armenian Lawyers’ Association (lead organisation), Agora Central Europe (NGO based in the Czech Republic), the Armenian Centre for Democratic Education-CIVITAS, the International Centre for Human Development, the SME Cooperation Association and the Union of Communities of Armenia.

The program was launched in December 2016. The duration of the project is 34 months. The project budget is 2.222.256 Euros, of which EUR 2,000,000 is provided by the European Union.

The target areas of the project are:

  1. Public Finance Management
  2. Human Rights: 
  3. Justice
  4. Business
  5. Education
  6. Agriculture
  7. Economy
  8. Energy 
  9. Social sphere: Social inclusion of children with disabilities 

The main 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 to strengthen the ability of CSOs to focus on constructive and strategic policy engagement with local and central government partners.

Within the framework of the project, trainings will be organised for CSOs operating in 9 targeted areas, including  monitoring of allocations of the state budget and policy implementation, identifying key issues for public policy development, including analysis and elaboration of public policies, coalition building and policymaking strategies, interaction with central authorities and partners in local self-governance bodies.

From now and on, through the efforts of the State Authorities and civil society organisations, the issues that exist in the nine target areas will be raised, and public policies aimed at the solution of the identified issues will be developed in the format of the Government-CSO constructive dialogue.