11 September is the 3rd day of the five-day training entitled “How to Manage Strong Coalitions” which has been organised in Aghveran in the scope of the “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” project (CCD) funded by the European Union. The training is meant for the coalitions of civil society organisations created and/or strengthened within the CCD project.
Today, the training participants discussed with the Czech experts the possibilities of developing membership in coalitions, in addition to learning about skills of internal PR and work with the members. In the second half of the day, a discussion on Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) was held. The participants were presented with information on how to be ready for EU calls. They enhanced their knowledge through a game.
“Our coalition has experienced both successes and difficulties in its work. This five-day training with our Czech partners was a good opportunity for us to get familiar with the Czech and international experience, as well as to exchange our own experience with our partner coalitions at local level, in order to get an understanding of the development of coalitions in a more systemic manner. I believe that my partners will concur that at this point the more relevant issue for the coalitions is to maintain sustainability which is highlighted at the training,” said participant Narek Botsinyan who is the Board Chairman of the “Progress” Youth NGO. This organisation is a member of the Armenian Educational Network coalition. The coalition has a goal to develop in Armenia the sector of vocational education and training and boost social partnership, especially in marzes.
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.
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.
