On 1 August, a virtual study tour within the framework of the exchange of experience on mentoring and EU practices phase of the “Budgets for Citizens” program, the representatives of the CSOs and Mass Media, who participate in the study program, met with expert on budget issues Ms Jana Stehnová, representative of the member organization of the consortium of B4C project, “Agora Central Europe” NGO (Czech Republic).

The main objective of the virtual study tour was to share the successful experience of the Czech Republic in the budget processes, emphasizing the experience of CSOs in cooperation with state and/or local bodies.

At the beginning of the meeting, budget expert Jana Stehnová welcomed the representatives of the CSOs and Mass Media participating in the training program, noting the successful completion of the online and face-to-face stages of the training. After that the expert presented the main operating mechanisms of the civil society participation in the budget process in the EU countries, and in particular in the Czech Republic. She also referred to the effective cooperation of the CSOs with state and local bodies as well as the ways to achieve success as a result.

Having the aim to encourage and motivate the participants, the expert spoke about the results recorded by CSOs of the Czech Republic as well and brought successful examples.

During the discussion, the representatives of CSOs and Mass media raised the issues of their concern, which were mainly related to the development of the precise cooperation mechanisms with state bodies, the government’s programs to support the financial stability of CSOs, the tax regime applied to CSOs and other pectoral priorities.

The discussion was concluded with the motivating speech of the expert, aimed at increasing the participation of civil society in the budget process in Armenia.

The “Budgets 4 Citizens” (B4C) action (8 December, 2022 – 7 December, 2026) is being implemented with the financial support of the European Union by the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, in cooperation with partners “Economic Development and Research Center” (EDRC) NGO and “Agora Central Europe” NGO (Czech Republic).