On 26 June, two more trainings on participatory budgeting were held in the scope of the face-to-face (offline) training phase of the budget training program for young professionals and CSO/Mass Media representatives launched within the framework of the “Budgets for Citizens” project.
The main topics of this training were the levels and stages of implementation of participatory budgeting. Representative of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, Ms Syuzanna Soghomyan facilitated the training.
At the beginning of the lesson, participants first filled in the initial knowledge test designed for this topic to understand their perception and basic knowledge gained after the online phase.
Then, Ms Soghomonyan presented in detail the levels and stages of implementation of participatory budgeting, after which the participants asked questions regarding the ways, mechanisms and obstacles of implementation of participatory budgeting at both the state and local levels.
They also discussed a number of questions about the difficulties that occur at each stage and the mechanisms for overcoming them.
The course was saturated with group and practical works. Participants, both present at the office and connected remotely, split into groups and presented their unique perspectives on the process and gaps in it, suggesting possible steps to address them.
At the end of the training, both the young professionals and the CSO/Mass Media members completed a final knowledge verification test, which was aimed to assess the level of knowledge of the participants before and after the course.
The courses are held in a hybrid method, in face-to-face and online (remote) formats, with the aim of giving young professionals and representatives of CSOs and Mass Media from distant marzes the opportunity to participate in the courses and have their input in the improvement of the sector.
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).
