The second meeting of the Steering Committee of the ‘Budgets for Citizens’ Project (hereinafter: the Project) was held on December 10 at the ALA central office.

The meeting was attended by Tatevik Davtyan, Program Manager of the EU Delegation’s Cooperation Section; Karen Zadoyan, President of the Armenian Lawyers Association and Project Director; Karine Harutyunyan, Executive Director of the Economic Development and Research Center; Syuzanna Soghomonyan, ALA representative; Artak Saribekyan, ALA Executive Director; Anahit Mardoyan, Project Assistant; and Eduard Baghdasaryan, Chief Specialist of the Budget Process Analytical Methodology Department at the RA Ministry of Finance.

The meeting began with welcome speeches by Karen Zadoyan, ALA President and Project Director, and Tatevik Davtyan, Program Manager of the EU Delegation’s Cooperation Section, followed by presentations of the work done and successes achieved during the project’s second year.

Project Assistant Anahit Mardoyan presented in detail the budgets.am electronic platform for budget knowledge exchange created within the Project framework, its sections, and online learning opportunities. She also addressed the work carried out on the Project’s social media platforms, presenting the interactive videos and infographics prepared.

Then, Syuzanna Soghomonyan discussed the first flow of training programs aimed at developing young specialists’ budgetary capabilities and transferring budgetary knowledge to CSOs/Media, including its progress and results. According to her, more than 150 students and over 30 CSOs registered for the first flow of training, of which about 100 students and more than 20 CSOs completed the online learning phase through the budgets.am electronic platform. After participating in face-to-face courses and visits to state bodies, 15 young specialists and 20 CSOs who showed the best results successfully completed the first flow of training programs.

ALA President and Project Director Karen Zadoyan addressed the first phase of sub-grant provision for budget monitoring and analysis, as well as engaging young budget specialists in CSOs/Media on an employment basis. According to him, after long and persistent work, four sub-grant projects were finally selected in the fields of justice, social support, and education. Notably, the sub-grant projects involve four young specialists who showed the best results during the first flow of training programs aimed at developing young specialists’ budgetary capabilities.

Karine Harutyunyan, Executive Director of the Economic Development and Research Center, addressed the simplified sectoral budgets for 2024 in the Project’s target areas, discussing their structure, features, and effectiveness. The sectoral simplified budgets can be viewed here.

In the second part of the meeting, the tasks for the project’s third year were presented. Karen Zadoyan spoke about the training process for young specialists and CSOs/Media planned for the third year, its registrations, and preparatory work. Inspired by the success of the first flow, there is already great interest in the second flow.

The Project Director also addressed the process of the second phase of sub-grant provision. He emphasized the important circumstance that in the third year, CSOs/Media that completed the training programs with mentoring support will be actively involved in discussions of 2026 budget requests, supporting state bodies with their capabilities.

The meeting concluded with productive discussions, during which proposals were formed regarding the Project’s future actions and improvement of the electronic platform. A representative of the RA Ministry of Finance also made a proposal for cooperation regarding the future operation of the budgets.am platform.

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).