On 12 February, an online discussion aimed at the strengthening of the knowledge of young professionals on effective advocacy mechanisms in the budgetary process was held in the framework of the training programme on budget knowledge sharing of the “Budgets for Citizens” Program.

At the beginning of the meeting, Ms Syuzanna Soghomonyan, the representative of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, welcomed the attendants for participating in the training program and was interested to hear the opinions of the young people on the topics of the advocacy component and the online training phase in general. All participants spoke about their impressions, presented observations and highly appreciated the work of the project experts aimed at the presenting of materials in the most accessible and interactive form.

Further, Ms Soghomonyan addressed in detail the participants’ questions regarding the advocacy tools, network cooperation, and public monitoring, as well as establishing a constructive dialogue with government agencies. Particular attention was paid to the development of evidence-based public policies and planning effective communication with the public. It should be noted that young people had already studied the above topics and collected questions of interest to them at the online learning stage.

At the end of the discussion, the ALA representative assured that the next stages of the training program will be even more interactive, effective and useful for the development of practical skills and professional growth of the participants.

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).