The “Armenian Lawyers’ Association”, in cooperation with partners “Economic Development and Research Center” (EDRC) NGO and “Agora Central Europe” NGO (Czech Republic) are jointly implementing the “Budgets for Citizens (B4C)” project with financial support from the European Union.
The project, in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Armenia and state bodies developing policies in the four programme areas (social protection, education, justice and agriculture), aims to contribute to the expansion of civil society participation in state budget processes and to promote inclusive and transparent budget processes in Armenia.
The event, organized on 27 June, aimed to strengthen the role of the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the budget process, promote closer communication of the CSO sector in the formation of priorities in the social protection sector and in decision-making processes on budgetary issues.
Ms Kareine Harutyunyan thanked the participants and noted that she was pleased that the Civil Society and The Republic of Armenia Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs had joined efforts. She spoke briefly about the project as well.
The objective of the “Budgets for Citizens” project is to contribute to the expansion of civil society participation in budget processes, to simplify, improve and make budget knowledge transparent and to transfer it to the civil society. The programme also aims to support civil society in becoming an active participant in these processes,” Ms Harutyunyan noted.
Details in the video.
President of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association Mr. Karen Zadoyan, who is the “Budgets for Citizens” Project Manager, emphasized in his speech that the main objective is to strengthen the capacities of civil society organizations to monitor budget processes and carry out advocacy.
“The peculiarity of the Project is that we are trying to create new added value: we train young specialists and involve them in the civil society organizations on one year employment contract basis, so that they can help these organizations develop their capacities,” Mr. Karen Zadoyan noted
According to him one round of sub-grants had already been implemented in the framework of the project, during which the organizations conducted monitoring in several target areas of the project. “Currently, we are in the second stage and will soon provide new sub-grants to non-governmental organizations,” he added.
Details in the video.
Mr. Samvel Muradyan, the General Secretary of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, expressed hopes that the public sector will participate more actively in the programme and show interest in projects implemented in the social protection sector.
“We are completing the budgeting processes, including the application submission stage these days. Social protection is one of the areas where the work to be done often exceeds the available capabilities. We strive, in addition to existing programmers and events, to come up with new proposals,” Mr. Muradyan noted.
According to him, expectations referring to the involvement of the public sector in the in the processes of developing proposals are higher.
Details in the video.
Ms Ruzanna Gabrielyan, Head of Budget Process Coordination Department of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Armenia, emphasized that the Ministry had been in the origins of the initiative. Since 2019, the Government has adopted the principle of civil society and citizen participation in budget processes.
“A number of functions have been included in the preparation process of the budget, which are mandatory for the state bodies: that is the budget applications shall be discussed with representatives of the civil society. This provision has been in effect since the 2020 budget process. It is planned to create boards attached to ministries, where representatives of the civil society will also be involved. This will be another platform to make the public administration sector more transparent,” Ms Gabrielyan noted.
Details in the video.
Further Ms, Karine Harutyunyan delivered a speech on the topic “Public Involvement in the Budget Process in Armenia: Current Opportunities,” noting that currently researchers do not have the opportunity to obtain any information on medium-term expenditures.
“That document has become more specific, is oriented towards policy directions, and no longer defines spending limits for budget programmes. Consequently, the opportunities for civil society participation have changed somewhat as well,” Ms Harutyunyan emphasized.
The Head of the Budget Component of the “B4C” project presented in detail the processes that civil society is going through at present and those in the past.
Details in the video.
Ms Lilit Hakobyan, Budget Expert of the “B4C” project, presented a summary of social protection expenditures and directions in the RA 2026–2028 MTEF (Medium-Term Expenditure Framework). She also touched upon policy priorities, new initiatives, and expected expenditures in the social protection sector.
Details in the video.
The main objective of the event is to provide civil society with current information, in particular, on the policies to be implemented in the Social Protection Sector in 2026-2028 and the expenditure trends envisaged in the MTEF, to identify available budgetary information, to be informed about the opportunities and tools for participating in different stages of the budgetary process, in order to conduct effective analyses of budget programmes in the future and to engage in evidence-based participation with the state bodies.
