A solemn ceremony of signing sub-grant agreements with CSOs within the framework of the EU funded “Budgets for Citizens” program was held at the office of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association.

ALA President Mr. Karen Zadoyan welcomed the participants. He noted that they had participated in traings here and now it was the time to benefit from the results. He believes that this program is the logical continuation of another EU funded program – “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” program.

 “The idea of this program arose with the aim of strengthening the NGOs and young specialists, so that they can track the entire budget process professionally, keep it in the center of their attention and have real impact on the further improvement of the process,” Karen zadoyan noted.

Mr. Josip Juric, Cooperation Section Programme Officer of the Delegation of the European Union to Armenia attended the event as well. He noted in his opening remarks, that the European Union highly appreciates the work being done.

“Actually me personally but also my colleagues at the Delegation got a lot of information from that presentation, notably on the discrepancies between how much is invested in education, how much the goals are that the Government is putting themselves that they wanted to achieve,” Josip Juric Noted.

According to him, the EU is currently planning the activities for the next three years and their budgets, and from this perspective, the work carried out within the framework of the Program is really important.

Ms Karine Harutyunyan, the Executive Director of “Economic Development and Research Center” (EDRC) NGO, welcomed the participants and congratulated them on receiving the garnts.

“Do you know what makes us happy? The contents of the presented programs were very different. We will have monitoring and research activities in the procurement processes, as well as in the agricultural and social protection sectors, which we will follow and monitor the budget expenditures,” Ms Harutyunyan noted.

Eight sub-grants to conduct budget monitoring and analysis in targeted areas, as well as to develop a simplified budget were provided within the framework of the “Budgets for Citizens” program,.

Eight more sub-grants were provided to involve young specialists in the implementation of these programs on a working basis in CSOs or the media.

Six sub-grants were provided to implement advocacy campaigns in targeted areas within the framework of the program as well.

During the ceremony, Mr. Karen Zadoyan also spoke about the importance of the sovereignty of non-governmental organizations, emphasizing the need to preserve it with the support of the European Union and other partners.

“The NGO representatives should understand that they are the owners, servants, and employees of the organization. It is necessary to ensure a diversity of funds as much as possible,  so that they can fully implement their mission,” the ALA President emphasized.

This publication has been developed with the financial support of the European Union, within the framework of the “Budgets for Citizens” project implemented by the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, in cooperation with partners “Economic Development and Research Center” (EDRC) NGO and “Agora Central Europe” NGO (Czech Republic).

The “Budgets for Citizens” project is responsible for the content, and it does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.