EPD project: Capacity building of Armenian advocacy initiatives (NGO Center)
The EPD Board of Directors in March 2009 selected two projects to be supported under this Fragile Democracy Programme. The "NGO Centre" Civil Society Development NGO, based in the Armenian city of Vanadzor will implement one of the projects seeking to create "Advocacy Resource Centers for Civic Advancement (ARCCA)."
Their project includes three partner organizations: "NGO Center" (NGOC) Civil Society Development Organization, Civic Development and Partnership Foundation (CDPF) and "Partnership and Teaching" (GUM) NGO, pursuing a goal of "capacity-building of advocacy oriented Armenian NGOs to increase dialogue among civil society and governmental bodies." The main strategy of the project is advanced capacity-building of selected CSOs (or civil society organizations) through institutionalizing of advocacy capacities, establishment of the advocacy resource centers, initiating the dialog among the CSOs and government, and experience exchange between local CSOs with European organizations.
The overall goal of the project is to further advance the capacity of Armenian advocacy oriented CSOs to act as catalysts for change in society, thus increasing citizen participation in decision-making processes that contribute to the development of a strong civil society and democratic state.
This project will foster the development and growth of the advocacy capacities and skills of organizations experienced in the advocacy field, but also their institutional capacity, based on their potential to form civic policy through an open dialogue with the Armenian government. This initiative further aims to create an encouraging environment for the networking and experience exchange among CSOs through a "peer education/development process," which is a completely new scheme for Armenia.
The NGO Center has started the planned series of meetings with their partner organizations in order to divide the tasks within the project and properly identify the target group of the project.