On October 4, the first session of the “Hamazark” Community Development-Participatory Management Coalition took place, which was attended by representatives of 20 out of 34 member NGOs.
“Hamazark” Coalition is established within the framework of “Participatory Monitoring for the Establishment of Smart Communities in Armenia” program, implemented by “Compass” Research, Education and Consulting Center NGO, its partners “NGO Center” Civil Society Development NGO, “Youth Cooperation Center of Dilijan ”NGO and Information Systems Development and Training Center NGO within the framework of sub-grants provided by the“ Constructive Dialogue Commitment ”program run by a consortium led by the Armenian Bar Association.
Karen Zadoyan, President of the Armenian Bar Association, made a welcoming speech, who used the formation of the coalition as a structure that will provide visible results to the public in the near future. “We know that there are many corruption risks in the field of public services provided by local governments, which leads to citizens’ dissatisfaction. It is very possible that this coalition will take this open space and work in that direction. In the future, with the support of the EU, the coalitions will be able to achieve more serious results. I wish you good luck, “said Karen Zadoyan.
Chairman of the Union of Communities of Armenia Emin Yeritsyan noted that there are local self-government institutions in Armenia, but there is no local self-government culture yet, so this coalition can play a big role in its formation. Gharib Harutyunyan, President of Compass NGO, Arpine Hakobyan, President of NGO Center, and Arthur Ghazaryan, President of Dilijan Youth Cooperation Center NGO, made welcoming remarks.
Afterwards, Haykaram Drmeyan, Head of the “Participatory Monitoring for the Establishment of Smart Communities in Armenia” program, presented the work already done and the upcoming programs.
Gharib Harutyunyan presented the regulations of the coalition, which was put up for discussion. Coalition members agreed that all members of the coalition should have a real say in the work, as well as take some responsibility. It was decided to create a coalition governing council with 9 members, as well as the procedure for electing the council. In this way, the composition of the council was chosen by lot. A preliminary decision was made to organize a regular conference in the second half of November.
At the end of the sitting, the representatives of the coalition member organizations signed the coalition memorandum.
