On August 23, within the framework of the "Organizational Model Innovation" (OMI) component of “STRIVE for a better future: communities and civil society resilience in Armenia” program, the launch event of the funding for local CSOs’ organizational capacity strengthening was held.

The goal of the "STRIVE" program is to improve the stability, accountability and innovative capabilities of Armenian CSOs, enabling them to play a key role in raising awareness and strengthening democracy. At the beginning of the year, within the framework of the program, Mentorship Circles were organized for the Armenian civil society organizations, the purpose of which was to strengthen the organizational capacities of the participating CSOs.

The Mentorship Circles included training on OMI, as well as guidance on developing capacity building plans for organizations. The mentioned activities were carried out in all regions of the Republic of Armenia and in Yerevan, and around 268 representatives from 96 Armenian CSOs participated in them. As a result, CSOs had the opportunity to review and improve their current operational and financial models and participated in the grant competition to implement developed or revised improvement plans. 

The main goal of the launch event was to sign sub-grant contracts with the 36 CSOs that were selected to receive funding under the "Organizational Model Innovation" component and will implement projects aimed at improving organizational models in the next 6-10 months. 

Mr Bruno Montariol, the program manager of the EU delegation, “STRIVE” implementing partners, heads of 36 grantee CSOs and the "STRIVE" project team were present at the event. Arpine Baghdoyan, the director of Near East Foundation Armenia and the program director of the "STRIVE" made the opening of the event and gave floor to Mr. Bruno Montariol.

"We usually provide large grants to large, experienced and well-established organizations. The "STRIVE" program is unique for us, because within this program, small grants are provided to a larger number of CSOs, having a radical impact on their capacity development from the root," stated Mr. Montariol in his speech.

Afterwards, the representatives of the local partners of “STRIVE”, Ms Gayane Grigoryan, the director of programmes of "Agate" “Agate” Rights Defense Center for Women with Disabilities NGO, and Lianna Asoyan, the president of “Blejan” Ecological, Social, Business Support NGO, made speeches.

In the second part of the event, the representatives of all 36 CSOs made brief introductions of their organisation and OMI strategies. 

"We all carry out our professional work well in our organizations, but during the work we notice that we fail in many organizational issues, such as procedures, communication, attracting financial resources, etc. This program is extremely important for us, because it provides an opportunity to settle these issues and become more powerful", said the head of one of the CSOs in the thank you speech.

“STRIVE” project is co-funded by the European Union and implemented by NEF-Belgium (NEF) and four local partners: “Agate” Rights Defense Center for Women with Disabilities NGO, “Blejan” Ecological, Social, Business Support NGO, ''WINNET Goris'' Development Foundation and “YCCD” Youth Cooperation Center of Dilijan NGO.

28 August 2024, Wednesday | 400