EU to co-finance civil society projects in Armenia
19.01.2018,
18:43
Five new grant projects designed to help develop Armenia’s civil society institutions, with a total budget of 1.7 million euros, will be implemented in 2018 and 2019, the head of EU Delegation to Armenia Piotr Switalski said today.
YEREVAN, January 19. /ARKA/. Five new grant projects designed to help develop Armenia’s civil society institutions, with a total budget of 1.7 million euros, will be implemented in 2018 and 2019, the head of EU Delegation to Armenia Piotr Switalski said today.
He said the EU continues supporting civil society institutions in Armenia and these projects will serve this purpose. In his words, these projects will be implemented with the Armenian government’s co-financing.
He noted that the grant projects are part of the Armenia-EU cooperation envisaged by the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement signed in 2017 November.
According to Piotr Switalski, the new projects will engage Armenian citizens, including women and youth, in work on human rights, budget transparency, capacity-building of women's organizations, assessments and discussions of the situation in closed institutions, and enhancing the knowledge of citizens in rural communities and civil society organizations on steps to reducing their energy costs through new technology. Many project activities will involve and benefit Armenians in the regions during their 2-year implementation period.
Two of the five projects will be advancing human rights issues – one by working with youth journalists and youth organizations to enhance knowledge on human rights monitoring, reporting and promotion of human rights through policy dialogue and the second by updating and expanding existing assessments of the human rights situation in closed institutions such as prisons, institutions for mentally ill persons and pre-trial detention centres.
The third and fourth projects will create better information flows to Armenian citizens on the important issues of budget implementation and how to reduce energy bills through small-scale investments in new technology. The fifth project will ensure more predictable support to more than 600 vulnerable women by improving the social enterprises run by women's organizations in the marzes of Armenia.
The Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement will enter into force after all 28 EU member states and Armenia ratify it. The first to do so was Estonia.
Armenia and the EU were supposed to sign the Association Agreement and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) at a 2013 November Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius but on September 3 Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan announced that the country was going to become part of the Russian-led Customs Union.
On December 7, 2015 Armenia and the EU launched talks on a new framework agreement after EU Foreign Affairs Council authorized earlier the European Commission and the High Representative to open negotiations on a new legal basis for relations with Armenia. -0--0-
He said the EU continues supporting civil society institutions in Armenia and these projects will serve this purpose. In his words, these projects will be implemented with the Armenian government’s co-financing.
He noted that the grant projects are part of the Armenia-EU cooperation envisaged by the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement signed in 2017 November.
According to Piotr Switalski, the new projects will engage Armenian citizens, including women and youth, in work on human rights, budget transparency, capacity-building of women's organizations, assessments and discussions of the situation in closed institutions, and enhancing the knowledge of citizens in rural communities and civil society organizations on steps to reducing their energy costs through new technology. Many project activities will involve and benefit Armenians in the regions during their 2-year implementation period.
Two of the five projects will be advancing human rights issues – one by working with youth journalists and youth organizations to enhance knowledge on human rights monitoring, reporting and promotion of human rights through policy dialogue and the second by updating and expanding existing assessments of the human rights situation in closed institutions such as prisons, institutions for mentally ill persons and pre-trial detention centres.
The third and fourth projects will create better information flows to Armenian citizens on the important issues of budget implementation and how to reduce energy bills through small-scale investments in new technology. The fifth project will ensure more predictable support to more than 600 vulnerable women by improving the social enterprises run by women's organizations in the marzes of Armenia.
The Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement will enter into force after all 28 EU member states and Armenia ratify it. The first to do so was Estonia.
Armenia and the EU were supposed to sign the Association Agreement and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) at a 2013 November Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius but on September 3 Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan announced that the country was going to become part of the Russian-led Customs Union.
On December 7, 2015 Armenia and the EU launched talks on a new framework agreement after EU Foreign Affairs Council authorized earlier the European Commission and the High Representative to open negotiations on a new legal basis for relations with Armenia. -0--0-
