First workshop held in Gyumri, Shirak
On 29 July, the Caucasus Institute, in partnership with the Max Planck Foundation for International Peace and the Rule of Law, held the first workshop under the auspices of the project ‘Popular Participation in Legislation in Armenia‘, which is generously funded by the German Federal Foreign Office. The workshop was held in Gyumri, Shirak region, and it engaged representatives of local CSOs.
The workshop commenced with presentations by Alexander Iskandaryan, political expert, and Marat Atovmyan, Vice President of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association. The mechanisms and strategies that have proven to be viable in other countries and that may be effective in Armenia were presented, as was civil society’s role and responsibilities in the context of policy and legislative decision-making. There was also discussion about the composition and patterns of Armenian civil society and the challenges it is facing.
The participants had a chance to exchange their experiences in the process of legislation and discuss challenges they had encountered. Some participants had contributed to the current Youth Policy, while others had contributed to legal regulations related to maternity leave.
The final part of the workshop was dedicated to group work on the elaboration of sample initiatives, bills, or advocacy plans and expert feedback. The groups will finalise their draft bills and present them at the final conference in Yerevan, later this year.
The first workshop of the project provided local CSOs in Shirak with food for thought regarding their advocacy strategies and encouraged them to rethink their approach to collaboration with other CSOs in jointly contributing to legislative processes.