Since 2015, the European Union has announced a number of grant schemes for Armenian NGOs, totalling EUR21,822,000.

“Some of the projects within the frames of these calls have already ended, others are still ongoing, while the remaining is currently in the evaluation orcontracting phases,” The EU Delegation to Armenia informed Mediamax, adding that the amount of funding had increased in comparison to previous years.

The EU does not provide a specific amount of funding to NGOs per year, preferring implementation of multi-annual funding.

“Over the past 4 years, the EU has supported more than 150 NGOs in implemention of projects, aimed at alleviating poverty, supporting businesses and advancing human rights. Owing to these projects, 4000 disabled children have gained access to health care and education, 2000 victims of domestic and gender-based violence have been provided with assistance, while 90 women have been elected to local governments after attending trainings,” EU Delegation to Armenia remarks.

New projects

EU has several new flagship projects for building the capacity of civil society in Armenia.

“Some of the grants are aimed more on incubating social enterprises and supporting business environment in Armenia, though building capacity of civil society is also important,” EU Delegation to Armenia notes.

The implemented projects are aimed at building capacity of civil society in different sectors through trainings and wide implementation of Armenian Diaspora’sexpertise.

“Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) is currently realizing a similar program, which envisions increasing the engagement of Diaspora in Armenia by using together4armenia.am platform,” EU Delegation notes.

Another capacity-building project is STRONG, which is training Armenian NGOs to improve their organisational and financial aspects, as well as secure sustainability and increase the impact of their work.

Ongoing projects

Head of the EU Mission to Armenia Piotr Switalski announced EUR 1.5 million Grant Schemein the beginning of April. According to him, “the engagement of citizens is the key to achieving social and behavioral changes related to our shared values”

Currently the European Union implements about 25 projects, aimed at directly supporting Armenian NGOs and civil society. The total budget of all the projects by the European Union is more than EUR 15,3 million. The projects were mainly focused on reinforcing the voice and impact of Armenian civil society.

Taguhi Hovhannisyan