Several non governmental organizations (NGO) from the Armenian provinces of Vayots Dzor and Syunik completed today the second session of the Coalition building educational program organized by the Armenian Assembly of America, the League of Women Voters of the United States (LWVUS) and NGO Center Civil Society Development Organization. The sessions took place in Yeghignadzor, about 120 kilometers south of Yerevan.

Leadership, Coalition building and Advocacy are the main topics the NGOs discuss during sessions, which started in September. The training, which is presented through a series of focused coaching sessions, homework assignments and team building exercises is led by American lecturers, (as well as attended by Yerevan-based NGOs and journalists) while topics range from the basic skills of addressing the issue, to public presentation and coalition building and maintaining.

“We have knowledge, but we did not know how to apply it,” says Arine Harutyunyan, a program manager from the Women’s Association of Kapan region. “We learned here how to create the mission, see its perspective. We acquired the skills for public presentation, and in fact for some of us this training was the first ever chance to publicly express opinions.”

There more than 5,000 registered NGOs in Armenia, with more than 4,000 based in a capital. The Vayots Dzor and Syunik provinces have 70.

NGOs in provinces and in the capital address the same issues, such as environment, human rights, problems related to disabled, women issues and others, but Yerevan based NGOs have incomparably more opportunities for expanding their knowledge and have more means and chances for communication.

To compare: In Vayots Dzor with a population of 53,000 there is only one periodical, a municipality sponsored newspaper which is being published once a month. Only 2 out of the Armenian (local) 18 channels are watched in Vayots Dzor, while the internet is hardly available not only to residents but to organizations as well. As initiators of the program mentioned the NGOs, especially those in the southern part of Armenia lack the basic experience of NGO management.

“The important part of the training was to teach them how to communicate to work closely together, how to establish trust, speak with one voice,” says Barbara Bartoletti
Legislative Director,League of Women Voters, New York State.

“In this term the training was a new world of communication and getting ideas together. These NGOs have never had an experience of looking at advocacy to accomplish their goals. There are many services provided by these NGOs, but they are not used to working together. We hope that at the very grassroots level which is here, in the region, we can motivate them to begin to work to bring people together and eventually they can work with NGOs from other provinces to impact the government..”

“What really amazed me is how strong the willingness of volunteering in Armenia,” says
Sarah Diefendorf, International Trainer,League of Women Voters of the United States
Faculty, Dominican University of California.

“Each of these NGOs has a lot of volunteers and it is something that you don’t see in many countries. That made the whole process of education easier because these people are really eager to make changes.”


The most exciting part of the program according to participants was the creation of coalition “Clean Community,” which embraces two provinces and is aimed through the collective efforts to address to local authorities the issues related to garbage collection and keeping towns clean.

Kamo Davtyan, President of Voghji NGO for supporting disabled in Syunik says seeing first hand the creation of coalition and its mission was the best experience from the training.

“This training just proved once again until there is no solidarity among people, no one goal could be reached. Today we are joined around the common problem-the garbage collection, and hopefully we will be able to attract other NGOs into coalition as well,” says Davtyan, whose organization was founded in 2004 and one of the most active in the Syunik province.

Arpi Vartanian, Assembly Country Director for Armenia and Karabakh believes that this training is only a start for local NGOs for better understanding of the goals and mechanism of their achievements.

“I believe that such training is of vital importance for local NGOs,” says Vartanian. “The NGO sector in Armenia is a lively and vital part of Armenian society. This six week training is probably not enough for effective maintenance, but it’s a great start to apply the skills and address some of the issues these NGOs represent. The voices are louder when they are joined.”