On the road to democracy

The goal 

To promote  the development of cooperation and experience exchange between the civil society actors and other stakeholders for democracy development in Armenia. 

On the 17th of September 2009 NGOC CSD NGO held a conference titled “On the road to democracy…” aimed at promoting partnership and experience exchange between civil society actors and other stakeholders to establish democracy inArmenia. The conference took place in Vanadzor, in Charles Aznavour Culture House.

 

113 people – NGO and Mass Media representatives of Lori, Shirak and Tavoush regions as well as representatives from international organizations, Lori region authorities and Local Self Government Bodies were invited to the conference. 88 people out of 113 were present at the conference.

 

NGOC coordinator Arpine Hakobyan opened the Conference by reading the message of NGOC board members to the participants. She stated that NGOC being devoted to its mission continues encouraging civic participation inArmeniawith the aim of overcoming current problems in society.

 

Afterwards, US deputy ambassador Joseph Pennington made his speech. He welcomed everybody and stated that democracy is an ongoing process and we should continue making efforts in this direction.

 

Aghvan Varderesyan, Lori region deputy marzpet, also welcomed the participants. He stressed the importance of youth involvement in civil society structures, thus they are going to be  the ones who continue the work.

 

Alex Sardar, Chief of Party of Armenian representation of Counterpart International, made his speech as well. He briefly presented the 4-year cooperation withNGOCenter.

 

Arsen Stepanyan, CASP project manager during his speech outlined that perception of advocacy had been changed within these years.