Since January 2015 Transparency International Anticorruption Center (TIAC) started a three-year “Partners in Empowerment” project that aims to increase public accountability and effective policymaking for sustainable development in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine. The project is led by PASOS (Policy Association for an Open Society) and funded by the EU. Through a variety of activities, including workshops, training seminars, online learning platforms, and coalition building, the project strengthens connections between civil society groups, and improves their capacity to engage in the policymaking process. In the framework of the project Sona Ayvazyan, Deputy Director of TIAC, Artak Manukyan, Procurement Expert of TIAC and Vahan Movsisyan, Chairman of Communities Finance Officers Association participated in a meeting “Strengthening Public Accountability through Effective CSO Watchdog Activities” held in Chisinau, Moldova in March 14 -15, 2015.

During the Chisinau meeting the partners and other watchdog CSOs assessed the priorities (policy areas, governance challenges, institutional barriers/reforms) in their respective countries and the organisational challenges facing CSOs with a view to fine-tuning the planned activities of the Partners in Empowerment project.

The six partners joining PASOS on the project are:

Office for a Democratic Belarus
Center for Economic and Social Development, Azerbaijan (a member of the PASOS network)
Transparency International Anticorruption Center (TIAC)
TI Moldova
TI Ukraine
Partnership for Transparency Fund e.V. (PTF e.V.)