In May 2018, 10 new projects supporting civil society actions to monitor the effectiveness of government resource allocation and public service delivery began under the “Partners in Empowerment” project.

PASOS (Policy Association for an Open Society), a Czech based network of thinks-tanks and five leading CSOs from Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine) have been working together to implement an EU-funded "Partners in Empowerment" (PiE) project. The aim is to make substantive progress in civic engagement in public policy making, budget and services monitoring, impact assessment and collaborative advocacy.

The PiE project engages with, supports financially and develops the capacity of 16 advocacy CSOs and 20 of their leading members in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine (1) to implement local projects that will monitor, study and assess the preparation of national and local budgets, the transparency of the use of public funds, and the provision of public services and procurements, and (2) to achieve maximum impact in citizen engagement for public policy making, good governance and fight against corruption.

In 2016, the PiE project supported 12 projects in the amount of 300 000 Euros. In 2018, the total of 37 proposals was submitted. The PiE project selected and is supporting 10 projects in five Eastern Partnership countries in the total amount of 175 000 Euros that will achieve the aim of the PiE project.

These projects work on a variety of issues:

  • In Armenia, (1) the assessment of the effectiveness of state environmental protection subventions and (2) analysis and assessment of effective government use of EU financial support concerning establishment and operation of Specially Protected areas of Nature in Syunik Province.
  • In Azerbaijan, (1) strengthening the role of CSOs for improving sub-national OGP and (2) civil society monitoring of the public fund spending and increasing public participation in the budget design.
  • In Belarus, (1) the development of public dialogue in one municipality while solving unemployment issues and (2) establishment of a monitoring network that includes grassroots CSOs and those doing research and analytical work.
  • In Moldova, (1) monitoring the use of public money for the repairing and maintenance of the municipal roads in Chisinau and (2) sustainable local development and efficient City Halls by ensuring transparent PP and efficient use of public money.
  • In Ukraine, (1) improving the transparency of local budgets of 7 joint territorial communities and (2) monitoring the use of budget funds by Poltava city council to determine the amount of unused budget funds and the spheres that are underfinanced.

In Armenia, the local project coordinator is Transparency International Anti-corruption Center and the Armenian projects are:

Organization – “Khazer” ecological-cultural NGO

Title of the Project - Assessment of the Effectiveness of State Environmental Protection Subventions

Using the methods of public (participatory) monitoring and analysis of existing legislation, the project will assess (based on the practices occurring from 2004 to 2017) the efficiency of the procedure of planning of environmental protection subventions, efficiency of the mechanism of development of requests for subventions and efficiency of the implementation of environment protection measures. Based on this assessment, the project will reveal the shortcomings and problems in this area, propose solutions and advocate for their implementation.

Organization – Ecological Right NGO

Title of the Project - Assessment of Efficiency of EU-Funded Projects

The project will assess and address corruption risks during the allocation of EU funds to State-Protected Areas of Nature (SPAN) in one of the regions of Armenia (Syuniq). This will be done through the assessment of the efficiency of spending of EU funds for the establishment and operation of SPANs in that region, including the monitoring and assessment of the damage from the violations of environmental standards caused by illegal mining activities in those SPANs.

For more information, please contact:

Varuzhan Hoktanyan
PiE Project Armenia Coordinator
[email protected]
(Tel): +37493539937

This document has been produced with the assistance of the European Union within the project “Partners in Empowerment”. The content of this document are the sole responsibility of the partners in the PiE project and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.