The Anti-Corruption School of Transparency International Anti-Corruption Center (TIAC) ended on May 18. The program was implemented in the frameworks of the Engaged Citizenry for Responsible Governance project supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). 23 young men and women were among the first graduates of the School.

The course enabled participants to become familiar with forms of corruption and their consequences as well as ways of fighting it. High-ranking officials, representatives of civil society organizations and independent experts have been among the various guest speakers at the Anti-Corruption School.

Nearing the end of the course, participants of the School had the chance to develop their own projects and implement them. 4 projects and recommendations were developed in groups.

In order to evaluate the projects, a committee was formed comprising of MP, Head of the Standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs, Hamazasp Danielyan, USAID Program Manager, Lusine Hakobyan, Executive Director of Transparency International Anti-Corruption Center, Sona Ayvazyan, Deputy Director for Programs of Open Society Foundation – Armenia, David Amiryan, and Program Manager at Eurasia Partnership Foundation, Varuzhan Avanesyan.

The Committee decided to give the young participants of the School to implement all 4 projects following certain adjustments and corrections.

“Clean” University – “Clean” Society project aims at raising the legal awareness of students and help them gain legal knowledge on ways of combatting corruption. The project will be implemented at 3 universities.

Render to the elderly the things that are theirs…project’s objective is conducting research at 4 state elderly homes in Armenia aiming to identify as to what extent these facilities comply with existing standards and how exactly the services are provided to the elderly population.

Current issues and risks in the formation of management boards of schools: the project aims to review the mechanisms for the election and establishment of 5 school boards in the Armavir Province in an attempt to identify corruption risks in the procedure for the election of school directors.

Public Oversight project aims to enhance public awareness on authorities with oversight functions (Audit Chamber, State Supervision Service, inspection authorities), which, in turn, will contribute to transparency and reduction of corruption risks.

Upon the end of the School, the participants also presented their evaluations and comments regarding the more efficient ways of organizing the School in the future.

“There is this saying in Armenian: you should know the language of the enemy well. Well, corruption is the number one enemy, the language of which we were able to learn here,” said Mane Minasyan, one of the participants of the School mentioned.

Another participant, Lilit Panosyan, believes every fight starts with being informed and the ability to analyze. “The fight against corruption is no exception. And this School is another step forward towards a state based on rights and towards having a competent society,” she added.

Certificates of ccompletion were awarded to all graduates of the Anti-Corruption School at the end of the course.

The Anti-Corruption School was organized in the frameworks of the Engaged Citizenry for Responsible Governance project carried out with support from USAID. The goal of the project is to increase civic engagement in and oversight of reforms in Armenia aimed at improving of transparency and accountability of government actions and policies

Partners: Transparency International Anti-Corruption Center; Journalists' Club Asparez; Hetq Investigative Journalists NGO