The project is a joint imitative of the CI and EFOR (Expert Forum Romania) to empower public officials, lawyers, MPs, politicians and civil society representatives to contribute to the anticorruption efforts of Armenia with the best practices from Romania. The grant was provided by the Black Sea Trust, a Project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Funds for the grant come from the European Commission.
The idea of the project emerged from the CI and EFOR recent cooperation – the project “Transition Experience Exchange between Romania and Armenia Programme,” proving the Romanian experience of anti-corruption strategy to be very close in nature and in vision to the new Anti-corruption strategy developed by the current government of Armenia.
The goal of the project is to broaden the empirical knowledge and develop the political skills in management of the anti-corruption processes in the Republic of Armenia.
The project activities include:
- a study visit of Armenian stakeholders (public officials, lawyers, MPs, politicians and civil society representatives) to Romania for experience sharing with Romanian counterparts;
- an exchange visit of Romanian experts to Armenia and roundtable events in Armenia and Romania to disseminate the Romanian practices among the Armenian networks of politicians, policy makers, LGs and civil society representatives;
- publication of a guide on good practices of Romania for stakeholder organizations in Armenia.
The study visit was held on May 2-6, 2022. The Armenian delegation consisted of civil servants from an anti-corruption body, civil society representatives (members of NGOs that participate in the CSO Anti-corruption coalition of Armenia), and an MP. The delegation members were:
- Ani Harutyunyan, Program Manager, Armavir Development Center
- Artak Kirakosyan, Head of Civil Society Institute NGO
- Hasmik Harutyunyan, Legal expert, Protection of Rights without Borders NGO
- Meri Galstyan, MP from the ruling party
- Karen Hakobyan, Member of the Corruption Prevention Commission
- Mariam Galstyan, Member of the Corruption Prevention Commission
- Alexander Iskandaryan, Director of the Caucasus Institute
- Liana Avetisyan, Program Manager, Caucasus Institute
During the visit, the delegation was hosted by the Ministry of Justice of Romania, National Integrity Agency, National Anticorruption Directorate, Assets recovery and management office, the Parliament, and met with civil society representatives and media. The discussions were focused on the roles and functions of the institutions in the framework of anti-corruption system in Romania, their achievements and lessons learned in regard with developing and implementing anti-corruption strategy, current challenges, plans, interaction among the stakeholders within the system, public attitudes, and the importance of education in the field.
