INDEED ONLY 10% OUT OF NEARLY 5000 NGOS REGISTERED IN ARMENIA FUNCTION

Noyan Tapan
March 18, 2009

YEREVAN, MARCH 18, NOYAN TAPAN. A conference on the subject Civil
Society’s Current Condition, Development Prospects was held on March
18 in Yerevan. It was dedicated to UN Armenian Association’s Founding
Chairman Karen Asatrian’s memory.

According to Association Chairwoman Armine Poghosian, K. Asatrian
devoted the best years of his life to the issue of formation and
establishment of civil society in Armenia. According to her, the goal
of the conference is to reveal the sphere’s problems, to assess the
role of NGOs, and to outline their development prospects.

Karen Zadoyan, the Chairman of the Association of Young Lawyers of
Armenia, said that nearly 5000 NGOs are registered in Armenia at
present, but indeed only their 10% function. According to him, NGOs
mainly work actively in Yerevan, Gyumri, and Vanadzor. According
to K. Zadoyan’s observation, the main obstacle to development of
NGOs is those structures’ financial instability. According to him,
that is why the Armenian NGOs financially depend on foreign and
international donors.

According to the estimation of Hakob Abrahamian, the Chairman of the
Pyunik Union of Disabled, the NGOs functioning in Armenia mainly
work without cooperating and coordinating their activity with one
another. According to him, that circumstance also hinders sphere’s
development.

It was also mentioned that a book dedicated to K. Asatrian’s memory
will be published in April.