Civic Advocacy Support Program

The goal of the Civic Advocacy Support Program (CASP), a USAID–funded program implemented by Counterpart International (Counterpart), is to strengthen the organizational and performance capacity of three Intermediary Service Organizations (ISOs) and six core advocacy partner Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs). Counterpart will work with these nine organizations to develop strategies for long-term organizational sustainability and a more diversified funding base.

The three objectives of CASP are:

• ISO development – to build the institutional capacity of three Armenian ISOs to provide grants, training,
  and technical assistance to Armenian NGOs;
• Core advocacy NGO development – to build the organizational and advocacy capacity of six national-level Armenian NGOs to fulfill their advocacy missions; and
• Advocacy skills building for Marz and local level NGOs – to strengthen the capacity of a broad-based group of Armenian NGOs to better analyze and articulate the needs of beneficiaries, and to build their constituencies for achieving policy reform through their action-based advocacy.

Counterpart works with advocacy NGOs to address their critical needs. Through demand-driven technical assistance and grant support, CASP works to strengthen national, regional and local-level NGOs to develop and implement effective advocacy campaigns by assessing priorities, building alliances, effectively communicating messages and supporting citizen-based actions.

In addition to CASP, Counterpart managed an election initiative related to the 2007 Parliamentary and 2008 Presidential elections in Armenia. Within the scope of this initiative, Counterpart supported civil society organizations to promote open, non-partisan election-specific initiatives that increase public participation, voter awareness and transparency. A small grants faculty supported NGOs in their 'Get Out the Vote' and 'Voter Rights Awareness' activities.

Counterpart's integrated approach to developing and promoting civil society in Armenia takes into account the large number of foreign donor organizations and donor-assisted initiatives by Armenian groups. Counterpart's coordination and information sharing activities underscore the importance of synergistic partnerships and aim to avoid duplication in donor program implementation.

To learn more about Counterpart's Civil Society Project in Armenia, please visit the Civic Advocacy Support Program home page.

Photos: © Kyla Springer/Counterpart International.