The operation of the new government after the revolution enabled EPF to be included in the reform agenda even more vigorously; the law on equality had not been adopted yet, there was a need to continue working in that direction. At the same time, EPF’s DePo program for civil society development was coming to an end. It was necessary to develop a new program according to new priorities. USAID offered EPF a new method - co-creation; thus, the new DATA program was developed in collaboration with EPF, its partners and USAID. The focus of this program is to build the capacity of civil society so that it can advocate to the state properly and successfully. The other emphasis is on knowledge: the development of fact-based, knowledge-based, evidence-based policies.
At the same time, one of the new opportunities that arose through the revolution was the in-depth addressing of the manifestations of violence in Armenia, which EPF undertook through its research project “Culture of Violence in Armenia” with the support of the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation. The research focused on the socio-historical basis of violence (Soviet era, “Gulag culture”), violence at school, in the army, and in the family. This study complemented EPF’s research and methodological activity, one of the important parts of which was the publication of the booklet “Critical thinking; logical fallacies and misleading rhetorical Tricks”, the first publication in Armenia and in Armenian on critical thinking.
In the general context of the reforms, the fact that the Prime Minister of Armenia delivered an opening speech at the international conference on religious tolerance organized by EPF was of great importance. It was the first time that the country’s leader had participated in an EPF event. Another highlight was the expansion of the EPF Human Rights Program to include extensive judicial reform activities, such as work on supporting alternative dispute resolution methods, to decrease the workload of the justice system. The EPF team continued its consulting activities in a number of government agencies: education, culture, police, etc.
Updated on 26 June, 2021