The youth network “Euroforum East/West” exists since January 2006. It brings together youth organizations from the three countries of the South Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia) and three countries of the European Union (France, Poland, Spain). The main goal of the network is to promote active citizenship and commitment of young people in the civil societies of the abovementioned countries. To enhance youth activism, groups of young people from the six countries regularly meet in Europe for training and experience exchange.

In March, 2008 ICHD joined the network and became an active participant of Euroforum events, the last of which – Road Trip Europe - was held in France from June 10 to 26. About 40 people from Armenia, Spain , France and Belarus spent ten days of intensive cultural exchange, training sessions and meetings in European institutions visiting 10 towns of France: Saverne, Strasbourg, Colmar, Dijon, Vezeley, Tours, Angers, Anjou, Tiffauge and Nantes.

Ashotavan is a small rural community of 300 peope in the South of Armenia with a number of infrastructural challenges typical to Armenian rural communities in general. In 2007 due to more effective tax payment mechanisms about AMD 2 million were saved in the local budget, which the community authorities decided to use for addressing at least one of the most urgent problems in the community. To make sure the scarce resources were used towards the real needs of community members they decided to participate in the project “Enhancing public participation in the decision making process in Armenia: initiating a community experience to anchor people’s involvement in the public policy making culture”, the implementation of which started back in January, 2007, with the support of the European Union. Thus, ICHD experts initiated a Town Hall Meeting in the community to involve the ordinary citizens in the decision making process regarding the allocation of spare budgetary resources. There were about 100 people participating in the discussion over the projects the community needed the most, namely, the repair of community roads, repair of roads to plow fields and pastures, partial repair of the sewage system and renovation of the cemetery area. The discussions were wrapped up with the mayor addressing his community and promising to comply with the decision of the majority, i.e. repair of community roads and searching for other sources to finance the other three projects.

ICHD, Liberty Institute from Tbilisi and Youth for Development from Baku organized a THM in Tbilisi to discuss violence in Georgian schools and ways to address such behavior. There were 100 participants exchanging ideas on causes of abusive behavior in schools and ways to both prevent and held accountable for such behavior. The THM was a joint pilot event organized within the framework of the project “Implementing the Mechanism of Town Hall Meeting to Enhance Public Participation in South Caucasus Countries”. It allowed the Azerbaijani and Georgian counterparts to practice the skills they had acquired at an earlier training.

ICHD and Mercy Corps-Conflict Management group hosted the 11th Momentum group, comprising 12 members representing different political stances. The aim of the workshop held in Cambridge, MA on May 4-12, was to hone their leadership, negotiation and policy analysis skills which would assist them analyzing and planning future steps in emerging from the post-election crisis period.

Representatives of the Migration Agency at the RA Ministry of Territorial Administration presented the new draft law on refugees and shelter to the representatives of other state agencies and CSOs at a meeting organized by ICHD. It was stressed that the draft had been developed in compliance with international legal norms and principles, considering the specifics of the Armenian reality. The feedback from the participants was later used for the final review of the draft.

ICHD in cooperation with the British Council Armenia and the Migration Agency at the RA Ministry of Territorial Administration (MA MTA) continues the implementation of the project “Support to Migration Policy Development and Relevant Capacity Building in Armenia”, which is financed by the European Union. In the framework of this project regular round tables are held, which deal with various pertinent issues of migration. The successive round table was held on March 25 at the ICHD Conference Hall. The key theme of the discussion was “Education and Migration”. There were 24 participants, representing state as well as non-governmental, social and international institutions. In the result of the discussion ICHD experts developed the following policy brief: Education and Migration: a Challenge and an Opportunity.