The Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) Training and Resource Center was founded in the belief that the non-governmental sector plays a unique and essential role in rebuilding Armenia. By strengthening the institutional capacity of indigenous NGOs, the NGO Center supports the growth and development of Armenian civil society.

Toward that end, the NGO Center helps:

· Develop the institutional capacities of NGOs to effectively manage their own programs and projects in achieving stated goals and objectives.
· Develop a core group of NGOs to guide the future growth of the NGO sector.
· Promote multilateral partnerships and collaboration among NGOs, Private Voluntary Organizations (PVOs), intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) and governmental institutions through joint programs, information sharing and resource pooling.
· Increase public awareness of the NGO sector, and of their activities and contributions to a just, inclusive and sustainable democratic society.

Through training, technical assistance, outreach and the services of a fully-equipped resource facility, we strive to develop a broad network of NGOs that can respond effectively to both short-term emergency and long-term development needs of Armenia.

As of December 1998, there are 1800 non-governmental organizations registered with the Ministry of Justice in Armenia. The NGO Center, which was funded in April 1994 by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), currently serves over 700 NGOs.

With conditions in Armenia constantly evolving, the focus of the NGO Center has gradually shifted towards providing more in-depth skills and a better understanding of the role NGOs can and should play in the growth of an inclusive civil society. NGOs play a critical role in assuring the democratic process of a nation. They are a means for citizens to organize, raise issues of concern, advocate for change, and achieve solutions. Recently developed programs such as Advocacy Training and Public Policy Impact Grants seek to strengthen NGOs' advocacy skills, better enabling them to effect true and lasting change.

In an effort to support the development of a truly national NGO sector, the NGO Center has established, in addition to its Yerevan office, a permanent presence in Gyumri, in northern Armenia. Also, the NGO Center conducts extensive outreach in other outlying regions of the country which otherwise remain relatively isolated from the capital, Yerevan.

For more information, e-mail the NGO Center at ngoc@aaainc.org or check the NGOC web site at: http://www.ngoc.am/