Support Us

Support the Freedom of Information Center!

Your support will help us to protect your access to information right in Armenia and ensure the openness of the government held information for citizens.

There are two ways to support the FOICA: by giving financial support (donations) or by giving some of your time (volunteers).

Any contribution - even just 100 or 1000 AMD - is valuable support for us.

We do not accept anonymous donations over 50.000 AMD. We need to know where the money is coming from, but we will not publish your name if you do not wish it to be public.

FOICA's Bank details:

Account Holder: Freedom of Information Center NGO
Bank: Ameriabank CJSC
Bank Address: Grigor Lusavorich 9, Yerevan, RA
Account number: 15700-03452540100 AMD
15700-03452540101 USD
SWIFT/BIC: ARMIAM22

Foundations or individuals who would like to discus in detail how to support the Freedom of Information Center's work can contact the President of the FOICA Mrs. Shushan Doydoyan by our e-mail foi@foi.am or by phoning + 374 91 407 836.

How your donations will be used

In 2013 the Freedom of Information Center is raising funds for five directions:

Legal Counseling, Advocacy and Strategic Litigation
In 2001-2012 the Center provided 6850 persons (citizens, media, NGOs, journalists and legal persons) with legal consultations and assistance on FOI issues. The FOICA helps civil society groups to appeal unjustified information refusals in courts, hence making positive court precedents in the FOI field in Armenia. In 2006-2012 the FOICA brought 37 court cases with 80% positive outcome against state and self-governing bodies for illegal refusals of information requests and has successfully restored the violated rights of people.
Trainings on Freedom of Information Right
By organizing country-wide trainings for citizens and representatives of NGOs, mass media, political parties as well as state officials, the Center helps to improve their knowledge in the sphere of freedom of information. During 2003-2012 over 6650 people including 2763 officials received knowledge and skills on how to implement FOI legislation.
Public Campaign on FOI
Since 2011 the FOICA carries a large public campaign to inform the public about the FOI problems. The FOICA publishes a “Black-list” of those officials who have violated the access to information right of citizens, journalists, NGOs and juridical persons. Since 2007 FOICA has placed 270 information billboards in the most crowded places of 57 targeted communities of Armenia to help local government administrations proactively publish information to be widely available for the community people.
Monitoring of the FOI implementation practice
Since 2003, after the adoption of the RA Law on Freedom of information, the FOICA carries out a constant monitoring of the implementation practice of FOI legislation in the state agencies and local self-government bodies. Every year the Freedom of Information Center of Armenia sends over 1000 information requests to state agencies and local self-government bodies, which makes the Centre one of the organizations that most actively uses the Armenian Law on Freedom of Information.
Organization of the “Freedom of the Press, The Right To Know” Photo Exhibition/2013 and the “FOI Annual Award Ceremony/2013”
Since 2003 on September 28 – the International Right to Know Day, the FOICA organizes the Golden Key FOI Annual Award Ceremony (http://www.foi.am/en/about-award/) to assess the openness and transparency of the government and to criticize closed and secret institutions.
Since 2010 every year on May 3 - the World Press Freedom Day, the FOICA organizes a photo-exhibition under the heading “Freedom of Press, the Right to Know” (http://foi.am/en/exhibition/). The aim of this exhibition is to illustrate the challenges and opportunities of freedom of speech and information, and remind the government, representatives of mass media outlets, and the public of their role in implementing this right.

Volunteers

There are two ways to volunteer with the FOICA: if you live in Yerevan, you can come into our offices and help us with our daily work. Alternatively, you can help us from a distance by getting friends and family involved in campaigns and by contributing your skills by activities such as translations, editing, and working on the website.

To find out more about volunteering, please, send an e-mail to foi@foi.am, or call the office on +374 10 560 360.