Helping Alumni Stay Connected: USAID’s School of Local Democracy (SLD), a component of the Armenia Mission’s Civic Engagement in Local Governance (CELoG) project, has developed a new, first-of-its-kind online platform in Armenia that will offer alumni an opportunity to communicate with each other, their trainers and sectoral experts, subscribe for news and event updates, become aware of educational and career opportunities, publish success stories about alumni projects. Additionally, through this new platform SLD alumni will be made aware of opportunities to apply to the “SLD Fund” for small grants to further initiatives in their communities and have access to a variety of resources and materials that may assist them in engaging in local politics. At the same time, CELoG continues the virtual SLD training of trainers on local democracy and governance, project design, implementation and evaluation cycle, public finance, strategic planning, and adult learning. Upon receiving certificates, the future instructors will embark on training local youth on civic engagement in their communities, thus expanding the outreach of the SLD knowledge and alumni network.
