THE URBAN FOUNDATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Brief description of our organisation :

The Urban Foundation for Sustainable Development (UFSD or the Urban Foundation) consists of a group of development specialists that have worked as a team for approximately 15 years. It is the legacy organization of the Urban Institute, an American NGO that successfully implemented the largest USAID project in Armenian history – the Earthquake Zone Recovery Program (USD 36 million, 2000-2004). Since 2004, the Urban Foundation has been registered as a local foundation and has implemented about 50 projects aimed at strengthening local democracy by empowering local governments, civil society, local media and youth to promote improvement of municipal services, boost community participation and youth involvement. Main activity directions of The Urban Foundation are: transition to democratic governance and human rights, housing and infrastructure, European integration and regional cooperation.

The Urban Foundation has internal human resources and institutional capacity to engage and manage external contractors and involve experts based on its established policies and procedures. In 2013 The Urban Foundation undertook an organizational development exercise during which, with the help of an outside consultant, led to the development of the organization’s mid-term strategic plan, financial sustainability plan, and revised operational policies. The Urban Foundation’s financial operations are audited every year; its accounting system is in compliance with international standards.

The Urban Foundation has notable experience in programmatic and financial management of large donor projects. It administered directly or as a partner projects funded by EU, the Netherlands Foreign Ministry, Habitat for Humanity International, KfW, and USAID/Urban Institute.

The core staff of the Urban Foundation consists of 7 employees. Depending on availability of the projects the number of staff is increasing. Training component exists in almost all projects of the Urban Foundation. Recently it developed over 10 training modules for Armenian local governments. The organization has a pool of dedicated trainiers who are involved in different projects relevent to their field: local government, housing, environment, municipal services, media, european integration, human rights, etc. On average, about 100 trainees/year representing local governments, NGOs, youth, women, students, etc. are trained throguh our projects. The Urban Foundation has a large network of partner NGOs, local governments, local media, and civic active groups in all regions of Armenia. It is a board member of Armenia Local Democracy Agency (LDA Armenia) established by the Council of Europe.

The Urban Foundation conducted trainings on

• local government functions and responsibilities
• waste management
• strategic planning
• municipal benchmarking
• citizen participation
• communications and public relations
• municipal asset management
• fundraising
• proposal writing
• apartment building management and maintenance
• public-private partnerships and CSR
• human rights
• European integration

Target groups:

• Elected people
• Officials
• NGOs
• Students
  

Main activity areas of the Urban Foundation are:

• Promote the transition to democracy and human rights
• Promote improved housing and infrastructure
• Promote European integration and regional peace

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