Municipal Forum to raise local governments voices in the Armenian decentralisation reform
On February 7, 2024, representatives from 35 Armenian municipalities, the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports gathered in Yerevan for the first Municipal Forum in Armenia, organised and facilitated within the framework of the SALAR International DeaLoG project.
Armenia has inherited a culture of centralised political system, but with signing the European Charter of Local Self-Government in 2001 the country has begun a transformational process to develop and support the political, administrative and financial independence of local authorities. Since 2022, SALAR International has been present in Armenia to support decentralisation and local self-government reforms through the project DeaLoG. As part of the project interventions the Municipal Forum has been developed and is planned to become a regular, yearly, platform for the Armenian municipalities to meet and discuss issues, provide input and exchange experiences related to the decentralisation and local self-government reforms.
The general purpose of the Municipal Forum is:
- To get familiar with international best practice through presentations and discussion.
- To promote increased cooperation and dialogue between local governments. The aim is to ensure that local voices and needs are incorporated into the decentralisation strategy and roadmap.
- To grant local governments and main national level partners of the DeaLoG project the opportunity to discuss informally and openly how to best continue a vertical dialogue, ensuring that also local needs and wishes are included in the decentralisation roadmap and action plan.
This year, the topic of the forum has been “Decentralisation and Strong Local Governance as Essential to Country and Community Resilience”.
Ryan Knox, Managing Director at SALAR International, welcoming the participants