Project title – “Participatory Monitoring for the Creation of Smart Communities in Armenia”
Coalition title – HamaZarK (Union of Community Development and Participatory Governance)
Consortium members – “Compass” Research, Training and Consultancy Center, “NGO Centre” NGO, “Youth Cooperation Centre of Dilijan” NGO, “Informational Systems Development and Training Centre” NGO.
Project duration – 12 months
Project budget – The total project budget is AMD 24 986 000, funding from the “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” project is AMD 22 487 000, the financial contribution from the applicant is AMD 2 498 600.
Implementation location – communities of the Shirak, Lori and Tavush regional administrations
Reasoning Needs: Over the past three years, 12-15% of the community budget funds of the Shirak, Lori and Tavush marz centers are directed at waste management, utilities and environmental protection. However, no significant changes are noticeable, the residents are constantly dissatisfied with the services provided, and the relevant authorities do not apply alternative solutions.
There is a need to explore, analyze and evaluate the fields of preservation, use and renovation of inter-community roads and streets, waste management and sanitary cleaning, inter-community street lighting, identify the existing problems, develop and submit to the local government a package of proposals for alternative solutions to the problems, developed with all the stakeholders.
The goal of the “Participatory Monitoring for the Creation of Smart Communities in Armenia” project is to enhance the quality of the services provided by local self-governing bodies in the enlarged communities of the Shirak, Lori and Tavush marzes through public policy improvement, monitoring and advocacy in the sector.
Territorial coverage of the project implementation includes three regions of Armenia: Shirak, Lori and Tavush. Akhuryan and Ashotsk, Stepanavan and Tumanyan, Ijevan and Noyemberyan – these are the enlarged communities included from these three regions. Several project activities will also be carried out in Yerevan, related to the project expertise and technical support.
Project Tasks:
- Identify the population’s assessment of the effectiveness of services provided by the 6 targeted municipalities of the three marzes in the areas of inter-community roads and streets’ conservation, exploitation and renovation, refuse collection and sanitary cleaning and inter-community street lighting;
- Analyze the effectiveness of targeted budget funds through participatory monitoring;
- Support the development of more effective public service delivery mechanisms by targeted municipalities;
- Increase the participation of the population in public administration, ensuring the effective implementation of reforms.
Project Activities:
- Creating a working group, organizing a press conference on the launch of the project;
- Trainings for citizen monitors;
- Surveys and analysis of results among 6 communities of 3 regions;
- Data request from Local Self-Government Bodies;
- Establishment of a coalition;
- Organizing Town Hall discussions in three regions;
- One expert workshop in Chatham House format in Gyumri;
- Preparation of a comprehensive report on participatory monitoring results;
- Creation of a new section on the official websites of the selected 6 communities;
- Advocacy, dissemination of project results;
- Summarization of the project, organization of the final event.
Expected Results:
- Comprehensive research and package of proposals with the participation of CSOs, citizens and local government in the selected three areas;
- Advocacy of the key issues in the sector and solution recommendations, with the involvement of different stakeholders, at the local and national levels.
- Adding tools of participation and transparency at the community websites.
- Continuous activities of the coalition for community development and participatory governance.
Second Project – “Capacity Development of HamaZark, Community Development and Participatory Governance Coalition”
The main objective of the project is to promote the capacity building of the Coalition and the coalition member institutions in order to improve the activities of communities enlarged throughout Armenia.
The specific goals of the project:
a. Establish sustainable dialogue platforms between the Coalition members and the Local authority members of their communities,
b. Establish a Coalition External Partners Network for implementing joint projects with similar agencies abroad,
c. To contribute to the application of the "smart" management component in the large communities of Armenia.
The outcomes of the project:
a. Capacity building of the coalition with the help of a developed strategy, action plan, financial sustainability plan and a set of internal regulatory documents, training of the members of the coalition based on the guidelines developed.
b. Developing the external capacities of the coalition, establishing an active web site, sectoral skills development, networking of external partners, cooperation with at least three foreign partners, through the creation of “HamazarK” Local authority dialogue platforms.
c. The recognition of the coalition.
d. Promotion of the establishment of “smart” communities in Armenia.
