An international conference “Local Authorities and Civil Society Organisations” was held on March 28 within the framework of the EU-funded “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” project.
During the conference, discussions on “Creating an open, enabling environment for citizen participation and civil society and LRAs’ actions,” and “Strengthening the ability to interact, generate synergies, and produce concrete results at local level ” were held
The conference was organised by the Union of Communities of Armenia jointly with the Conference of Regional and Local Authorities for the Eastern Partnership (CORLEAP), the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Development of the Republic of Armenia.
The conference was preceded by the 14th session of the Conference of Regional and Local Authorities for the Eastern Partnership (CORLEAP) in Yerevan.
Mr. Emin Yeritsyan, Chairman of the Union of Communities of Armenia in his opening speech said: “Last year a revolution took place in Armenia, and in we witnessed human activity the rural communities. It has created a fairly large field of expectations. It is very important that with the cooperation of civil society and local authorities we would get active citizens from the residents. We should work very intensively in this direction.”
Mr. Vache Terteryan, the RA Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Development stated that for the second time Armenia has the honor to host the session of the CORLEAP Bureau. “We have a good tradition to combine the bureau sessions with discussions of thematic content. This time it is not accidental that we chose this topic, which is very convenient and harmonious with the current time. In this process of civil society and in general our citizens’ activity, we must be able to get maximum impact, in particular in the field, which is part of the local self-government system, one of the bearers of local democracy. “
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Mr. Karen Zadoyan, President of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” Project Manager, highlighted the CSO-Local Government Dialogue in terms development and implementation of public policy.
“I am confident that the current potential of CSOs will provide the opportunity to have a stronger local self-government system. The CSO coalitions created in the scope of our project demonstrate the potential for cooperation, challenges and opportunities,” he said.
Mr. Gonzalo Serrano, Head of Cooperation Section, of the Delegation of the European Union to Armenia said that the purpose of this forum is to find out what they could do in the region. “
“The EU in Armenia is mobilizing important resources for new programmes and investments on i.e. agriculture, tourism, small & medium SME enterprise development and mostly focused on the three northern regions. In the framework of the Eastern Partnership principles and specific public administration reforms in Armenia, the EU also contributes to and relies on the capacities of local & regional authorities as local CSOs to deliver more and better for the Armenian people and businesses.”
Members of the Conference of Regional and Local Authorities for the Eastern Partnership, representatives of CORLEAP and community leaders participated in the conference.
Mr. Andris Jaunsleinis,Member of Ventspils Municipal Council, Member of the European Committee of the Regions; Mr. Pavel Branda, a member of the CoR and deputy mayor of Rádlo; Mr. Sergey Chernov, Chairman of Kharkiv Regional Council and President of the Ukrainian Association of Local and Regional Authorities, CORLEAP Rapporteur; Mr. Anar Ibrahimov, Chairman of the Committee of Human Rights and International Relation of the Ali Majlis of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (Azerbaijan) CORLEAP Bureau Member; Mr. Thomas Anderson, Member of the Regional Council of Jämtland and Härledalen, Sweden, Representative of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe; and Mr. Sandro Sordia, Member of Zugdidi Municipality, Georgia, had arrived in Armenia to participate in the conference and the Bureau session
Notably, representatives of 9 CSO Colaitions established within the framework of the “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” project presented their work and activities and experience at the international conference.
The “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” project is implemented with the financial support of the European Union by a consortium of civil society organisations, which are the “Armenian Lawyers’ Association” NGO, Agora Central Europe o.p.s (an NGO from the Czech Republic), the “Armenian Center for Democratic Education-CIVITAS” NGO, the “International Center for Human Development” Public Organisation, the “SME Cooperation Association” NGO and the Union of Communities of Armenia.
The overall objective of the project is to enhance the influence of CSOs and their coalitions (networks) on the public policy process. This will enable the organisations (that already work in target coalitions) to gain new resources, unite civil society experts and encourage them to participate in the formation of local and national policy agenda, identify the common problems and priorities and to apply to the government with constructive and strategic policy initiatives.
In the scope of the project, sub-grants have been provided to CSOs and CSO coalitions, aiming at public policy development and achieving tangible results in the 9 target sectors: justice, human rights, public finance management, business, education, social sector: social inclusion of children with disabilities, agriculture, economy, energy.
