The local governance system in Armenia is very fragmented. Half of Armenia’s 885 communities count less than 1’000 inhabitants. Many of the small communities struggle with providing basic public services due to limited financial resources. At the same time, decision-making continues to be heavily centralized, and civil society exercises only limited power. Public infrastructure is limited and in urgent need of repair. The enlargement of communities is seen as a precondition for further investments into the development of the local self-governance system and improvement of public service delivery in Armenia.

The goal of this program is to contribute to strengthening accountability and efficiency of the local self-governance system in Armenia. The program contributes to the implementation of a country-wide community enlargement reform. The introduction of one-stop shops, results oriented-budgeting, a web-based municipal information system and new municipal planning methodologies is expected to lead to better-quality public services.

At the same time, women empowerment and the re-organization of the Community Association of Armenia shall help to make better use of human capital in local governance. Selected infrastructure investments in enlarged or to-be enlarged municipalities complement the technical assistance with the aim of ensuring basic public services and boosting economic development.

All newly emerging municipalities of Armenia, with a particular focus on Syunik and Vayots Dzor regions (Southern Armenia, - total population of 141.771 and 105.000 persons, respectively).

The final beneficiaries of this program are citizens positively affected by improved local governance and citizen participation, more effective local development management and more efficient provision of public services.

• National and local stakeholders have advanced framework conditions for territorial and administrative reform in the country
• The Communities‘ Association of Armenia is strengthened and becomes an active stakeholder of the governance system
• Municipalities have strengthened their governance and management
• Municipalities of Syunik and Vayots Dzor marzes have better access to direct capital investments for improving public infrastructure and services (World Bank, ATDF)

This program provides, on one hand, technical assistance in the form of capacity building and expertise for strengthening local governance and decentralization. On the other hand, it makes available funding for community-driven public infrastructure projects for improved public service delivery, targeting enlarged and to-be enlarged municipalities. The program is realized jointly with other donors and allows combining, strengthening and enhancing the ongoing initiatives of the four implementing partners.

Risultati principali attesi:  

• 50 municipalities are enlarged into 9 clusters during the pilot phase of Territorial and Administrative Reforms
• 100 municipalities including the enlarged municipalities have been trained and prepared their municipality budget in a program budgeting format
• 100 municipalities including the enlarged ones practice participatory municipal planning and monitoring
• 100 municipalities including the enlarged ones apply gender-sensitive internal and external monitoring and evaluation of municipal service delivery.
• At least 8 additional Citizen Offices (one-stop-shops) are established and functioning and the existing 12 Citizen Offices have improved their organizational set-up and operations
• E-Governance coverage rolled-out to additional 230 municipalities which will increase the coverage of the Municipal Management Information System to 75% serving over 90% of the population in Armenia excluding Yerevan
• New operational manuals of the Armenian Territorial Development Fund elaborated
• At least 60% of municipalities are registered users of the Communities’ Association website
• Women are empowered to play an essential role in local governance and politics
• ATDF is equipped to support more complex development projects through decentralized implementation
• Merged/pilot municipalities implemented capital investment projects for improved and sustainably managed public infrastructure and service provision
• Municipalities that are planned to be merged implemented capital investment projects allowing them to improve service provision and local economic development through inter-communal cooperation and successful joint management of public infrastructure and services

Risultati fasi precedenti:  

Comprehensive studies were conducted to provide detailed administrative and economic analysis and identify necessary investments to support the enlargement process for 14 clusters proposed by the Government of Armenia for the piloting of the reforms.

A road map and action plan for the piloting of the territorial and administrative reforms have been developed in a participatory manner involving the government, donors and other stakeholders based on which the pilot process for the territorial-administrative reforms has commenced.

Total number of 451 muniicipalities operate a Municipal Management and Information Sytem in Armenia which covers 49% of Municipalities. (GIZ) 12 Citizen Offices (one-stop-shops) are operating in larger cities of Armenia.

Through its “Women in Local Democracy” project, UNDP managed to increase the number of elected women in the 2012 local elections (approximately 70% of women trained were eventually elected).

More than 850 small-size projects aimed at rehabilitation and improvement of community infrastructures and services implemented, targeting about 370 communities (40% of communities of the country) (ASIF).

Fase 1 19.05.2014 - 30.06.2019   (Completed)