Dissemination conference: Armenian mayors engage in a shared vision

Speech by Juliana Hoxha,Vice-President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities

Yerevan, 28 September 2015

Dear Minister,
Dear colleagues,
Dear participants,

On behalf of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, I would like to welcome you all to this Dissemination Conference. This event will provide us with the opportunity to share the results and achievements accomplished in the framework of the ‘Strengthening local elected representatives’ leadership’ programme. It is important to note that this programme is implemented within the project “Support to consolidation of local democracy in Armenia”, which has been generously funded by the Government of Denmark.

I would first like to discuss with you today, the many successful and beneficial activities that have been implemented within this programme. The leadership workshops have been a great success in their six editions in 2014 and 2015. The concept was to gather together mayors, Congress members, as well as local and international experts, to exchange on the roles and duties in the position of mayors, to discuss the ingredients of of leadership and communication, to get acquainted with democratic tools for engaging citizens into processes in their communities and for ethical decision-making.

The aim was also to create an environment of trust and communication and to generate a spirit of co-operation among mayors, through diverse activities and peer exchanges. It has been a great success and I am very pleased to note that several mayors who took a very active part in it are present (with us) today, and I would just like to thank them for their participation and commitment.

This programme has also allowed us to organise regional seminars in which the mayors have taken a leading role; deciding on the topics for discussions and running the seminar sessions. These seminars resulted in a “Call to the government of Armenia” in which the priorities that emerged from these discussions were presented to the Minister of Territorial Administration and Emergency Situations in January 2015. This activity also contributed to the overall goal of the programme: working toward the improvement of local democracy in Armenia, by strengthening leadership capacities and promoting dialogue between the different levels of governance. This generated a spirit of co-operation among local elected representatives, as well as with central authorities.

Moreover, this programme enabled us to start a new type of activity: a granting and coaching scheme for citizen initiatives. This has been provided to four pilot communities (Akhtala, Artik, Vardenik and Urtsadzor) to help implement citizen participation initiatives. I would like to congratulate the mayors of these communities who are present with us today, for engaging in this activity and for their commitment.

These pilot communities have been selected among many others for the quality of their projects and are achieving great results. Later, the Mayors will explain to you more precisely how and what they have been implementing, with the constant support of the Congress, its members and local and international experts. On behalf of the Congress, I would like to express our satisfaction regarding the ownership and openness they have demonstrated, the stimulus these initiatives have created in the communities and the developments made in this learning process. I am sure that this will enable us to replicate such a model in the future, in Armenia and in other countries where the Congress is implementing co-operation activities.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Congress co-operation activities are implemented to give a practical response to the challenges encountered at grassroots level and they are an integral part of the Council of Europe Action plans for member states.

We, in the Congress, are very pleased with the new Action Plan for Armenia that has recently been adopted by the Council of Europe Committee of Minister, and that has been prepared in close consultation with the Armenian authorities. We see it as the translation of their commitment to consolidate the overall democratic practice and, in the field of local democracy, to advance the reforms for further decentralization, line with the Recommendation on local democracy in Armenia adopted by the Congress in March 2014.

In this regard, I would like to mention that the Congress and the Government of Armenia have agreed to engage in a post-monitoring dialogue with the aim to develop a roadmap for the implementation of the recommendation. The post-monitoring meeting will take place on 1st October 2015.

Building on the success of the current project and on our close and fruitful co-operation, we have defined together the future activities, which are included in the Action Plan and that will be beneficial for Armenia and complementary to other programmes undertaken in the country.

We have agreed to continue the leadership programme for mayors, extending it to municipal councillors, to build activities to raise awareness on the principles of local democracy of young local leaders, particularly women, and to foster the development of a culture of civic engagement and transparency.

Armenia is also benefiting from a multilateral for the Eastern Partnership Countries aimed at “Strengthening institutional frameworks for local governance” and we are currently working with the Communities’ Association of Armenia to enhance its capacity to become a stronger stakeholder in the governance system of Armenia.

Ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues,

We will have many other occasions to meet to exchange experience. I would like to thank all those who have contributed to the success of this programme and say a special word to the government of Denmark, which has made all this possible.

Once again, I would also like to praise the high quality of co-operation held with all stakeholders and to confirm the Congress’ strong commitment to further support the Government of Armenia in the direction to enhanced local democracy and in particular, stronger involvement of citizens in local life.

I wish you fruitful exchanges today and in our future activities.