Mechanisms for public participation at the local level (AM0059)

Brief Description of the Commitment

The commitment aims to promote public participation at the local level by fostering a culture of open, accountable, and collaborative governance. It is directed at the introduction of modern participatory governance tools, the institutionalisation and enhancement of existing mechanisms, as well as ensuring the continuous and effective engagement of citizens and civil society decision-making processes at community-level. The implementation of the commitment will contribute to the sustainable entrenchment of a participatory governance culture, increased public trust in communities, and improvements in transparency, accountability, and the quality of public services, thereby establishing new standards of citizen-centred and collaborative governance at the local level

What problem does the commitment aim to address?

Despite the reforms implemented in recent years, particularly the amendments made to the Law "On local self-governance" aimed at promoting public participation, as well as the pilot introduction of participatory budgeting, the mechanisms ensuring the participation of citizens in Armenia’s communities still require further improvement. The participatory budgeting process yet remains voluntary, and mechanisms for public monitoring and evaluation of the process are lacking. Tools for feedback between citizens and local self-government bodies are limited, which hinders ensuring full transparency of processes, early identification of issues, systematic recording of proposals of citizens and reported problems, as well as the effective exercise of public supervision. Services provided by community councils do not sufficiently reflect the real needs and expectations of citizens. The process of service design rarely relies on principles of public participation and co-designing, and there is a lack of a tool for assessing service effectiveness and 18 public perception, as a result whereof community councils often lack sufficient data to make substantiated decisions and improve the quality of services. This gap not only limits citizens’ engagement in community decision-making processes but also reduces trust in local self-government bodies, fostering a culture of passive participation, which in turn hinders the establishment of effective and accountable local self-governance.

What are the causes of the problem?

The main causes of the problem are: Incomplete institutionalisation of existing participatory mechanisms, as a result whereof they fail to ensure the sustainability and continuity of processes. A lack of assessments of needs of citizens and data-driven decision-making, as a result whereof the community services often do not reflect the real priorities of population. The absence of tools for assessing service effectiveness and public perception, limiting communities’ capacity to ensure continuous improvement and accountability. The lack of mechanisms for submitting, publicising, and ensuring accountability for issues reported by citizens, which undermines transparency of community governance and effectiveness of responding.

What has been done so far to solve the problem?

In recent years, a number of steps have been taken aimed at promoting public participation at the local level and developing a culture of open governance. In particular, supplements made to the Law "On local self-governance" have enshrined several important provisions aimed at enhancing public participation, including ensuring transparency of information on community websites, enshrining requirements for on-line broadcasting of the sessions of the council of elders, and publication of draft regulatory legal acts. In several communities, participatory budgeting has been successfully introduced and implemented, enabling citizens to develop project proposals and select them through direct voting for the purpose of subsequent implementation by the community councils. Programmes for capacity-building and awareness-raising have also been implemented aimed at promotion of effective use of public participation mechanisms and dissemination of open governance principles.

What solution are you proposing?

The proposed solution aims to introduce new tools and strengthen existing public participation mechanisms at the local level. The commitment includes reinforcing the legal, institutional foundations of participatory budgeting and introducing mechanisms for public monitoring of the process. At the same time, it is planned to introduce a platform for citizens to record and report issues, to ensure two-way communication and prompt response mechanisms between local self-government bodies and citizens. The commitment also focuses on the co-designing of citizen-centred services and the introduction of mechanisms for evaluation of services, with the aim of improving the quality of community services and ensuring their alignment with the real needs of population

What results do we want to achieve by implementing this commitment?

The implementation of the commitment will contribute to the development and strengthening of a participatory governance system at the local level, as well as to fostering a culture of trust, transparency, and cooperation between citizens and local self-government bodies. As a result of the implementation of the commitment, it is expected that:
● Participatory budgeting will become a sustainable and institutionalised tool;
● A platform for citizens to record and report issues will be operated, ensuring two-way communication and prompt response by local self-government bodies; (introduction of the “Teselem” mobile application)
● Mechanisms for co-designing citizen-centred services will be established, enabling community councils to design and deliver services based on the real needs and feedback of population;
● A new tool — a digital sub-system for evaluating sectoral community services — will be introduced within the Community Management Information System, allowing citizens to assess the effectiveness, accessibility and relevance of public services.
As a result, open, accountable, and participatory local governance will be established, where citizens are not only users of community services but also active participants in their design, evaluation, and continuous improvement.

How will the commitment promote transparency?

The commitment aims to promote open, transparent, and citizen-centred governance within the local self-government system by establishing sustainable mechanisms that enable citizens to participate in community decision-making, as well as in the co-design and evaluation of public services. The institutionalisation of participatory budgeting and the introduction of a public monitoring system will ensure transparency throughout the entire budgetary process — from the submission of projects and voting to implementation thereof. This will enable citizens not only to get aware of but also to monitor the effectiveness of allocation and use of community funds, creating a new level of public supervision. The operation of the platform for citizens to record and report issues will reduce information barriers and ensure open, visible, and accountable communication between communities and population. The platform will allow real-time tracking of raised issues, response thereto by the community councils, which will increase both transparency in governance and public trust in local self-government bodies. The introduction of a system for evaluating sectoral community services will ensure the publication of open data on the effectiveness, accessibility and quality of services.

How will the commitment help to foster accountability?

The commitment aims to enhance the accountability of local self-government bodies by establishing mechanisms that ensure continuous supervision by citizens over community decisions, budgetary processes, and the design and delivery of services. The institutionalisation of participatory budgeting and the introduction of a public monitoring system will enable citizens to monitor the allocation of community funds, the implementation of all stages of the process, and the execution of selected projects and the outcomes thereof. The platform for citizens to record and report issues will ensure not only transparent communication but also will form a mechanism for responsibility that allows tracking of the process of resolution of the issues raised. This will contribute to increase in trust and a shift in governance culture towards prompt, evidence-based, and accountable responses. The system for evaluation of public services by citizens will support the regular assessment and publication of results related to the quality and effectiveness of services, creating an additional mechanism for responsibility.

How will the commitment improve citizen participation in defining, implementing, and monitoring solutions?

The commitment is aimed at strengthening the institutional foundations of participation of citizens and establishing new mechanisms that enable citizens to engage in community decision-making, as well as in the design and evaluation of public services. The institutionalisation of the participatory budgeting system will ensure the sustainability and continuity of the process, transforming citizens from passive observers of community decisions into co-initiators of other decisions. The platform for citizens to record and report issues will transform response and feedback processes into an open, reciprocal, and controllable format, where the citizens will be able not only to raise issues but also to monitor the process of resolution thereof. The introduction of mechanisms for co-designing of community services will ensure that community services are designed based on the real needs and priorities of citizens through joint discussions, testing, and responses. This approach will position citizens not merely as service consumers but as active participants in the design and improvement thereof. At the same time, the introduction of service evaluation mechanisms will ensure citizen participation in the process of monitoring and analysis of the effectiveness, accessibility, and quality of community services, enabling formation of continuous feedback and promoting data-driven improvements.

Milestones | Expected Outputs | Expected Completion Date

Action 1. Institutionalisation of participatory budgeting and the stipulation of relevant amendments to the Laws "On local self-governance" and "On the budget system of the Republic of Armenia". The Law "On local self-governance" has established a legal framework providing for the allocation of one per cent of an expenditure line for the implementation of the process of participatory budgeting, while the Law "On the budget system of the Republic of Armenia" has prescribed provisions defining the concept and application of participatory budgeting. Introduction and piloting of public monitoring mechanisms for the participatory budgeting process in communities. | December 2027

Action 2. Introduction of a platform for citizens to record and report issues (Introducing the
"Teselem" application in all the communities). | December 2027

Action 3. Introduction of mechanisms for co-designing community services in 6 pilot communities. | December 2027

Action 4. Development and implementation of a digital sub-system for the evaluation of community sectoral services in 5 pilot communities | December 2027