YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 12, ARMENPRESS. The Council of Europe (CoE), in partnership with the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of Armenia, will award small grants to several consolidated communities to support exciting project proposals that will impact on issues such as civil participation, youth engagement, sports development, waste management, and transparent decision-making at the local level, the CoE Yerevan Office told Armenpress.

The Grant Award Ceremony is organized in the framework of the “Democratic Development, Decentralisation and Good Governance in Armenia” project, financed by the Austrian Development Agency and implemented in the context of the CoE Action Plan for Armenia 2019-2022.

Building on a series of workshops organized by the CoE’s Centre of Expertise for Good Governance, consolidated communities have developed project proposals under 3 categories: i) development or renovation of community facilities; ii) live webcasting or podcasting of local council sessions; iii) initiating inter-municipal cooperation initiatives. The call for applications was launched in 2019, and all project proposals were assessed on several criteria including sustainability, innovation, replicability, environmental impact and engagement with women, youth and poor or disadvantaged citizens. The implementation of the selected projects will start in Spring 2020, while the project outputs and practices will be widely disseminated amongst other consolidated communities of Armenia in 2021.

The overall goal of the Project “Democratic Development, Decentralisation and Good Governance in Armenia” is to support the democratic consolidation in Armenia by contributing to the development of effective, accountable and transparent local government bodies, promoting good governance principles, and fostering inclusive participation and equal opportunities for women in political decision-making across mutually reinforcing lines of action. As a result, local authorities are expected to deliver better services to citizens, develop capacities to strengthen their institutional structures, improve civil participation and the empowerment of women, as well as have increased understanding of and respect for good governance principles.