More Armenian communities to be involved in participatory funding  programme 

ArmInfo. The program of participatory budgeting at the community level of Armenia will be expanded. A resolution on this was adopted on February 20 at a government meeting.

As stated in the explanatory note to the document, on November 2,  2023, the Government of the Republic of Armenia adopted Resolution  No. 1890-N , according to which the main  relations related to the selection process and procedures for  allocating subsidies are regulated through the submission, discussion  and direct voting of proposals on budget programs with the direct  participation of the population in communities with a participatory  procedure.

In 2024, these requirements will be extended on an experimental basis  to four communities: Ashtarak in Aragatsotn region, Abovyan in Kotayk  region, Jermuk in Vayots Dzor region and Armavir in Armavir region.  The 2024 state budget allocated 500 million drams. In fact, as  Finance Minister Vahe Hovhannisyan pointed out, eight initiatives  were financed: three in Armavir, two each in Ashtarak and Abovyan and  one in Jermuk, for a total of 443 million drams.

However, the effect of the Decision is limited to the 2024 budget  process and a small number of pilot communities. In order to further  advance participatory budgeting and involve more communities, there  is a need to expand and improve the procedure.

In this regard, the Ministry of Finance proposed to extend the  procedure in 2025 to a larger number of communities (21) that  voluntarily implemented participatory budgeting processes in 2024  without the allocation of subsidies from the state budget and have  sufficient experience. A new version of the community management  information system has been installed and launched in the  above-mentioned communities, which includes tools related to  participatory budgeting, and integration with other systems has been  implemented to identify the population of these communities. Funding  for the program will be increased to 1 billion drams.

At the same time, based on the results of the 2024 testing, it is  proposed to introduce some improvements to the relevant procedures of  the participatory budgeting process, in particular, by decision of  the commissions formed in the communities, proposals and projects  submitted by residents that have the same content or have the  possibility of combining content (including those related to  different settlements of the community) may be combined.

In addition, the current decision stipulates that the share of  funding from the community budget (fund part) for the implementation  of each subsidy program formed through participatory budgeting cannot  be less than 20% of the amount of state funding requested in the  subsidy application for this program. Now, the participation of the  community budget must be at least 20% of the total costs of this  program.

The volume of design and estimate documentation required by the head  of the community for submission to the authorized body for the  implementation of construction work under the subvention program,  established by the legislation of the Republic of Armenia, has also  been clarified, including a positive conclusion from the examination  of the design and estimate documentation.

It has also been established that information on the progress of the  implementation of programs formed through participatory budgeting and  the targeted use of the provided subsidies is published monthly by  the head of the community on the official website of the community.  In order to raise awareness and public control over participatory  budgeting, the opportunity to participate is provided for  representatives of public organizations registered in the Republic of  Armenia, persons carrying out media activities, or their  representatives.