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Local Open Government Partnership
Open Government Partnership (OGP) is an initiative for multilateral cooperation which has a clearly defined agenda and commitments. The initiative aims at bringing together governments and representatives of civil societies to work and create the agenda for inclusive development of government, to make its system transparent, accountable, innovative, and participatory. Since May 17, 2022, Yerevan has been a member of the Local Open Government Partnership initiative.
Goals of the initiative
The goal of the Local Open Government Partnership initiative is to develop the policy eligible for the principles of open government (transparency, accountability, inclusiveness, innovativeness) with civil societies, NGOs, and other active citizens. In this context, within the frames of the Action Plan of Yerevan for 2023-2024, Yerevan Municipality plans to undertake certain mandatory responsibilities.
On the way to the membership to the initiative several important meetings were held including:
. On June 20, 2022, within the frames of Local OGP initiative the meeting-discussion with the OGP Regional Deputy Director was held in the City Hall of Yerevan.
. On August 18, 2022, an online meeting was held with the Local OGP Deputy Director Rudy Borman, with the persons coordinating the working process of Yerevan Municipality Local OGP initiative, with the civil societies presented proposals, representatives of NGOs and other active citizens was held.
. Several relevant suggestions were made by CSOs, NGOs and active citizens to work out Yerevan Action Plan for 2023-2024. The proposals made are to be involved in the plan. A meeting-discussion with the representatives of the CSOs, NGOs and other active citizens who made the suggestions was held in the City Hall of Yerevan on August 22, 2022, to discuss the submitted proposals.
. OGP European Regional Meeting
The OGP European Regional Meeting was held in Rome, Italy on October 11-12, 2022. The objective of the meeting was to unite the OGP champions and stakeholders to provide political support to the OGP member countries to resist present-day geopolitical and global challenges. A plenary opening meeting, interactive dialogues with leaders of civic societies, as well as with regional, international, and local partners were held during the European Regional Meeting. The OGP members got support in developing new strategies in anti-corruption, digital innovation, and democratic participation. During the discussions of the focus groups related to Sustainable Development Goals, Yerevan Local OGP coordinator introduced the city’s SDG-related programs, particularly in the direction of 7th, 11th and 13th programs (that is Available and Clean Energy, Sustainable Cities and Communities, Climate Action).
On December 27, 2022 "Yerevan action plan for 2023-2024" was approved by the Council of Elders as part of the Local Open Government initiative /Decision N 692-A/.
YEREVAN LOCAL OPEN GOVERNMENT PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE ACTION PLAN 2023-2024
Yerevan is The Winner of the "Inspiring Reforms" Award Ceremony
On September 6-7, the Open Government Partnership Global Summit was held in the capital of Estonia, Tallinn.
The summit brought together representatives from governments, local authorities, legislative bodies and partner organizations. The theme of the summit was transparent, accountable, collaborative and innovative governance in the face of global challenges. Representatives of the RA government, local authorities, civil society and international organizations took part in the summit.
The conference also launched the “Inspirational Reforms” award ceremony. Executive, local and legislative bodies of countries in Africa and the Middle East, America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region applied to participate in the award ceremony.
Yerevan Municipality also took part in the award ceremony, and among more than 100 local authorities, Yerevan was recognized as the winner. Yerevan presented the Green Seal - Green Deal initiative as part of the Yerevan Local OGP 2023-2024 action plan's 3rd commitment.
It should be reminded that more than 75 countries and 104 local governments are members of the Open Government Partnership initiative. The Government of the Republic of Armenia has been a participant in the initiative since 2011, and in local level initiative members are Yerevan, Vanadzor, Gyumri and Armavir.
Flashmob within the framework of "Open Government Week" initiative
Yerevan Municipality joined the Open Government Week. The aim of the initiative is to raise public awareness of the city's commitment to the principles of participatory, accountable and transparent governance calling on citizens to participate in public discussions, express their opinions, make proposals and be informed
A flash mob was organized as part of the event and was held with the traditional Armenian Kochari dance, thus also representing the unifying power of Armenian culture.
The Kochari dance was included in the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
"Green Seal-Green Deal"
About 400 community institutions and organizations operate under Yerevan Municipality, including CJSCs, kindergartens, which annually carry out purchases of goods, works and services at the expense of funds provided from the municipal budget.
Emphasis on the effective distribution of the municipal budget and its requirements for citizens (during meetings and discussions, representatives of civil questions society and citizens repeatedly raised about the importance of efficient budget allocation and compliance with the «green» procurement procedure) and accountability provided to citizens, we decided to conduct a study among all public organizations, to find out how much they prefer the «green» procurement procedure and how effectively they manage the budget. After the study, it was decided to develop a new precedent mechanism that will encourage public organizations to annually go through the process of «green» procurement.
At the same time, a study was also carried out regarding the analysis of annual energy consumption by municipal organizations and institutions. As a result of the study, it became clear that the annual energy expenditure of the latter is quite high, which is due to a number of factors, including low tendencies to be driven by a "green" agenda, and causes an additional financial burden for the community budget. Therefore, as a solution to the problem, with the 3rd commitment undertaken by the Yerevan OGP Action Plan for 2023-2024 it is planned to implement the "Green Seal-Green Deal" initiative. Within the framework of the initiative baseline energy data collection and analysis of all community institutions and organizations were carried out, and then needs have been assesed based on the received data.
The summary of the results of the conducted study further emphasized the urgency and importance of solving this problem and, according to priority, it was decided to motivate the institutions and organizations under the municipal authority, urging them to take into account the "green" procurement component, to be energy-saving and cost-effective, during the procurement process.
The Municipality of Yerevan has announced a tender for submission of proposals among institutions and organizations under the municipal authority. As a result of the competition, the winner was awarded a small grant for the implementation of the event. The questionnaire included energy efficient and nature-based measures such as replacement of doors and windows, installation of LED lighting, creation of a "Green Wall" (one display wall), modernization of yard green spaces, roof insulation, small-scale energy-saving solutions aimed at the use of renewable energy. After evaluating and summarizing the proposals, the winner of the “Green Seal-Green Deal“ initiative was recognized Yerevan № 92 kindergarten, which proposed the “Replacement of doors and windows” energy efficient mesure. As a result of the competition, the winning participant was awarded a small grant for the implementation of the energy efficiency measure and a "green" seal certificate for moving with the green agenda and giving preference to "green" purchases.
Issuance of the "Green Seal" certificate in this format is unprecedented, innovative and was carried out for the first time in Armenia in this format. It was received with great enthusiasm by the city government, civil society, and community institutions and organizations. The "Green Seal-Green Deal" event contributed to increasing the level of awareness of community organizations and institutions regarding projects aimed at energy-saving, energy-efficient and nature-based solutions. The event will be continuous, it will be carried out on an annual basis. In this way, the community organizations will do everything they can to get the "Green seal" certificate from the mayor next year. As a successful experience, the initiative has a great potential to be replicated by other local self-governing bodies of the Republic of Armenia.