Within the framework of the bilateral cooperation program between the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Armenia and the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, a training was held for the specialists of the state bodies and municipalities of the Republic of Armenia on the practical aspects of the implementation of participatory budgeting projects in the municipalities.
During two days, the experts of the Participatory Budgeting Center of the Scientific Research Financial Institute of the Ministry of Finance of Russia gave lectures and conducted consultations on the topical issues of testing the participatory budgeting mechanism in the Republic of Armenia.
In 2024, four communities - Ashtarak, Armavir, Abovyan and Jemruk - became participants in the pilot program of participatory budgeting in Armenia. In 2024, the amount of subsidies from the RA state budget will amount to 500 million drams in order to finance the projects presented by the residents of the community. As a result of the public vote held in the communities during the pilot project, the project proposals of the citizens were decided. The proposals with the most votes will be implemented by the end of the year.
On April 23, the seminar "Involvement of Citizens in the Implementation of RA Budget Policy" was held, where NIFI experts met with representatives of the RA Ministries of Finance, Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, Education, Science, Culture and Sports. At the meeting, various approaches to the implementation of participatory budgeting were discussed, as well as issues related to the development of mechanisms for the participation of citizens of different age groups in that process, state support, infrastructure formation, and monitoring of developments in the implementation of participatory budgeting at national and local levels.
On April 25, the round table-discussion "The first steps in the development of participatory budgeting in the municipalities of the Republic of Armenia" took place. Practical issues of implementing participatory budgeting in communities were raised. The directions of budget expenditures, the nature of the normative-legal formulation, the technical aspects of the program implementation, the options for citizens' involvement in the measures to determine the methods of citizen awareness and advisory support, and the mechanisms for creating motivation for participation were discussed. NIFI experts shared their experience of using participatory budgeting in administrative regions and municipal units of the Russian Federation.
