Programme description

Title: Local governance programme South Caucasus
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia
Lead executing agency: Armenia: Ministry of Territorial Administration; Azerbaijan: Center for Works with the Municipalities, Ministry of Justice; Georgia: Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure, Ministry of Finance
Overall term: 2010 to 2015

Context

By ratifying the European Charter of Local Self-Government, the three countries of the South Caucasus – Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia – have committed themselves to strengthening their local self-government and democracy, and to creating the necessary legal and institutional frameworks. Although each country is at a different stage in the reform process, they all face similar challenges, which is due in part to their common heritage from the Soviet era. These challenges include the needs to improve municipal services, to encourage the participation of citizens and to increase transparency levels. However, due to the conflicts within and between the countries of the region, the potential for cooperation and exchanges of experience with regard to reforms remains largely untapped.

Examples of the problems affecting the three countries include shortfalls in funding for municipalities, the low level of trust in government institutions on the part of the citizens, a lack of coordination between different administrative levels, unclear distribution of responsibilities between mayors and councils, the weak capacities of national associations of local authorities, and a legislative framework that is not yet fully developed. The situation is further exacerbated in Armenia and Azerbaijan by the highly fragmented nature of the municipal landscape.

The absence of any significant cooperation between the countries in the region is partly due to conflicts within and between the individual countries. It is also the result of a lack of awareness of the things they have in common, and of the kind of innovative measures their neighbours have undertaken in the area of local governance. A lack of resources and skills for analysing and solving problems has added to the tendency of each country to look only at their own situation.

Objective

There is a greater level of regional cooperation between the actors responsible for local self-government in the South Caucasus.

Approach

The project operates at local, regional and national levels and through supra-regional networks involving municipal representatives from all three countries of the South Caucasus. Experience gained from cooperation with local authorities is used to help provide advice at national level in order to bring about country-wide change. The sector topics addressed by the supra-regional networks reflect municipal practices. The exchange of experiences and the process of mutual learning within these networks help to drive innovation in each country, while also contributing to peace and preventing conflicts in the South Caucasus.

• The component for strengthening local democracy gathers examples of good governance and improved municipal services with the aim of strengthening the capacity of local authorities.
• The multi-level governance component is designed to improve coordination processes between the municipalities on the one hand and regional and central government on the other.
• The objective of the third component is to improve the policy and administrative framework for local governance.

Results achieved so far

By establishing citizens’ service offices, it has been possible in many municipalities of Georgia and Armenia to provide easy access to the city halls and to ensure the smooth and transparent handling of citizens’ inquiries and requests. Here the citizens learn everything about their municipality. They can ask questions, collect information or request services. In Georgia, the positive experiences of the municipalities earned high praise from the responsible ministry for the concept of the citizens’ service offices.

Mutual visits and international conferences provide opportunities for regular expert exchanges on topics such as citizen-orientation, municipal economic policy and waste management. The cooperation for municipal development which has arisen between the three countries in specific sectors is also helping to build confidence and prevent conflict between the three states.

Representatives of academic institutions and local authorities from all three South Caucasus countries and from Germany have met to discuss the challenges of sustainable municipal development and have learned from each other’s experiences. On the initiative of these academic institutions a network has been launched for the sake of collectively developing training courses tailored towards the needs of local authorities.

The expertise of German local authorities has been put to good use by establishing links between towns and cities in Germany and the South Caucasus as part of the Caucasus Cities’ Network. The members of this network work together and learn from each other as equal partners in areas such as improving municipal services, local economic promotion, and the management of solid waste and contaminated sites. For example, in the Azerbaijani city of Sumgait, which is highly polluted with chemicals, a digital register of contaminated land was set up with the support of the Cities’ Network. This will provide the basis for sustainable municipal development there.

Thanks to the positive experiences which have accrued from the citizens’ service offices and participatory planning methods in areas such as civic participation and the strengthening of local democracy, GIZ has become known as a very reliable partner in the field of municipal development. It has been involved in numerous cooperation arrangements with many respected partner institutions. These have addressed specific sector issues, such as territorial reform or regional development, and have laid the groundwork for more intensive regional cooperation.

Download

• A training ground for democracy: Local self-government
  Strengthening municipalities and promoting transparency and participation (GIZ 2013)
  giz2013-en-local-self-government.pdf, 0.42 MB (English)