Guest speakers
Pawel Swianiewicz – Head of Department of Local Development and Policy, Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies, University of Warsaw and Adviser to the President of Poland on local government issues.
Tony Levitas – Senior Fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University
Armenia is in the midst of ambitious and far-going local government reform. In 2015 Government of Armenia started territorial administrative reform (TARA), assuming consolidation of small and financially weak communities into larger units. During local referenda in May 2015, population of 22 communities in three consolidating clusters expressed willingness to merge their municipalities. Last Sunday voters in three consolidated communities have elected their mayors and councils. The reform will roll over to about 11 new consolidation clusters around the country. After this pilot phase of the reform is accomplished, government will undertake the final phase of the reform in the next years. Along with consolidation of communities it is planned to expand the local government powers, delegating them with new competencies. Having in mind the scope of the reform and possible impact on many other sectors of public administration and economy, it is extremely important to consider the experience of other countries, which already passed this path.
Two renowned scholars are visiting Armenia this week to provide their insights and advise on the course of reform and ways of actively engaging citizens in the process of change. Pawel Swianiewicz and Tony Levitas are in Armenia upon invitation by Civic Participation in Local Governance Project.
Professor Pawel Swianiewicz is the Head of Department of Local Development and Policy, Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies, University of Warsaw and Adviser to the President of Poland on local government issues. Tony Levitas, ABD is an expert on intergovernmental fiscal relations with 20 years of experience providing advice to national and local governments in post-communist Europe and beyond. His work focuses on various aspects of revenue and expenditure assignments to local governments. Mr. Levitas is currently a Visiting Lecturer at the Political Science Department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he is teaching about urban governance and decentralization.
Organizer: College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Phone: +374 10 32-40-40
Email: info@aua.am
Venue: 113W, Paramaz Avedisian Building