On 11-14 December 2018, Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum (EaP CSF) participated in a PAR – Public Administration Reform Panel Seminar, entitled “Transparent Governance on Local Level: Public Administration Reform on Local and Regional Level for Eastern Partnership Countries”, which took place in Tallinn, Estonia. On this occasion, EaP CSF was represented by Naira Arakelyan (Armavir Development Center, Armenia), Andrey Sushko (Human Constanta, Belarus) and Plamen Peev (BlueLink, Estonia). The seminar’s participants learnt more about tackling corruption and promoting transparent decision-making in local government, particularly through the use of e-solutions.

The initiative came from the Estonian Center of Eastern Partnership and the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the seminar’s co-organisers, with additional support from the European Commission. The seminar consisted of three, loosely connected “blocks”: territorial reform and decentralisation, transparency and e-governance and finally, anti-corruption measures. In each case, the organisers drew attention to the need to open up these processes to stakeholders, other than local government – and encouraging civic participation in their implementation. This opened up a discussion on the situation in EaP countries, at which point Arakelyan delivered a presentation on local government reform in the context of OGP – Open Government Partnership (in Russian only).

The seminar relied on the Estonian – particularly, in the field of e-solutions, where Estonia is widely thought of as a leading example – and Czech experience, to illustrate each case. Here, the participants had a chance to hear from the Estonian Ministry of Regional Affairs of EstoniaEstonian Police and Internal Security Service, Czech Ministry of the Interior as well as the Estonian and Czech Ministries of Foreign Affairs. The seminar finished with a field visit to a local administration outside Tallinn, the city of Tartu – providing the participants with both a tangible case study and an opportunity to network and exchange views on specific issues.

Presentations for Download

11 December 2018:

  1. DOWNLOAD – “The role of bilateral cooperation between EaP and EU countries’ municipalities in facilitating sustainable municipal development in EaP” (Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments)
  2. DOWNLOAD – “Perspectives of establishing participatory democracy in the local self-government in Armenia: women’s contribution” (Armenian Association of Women with University Education)
  3. DOWNLOAD – “Прозрачное управление на местном уровне: реформа государственного управления на местном и региональном уровнях для стран Восточного партнерства” (Armavir Development Center, Armenia)
  4. DOWNLOAD – “Decentralization: Czech Experience” (Czech Ministry of the Interior)
  5. DOWNLOAD – “Stredokluky: a small municipality in the Czech Republic” (Mayor of Stredokluky, Czech Republic)
  6. DOWNLOAD – “Transparent governance on local level: best practices from Ungheni City” (Ungheni City, Moldova)
  7. DOWNLOAD – “Decentralisation: new stage – key tasks for the period until 2020”
  8. DOWNLOAD – “Territorial reform of Ukraine”
  9. DOWNLOAD – “Реформы и местные самоуправления в ЭстонииМинистерство” (Estonian Ministry of Finance)

13 December 2018:

  1. DOWNLOAD – “Lessons from Czech experience: participation trends in the heart of Europe” (D21, Czech Republic)
  2. DOWNLOAD – “Коррупция угроза безопасности” (korruptsioon.ee, Estonia)
  3. DOWNLOAD – “Сотрудничество муниципалитета и НКО: примеры Эстонии” (NENO – Network of Estonian Nonprofit Organization)