13 new Armenian communities start Local Economic Development plans elaboration process

28 March 2019

On 28-29 March 2019, the first Capacity Building seminar for the new group of 13 signatories from Armenia took place in Yerevan in the framework of the EU Initiative for the EaP region “Mayors for Economic Growth”.

During the seminar, which was conducted by the M4EG Country Coordinator in Armenia Mr. Sevak Hovhannisyan, the representatives of new member Communities (the so-called Economic Development Officers, EDOs) were introduced to the M4EG Concept, and discussed the importance and the effective ways of establishment of the LED partnerships at community level. They were also trained on how to initiate and guide participative process of local economic planning in the community. The Seminar covered all stages of the LED Plan elaboration reflected in the “M4EG Guidelines for Structure and Content of Local Economic Development Plans”.

The Economic Development Officer of Charentsavan community (a successful M4EG Acting member, which got their LED plan developed and approved, and already started its implementation) was invited to share best practices on LED planning process with the group. He provided hands-on recommendations from his experience on how to address challenges which EDOs face during local economic development planning and implementation.

After the seminar, individual consultations and coaching will follow to provide tailored assistance to the participants. A final workshop will be organized at the end of the planning process, where the EDOs will present their draft plans and receive feedback in order to improve and finalize their plans before they submit them officially to the Mayors for Economic Growth Secretariat.