At the end of the advanced phase of the Anti-Corruption School for Young Leaders, a working group on Local Self-Government Bodies was formed.
Vanatur Sherents, the coordinator of the group says that the idea of the research project entitled “Observance of transparency and public accountability by the Yerevan community in the context of donations and gifts (2018-2020)” was born during the training examining the framework of the assessment and detection of corruption risks in local self-government bodies. The scandalous case of 17 garbage trucks donated to Yerevan Municipality by various legal entities in the fall of 2019 was studied.
The group explains the choice of the topic of revealing possible corruption manifestations in the Local Self Government Bodies and in particular in the Yerevan Community, as well as the development of anti-corruption measures and relevant tools, conditioned by the urgency and relevance of the problem, because although the RA General Prosecutor’s Office has not registered any abuses yet, the passions over the corruption scandal are not calming down so far.
Initially composed of representatives from different communities of the Republic of Armenia, the research team aimed to identify corruption manifestations and schemes of local self-government through an interdisciplinary approach, using a well-developed methodology (quantitative-qualitative research based on in-depth interviews, monitoring, official website sociological surveys, involving the staff of the council of elders and administration).
“We attach great importance to the topic of the study, as we are deeply convinced that corruption in local self-governments is extremely easy to prevent if there is a relevant precedent, and a thorough study of the example of Yerevan can prevent the recurrence of similar cases in other communities,” Vanatur said and added, “On the other hand, it is very important that such cases be in the public spotlight, as this is how the demanding civil society is created, creating favorable preconditions for local democracy and quality governance for local authorities,” Vanatur said.
It should be reminded that the program is implemented with the support of the Swedish Government.