Yerevan, Armenia – On December 2, the Communities Finance Officers Association, in partnership with the Information Systems Development and Training Center, the Yerevan Press Club, the Asparez Journalists’ Club, the Eurasia Partnership Foundation and the Caucasus Research Resource Centers-Armenia, held the public launch of the Civic Engagement in Local Governance (CELoG) program. Funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, the five-year program will work to increase civic participation in decentralization and local self-government reform.

The Program objectives are a) to sustain and improve civil society’s ability to engage citizens and articulate their interests in local self-government and in implementation of the decentralization reform; b) to strengthen civil society’s capacity to monitor central and local government institutions and officials, and oversee the implementation of the decentralization reform; c) to increase citizens’ access to independent and reliable information on the decentralization reform; and d) to improve the civil society enabling environment with a special focus on decentralization.

The program will cooperate with other civil society consortia and will pay special attention to reform harmonization with the real needs of communities as well as strengthen the dialogue between the communities and local authorities.