SALAR International | Decentralising Education: Highlights from Armenia’s Municipal Forum

In February, a Municipal Forum took place in Yerevan bringing together over 80 participants from across Armenia. This annual forum focused on the topic of education decentralisation, highlighting the role of local governments in shaping and implementing educational reforms.

The annual Municipal Forum is organised in the scope of “Support to Decentralization and Local Self-Government Reforms in Armenia” (DeaLoG) Project, which is implemented by SALAR International and financed by Sida. The forum serves as a unique dialogue platform between and within the central and local governments, providing opportunity of an open discussion around ongoing reform agenda, examining the challenges and opportunities within the decentralisation processes, and sharing best international practices.

This second forum in February, brought together over 80 participants from across Armenia, including local government representatives, officials from the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure (MTAI) and the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports (MoESCS), representatives from Swedish Embassy in Armenia, Ministry of Finance, Deputy Prime-Minister office, National Assembly, expert community of Armenia, as well as the experts and representatives of the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR) and SALAR International.

Shifting responsibilities from central to local authorities

This year, the forum focused on the topic of education decentralisation, highlighting the role of local governments in shaping and implementing educational reforms. Decentralisation has been an integral part of Armenia’s governance reforms, with the government prioritising it in its five-year program. Shifting responsibilities from central to local authorities, especially in school management, plays a key role in reinforcing local governance and improving the overall quality of education.

RA Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, Araksia Svajyan, emphasised the importance of integrating local communities into school management processes: « Strengthening the role of educational institutions within communities and ensuring the effective use of school resources at the local level are crucial steps. The exchange of best practices and participatory discussions on decentralisation challenges are essential for the success of this process.« 

The participants also had an opportunity to get familiar with the Swedish experience of decentralised education governance, presented by the SALAR experts Daniel Berr, Stefan Malen and Magnus Liljeström. As the topics of accountability and transparency in governance are also quite crucial for decision making, the SALAR colleagues also introduced the STYRSAM tool, a strategic framework designed to enhance the quality of education through improved local governance.

An important part of the forum was also the panel discussion, which was opened by the short presentation of DeaLoG program’s expert Garik Khachikyan on school-municipality cooperation/nexus. Participants of the panel discussion – representatives from municipalities and ministries, had the opportunity to share successful experiences from their localities, discuss the challenges and solutions related to education decentralisation, and familiarise themselves with the ministries’ approaches.