In cooperation with Counterpart International Armenia and with support of European Association for Local Democracy “Local Democracy Agency” foundation organized 5-day Local Government trainings for Gyumri municipality staff. The trainings for the staff took place from 20th of March till 2nd of April 2014 that covered issues on leadership and strategic planning, local self-government legislation, service provision, partnership and cooperation, PR, transparent and participatory governance, community budget.
Municipality from its part provided premise for the implementation of the trainings.
On the 20th and 21st of March 2014, the first phase of trainings for the employees of Gyumri municipality was held in Gyumri municipality conference room.
With an opening speech, the Staff employer of Gyumri Municipality Robert Asatryan mentioned the importance of such trainings, hence within the last year there were essential amendments in the working staff conditioned with the change of the city mayor.
The training sessions are of great possibility for employees to learn more. Indeed, even though the new hired employees have all the relevant qualifications, sometimes they face lack of theory knowledge combined with practical tools. Moreover, in the middle of April, the employees of each department have to pass certification exams, and the gained knowledge during these trainings will be very useful.
Proud of trainers and participants, the organizers describe this opportunity as an important moment of learning, sharing and producing.
Second phase of trainings for the municipality staff of Gyumri took place on 1st and 2nd of April, 2014. The participants again displayed very active and participatory behavior showing their team member capacities and strengths. Following the methodology of the first phase at the very beginning of the sessions the trainers distributed quizzes to the participants to check their level of knowledge. At the end of the sessions the same quizzes were given to be filled in to measure the differences before and after the sessions and assess the effectiveness and productivity of the trainings. Role games and team assignments were part of the chosen training methodology.
The only challenge the participants face in this phase was the community budget session, as the topic was very complicated and inclusive and hard to be absorbed by the employees from non-financial departments that have no deal with financial and budget activities in their everyday working procedure.
The training courses were wrapped up with the handing of certificates. LusineAleksandryan, the director of LDA foundation Armenia, presented and thanked the organizations with the assistance of which the trainings took place and were of great success. Mr. Chartaryan, the department acting head of projects and analytics, gave the closing speech once more mentioning the importance of these courses for the municipality employees. He expressed his deep gratitude to the organizers for that useful initiative and stated the possible continuity of the trainings in future.