The Centre of Expertise for Local Government Reform organised a regional Conference "Towards a more efficient local government in eastern partnership countries: new ways and tools sharing the experience" on 7-8 of July 2016.

Main objective of the Conference was to discuss the practical patterns of local finance benchmark and the intermunicipal cooperation, as well as to compare on-going pilot experience in the Eastern Partnership and to learn experience from several European Union’s countries. Official delegations from all 6 Eastern Partnership countries were expected to take part during two working days of the Conference.

The events were organised as a part of the Programme "Strengthening institutional frameworks for local governance in the Eastern Partnership countries" under the Programmatic Cooperation Framework (PCF) for 2015-2017 funded by the European Union and cofunded by the Council of Europe.

• Programme

LFB Presentations

• Local Finance Benchmark: the Basque approach (+ Russian version)
• Adjusted local finance benchmarking as a tool to evaluate the performance of the new local finance system in Moldova by Nicolae Tudoreanu Mayor of Feşteliţa, Republic of Moldova (+ Russian version)
• Adapting local finance benchmark toolkit to country specific Moldova (+ Russian version)
• Local Public Finance Database: The Experience of Moldova and Potential Collaboration in its Implementation in the Eastern Partnership states by Angela Secrieru, Expert at IDIS Viitorul, Moldova (+ Russian version)
• Local Finance Benchmarking Piloting in Armenia by Levon Barkhudaryan (+ Russian version)
• Local Finance Benchmarking: Assessing Local Finances and Financial Management in Georgia by Natalia Kakabadze (+ Russian version)

IMC Presentations

• Republic of Armenia 20th anniversary of the establishment of local self-government bodies - Inter-municipal cooperation - synergy of local self-government and better services for citizens on solid waste management by Vahagn Gevorgyan, mayor of Abovyan, Armenia
• Inter-municipal cooperation pilots in Armenia: First lessons by Vache Terteryan First Deputy Minister Ministry of Territorial Administration and Development, Armenia (+ Russian version)
• Organization of network interaction at the local level in the Republic of Belarus by A.Yafremau (+ Russian version)
• How CoE Tools and Frameworks can prepare LAs for a better Cooperation – an overview. Highlights from Italian case-studies by Ramona Velea, Institute of International Sociology of Gorizia (+ Russian version)
• Inter-municipal cooperation in Basque country ‘Incentives for municipalities to co-operate and create IMC’ by Mar Zabala, Director General of EUDEL (+ Russian version)
• Forms and experience of Inter-Municipal Cooperation in Poland by Tomasz Potkanski PhD, Poland (+ Russian version)
• IMC Implementation in Georgia - Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia
• Potential spheres for IMC implementation in Georgia by David Losaberidze and Konstantin Kandelaki (+ Russian version)
• IMC in Moldova: Learning from Pilot Experiences by Ghenadie Ivascenco UNDP - Moldova (+ Russian version)
• Council of Europe Inter-municipal Cooperation by Dakota Wilson