The chapter outlines how public sector innovation and participatory approaches to policymaking have emerged in Armenia’s public governance system. It summarises milestones in the uptake of participatory and innovative methods in Armenia’s public sector.
Innovative Capacity and Participatory Policymaking in Armenia
OECD Public Governance Reviews
Abstract
Armenia’s public sector is under pressure to deliver policies and services in an uncertain context, facing economic challenges, a rapid influx of migration and capital, technological change, security volatility and pressures on the social welfare system (World Bank, 2022[1]; Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2024[2]). The Bertelsmann Transformation Index of 2024 shows that despite efforts to support transformation since the 2018 Velvet Revolution, several governance challenges persist. Government’s steering capability and policy implementation and learning remain underdeveloped, despite improvements in areas such as anti-corruption policy, free and fair elections, separation of powers and regional cooperation (Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2024[2]). There is ample opportunity to leverage innovative and participatory methods to meet these challenges and improve public governance.
Public sector innovation encompasses a broad range of new approaches, tools and methods that enable governments to be more proactive, adaptive, efficient and effective. Citizen1 and stakeholder2 participation is defined as “the ways in which stakeholders can be involved in the policy cycle and in service design and delivery” (OECD, 2023[3]). When governments grant citizens and stakeholders equal and fair consultation and engagement opportunities it is mutually beneficial (OECD, 2023[3]) and helps build trust. Public officials can benefit from public knowledge and expertise for more informed, effective, inclusive, and sustainable public decision-making, while empowering citizens to influence the policies and services that affect their lives.
Share of public servants involved in designing and implementing an innovation in their workplace during the last two years, as of 2024
Note: N= 2,464 to 2,503. Respondents: Public Servants (M3). Figure 1.1 presents the share of respondents who have participated in innovation during the last two-year period. The respondents are asked to answer the question: The OECD defines innovation as something new or novel to context, implemented, and aimed at achieving impact. The focus of innovations could include services, products, processes, working methods and operating procedures, policy development, communication. Based on this definition, have you been involved in designing and/or implementing an innovation in your workplace during the last two-year period?
Source: (OECD, 2024[4]).
Innovative and participatory approaches to policymaking and service delivery are emerging in Armenia. Of over 2400 public servants surveyed for this report, 42% of respondents indicated they had designed or implemented an innovation in their workplace over the last two years (OECD, 2024[4]).3 Examples of innovation include participatory methods such as participatory budgeting, co-creation of strategies and user-research in service design. This suggests that recent steps taken to integrate innovative and participatory approaches in the public sector (Table 1.1) have had a positive impact, particularly efforts in the digital space (see Figure 1.1). The survey results show that middle managers are particularly innovative compared to the average public servant: approximately 51% have implemented an innovation in the last two years. So is the social policy sector where 56% of respondents reported implementing an innovation (Figure 1.1).
Key milestones in supporting innovative and participatory policymaking
In recent years, the topics of public sector innovation and participation have been priorities of national and regional governments as well as development organisations. Key events and initiatives have marked important milestones in the innovation and participation journey of Armenia.
Clear roles and responsibilities for innovation in organisational mandates linked to management resources can help enable a systemic approach to innovation in Armenia that leverages innovation to deliver the government’s priorities. In Armenia many public sector institutions play an important role in steering, enabling and building capacity for participation and innovation. However, many of these roles stand to be expanded, refined or enhanced with additional capacity (see in Table 1.1 detailing prospective roles).
The Centre of Government (CoG), notably the Prime Minister’s Office and the offices of the two Deputy Prime Ministers steers efforts to promote innovative approaches across government by implementing the Public Administration Reform (PAR) strategy, including supporting participatory policymaking, strategic communications, human resource reforms, embedding innovation in service design approaches and guiding key reforms on strategic governance and evaluation.
The Prime Minister’s Office also drives the open government agenda in the country, making it a well-placed actor to advance citizen and stakeholder participation across the public administration. Armenia increasingly recognises the principles of open government – transparency, accountability, and stakeholder participation – as fundamental for good governance. Armenia joined the Open Government Partnership Initiative (OGP) in 2011 and is now implementing its fifth National Action Plan (2022-2024), which has ten commitments covering access to information (ATI), public communication, participatory budgeting, and public procurement, among others (Open Government Partnership, n.d.[12]). These efforts align with OECD best practices where CoG plays a fundamental role in embedding innovative and participatory approaches into policy development (OECD, 2024[13]).
The Ministry of High-Tech Industry is instrumental in supporting cross-sectoral innovations, research and development, including digital innovation (OECD, 2024[11]). Alongside this, the Information Systems Agency of Armenia provides fundamental interoperable digital public infrastructure, digital service design support and guidelines and key tools to digital service delivery aimed at enabling digital and technology related innovations. Furthermore, the Ministry of Finance has been involved in numerous innovation projects, including on municipal-level participatory budgeting, alongside the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure.
Development cooperation organisations have been instrumental in supporting the uptake of innovative approaches through capacity building efforts and dedicated funds, particularly in stimulating the innovation ecosystem and supporting local level efforts. GIZ with support and funding from SDC, the US and German Governments has supported the establishment of 70+ citizen offices for user-centred service delivery and launched widespread participatory budgeting efforts across Armenian municipalities (GIZ, 2022[14]). Moreover, alongside GIZ’s Local Development Fund which has supported the implementation of 50 development projects at the local level, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) supports locally-led community-centred development projects, e-governance (including electronic court filing) and improved dialogue between parliament and civil society (USAID, n.d.[15]). The Austrian Development Agency and SDC support numerous initiatives to improve accountability and government effectiveness through participatory decision making, SME capacity building and strengthening of local councils.
International organisations such as the UNDP and the World Bank play an important role in supporting innovation. For example, the World Bank supported an extensive project on public sector modernisation and administrative burden reduction in areas such as consular services and emergency response (World Bank, 2023[16]). Moreover, the UNDP SDG Innovation Lab, which was founded as a collaborative initiative between the Government of Armenia and the United Nations, aims to mainstream the use of innovative methods (behavioural science, data science, systems thinking) to improve evidence-based and human-centred policymaking.
Table 1.2 maps key institutions in the Armenian public sector that play an important role in supporting public sector innovation and participation and showcases the potential roles each institution could play to better support innovation.
The opportunities and challenges impacting Armenia’s capacity for innovative and participatory policymaking and implementation are explored further in chapters three and four.
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← 1. In line with the OECD Survey on Open Government, the term citizen is meant as an inhabitant of a particular place and not a legally recognised national of a state.
← 2. The OECD definition of stakeholders is any interested and/or affected party, including: individuals, regardless of their age, gender, sexual orientation, religious and political affiliations; and institutions and organisations, whether governmental or non-governmental, from civil society, academia, the media or the private sector.
← 3. “The OECD defines innovation as something new or novel to context, implemented, and aimed at achieving impact. The focus of innovations could include services, products, processes, working methods and operating procedures, policy development, communication. Based on this definition, have you been involved in designing and/or implementing an innovation in your workplace during the last two-year period?” (OECD, 2024[4]).