APRI Armenia is proud to announce the role it played as a Content Partner for the Public Sector Innovation Forum III on March 17–18, organized by the UNDP in Armenia’s National SDG Innovation Lab. As part of this collaboration, APRI Armenia contributed to the pivotal panel discussion, “When Policies Stay on Paper: Closing the Implementation Gap.”
The session brought together high-level government officials and civil society leaders to examine the gap between policies on paper and their implementation when confronted with the realities of bureaucratic systems, fiscal constraints, and institutional resistance. The panel was moderated by Armenak Minasyants, APRI Armenia Senior Fellow on Public Administration, and featured:
- Sona Ayvazyan, Executive Director, Transparency International Anticorruption Center
- Armen Ghazaryan, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Internal Affairs
- Artur Martirosyan, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports
Here are some key highlights from the panel:
- The gap between policies on paper and their implementation has been a structural challenge in Armenia. This has often been linked to the limited use of evidence-based approaches in policymaking, with policies and strategies not always sufficiently reflecting real needs, public expectations, or practical realities on the ground.
- Government agencies have stated an interest in enhancing the role of civil society organizations in public administration reforms, including through more meaningful consultation and co-design.
- Improving public accountability and transparency in the work of state institutions must be a focus. An important step is to ensure that official databases, registries, and public documents are more reliable, kept up to date, and easily accessible.
