On August 4 the webinar was held on the topic of “Covid-19 Challenges for Local Authorities”. The webinar was hosted by Council of Europe expert Artak Yergenyan, the president of the Union of Communities of Armenia, Co-chair of Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe Emin Yeritsyan, lawyer, expert Vahagn Pertosyan.

The webinar was held by Union of Communities of Armenia with financial support of Visegrad Fund in the framework of ''Colloboration towards sustainable development of cities - Common Challenges, Common Solutions'' project.

The project's partners are the Association of Polish Cities, Union of Towns and Cities of Slovakia, Hungarian National Association of Local Authorities (TÖOSZ), Rádlo municipality.

The objective of the project is to assist the communities in developing staff capacities.

During the discussion, the experts stated that COVID-19 is a challenge, to which local authorities should respond by their capabilities.The issue of lessons learnt also was touched upon.

The experts made presentations about what problems COVID-19 raised for the communities: problems of deprivation of administration, vital services, lack of public awareness.

It was stated that during March-June the communities were more vulnerable

in terms of sustainable living because of the pandemic. The reference was made to the scope of local government responsibilities, and what impact the epidemic had on local government finances and their management.

The experts stated that there is a need for rapid legislative steps.

From July 15 the series of webinars have been held. Union of Communities of Armenia organized the webinars on following topics:

-Current legal Issues of local self-government in Armenia

-Current financial issues of local self-government in Armenia,

-European Charter of Local Self-Government and the State of Local Democracy in Armenia,

-COVID-19: legal framework for LSG bodies and practical issues.

The participants of the webinars selected by project by their high activity and initiativeness will have the opportunity to participate in study visit to Poland.