If government is best run close to the people, then local self-governance is a cornerstone in the structure of our democratic political system. But in a time of limited budgets, how can we make our local government more efficient and responsive? Instead of leaving this headache to policymakers, Kolba asked those of us who are most intimately involved in local governance service delivery – you, the user!

The result? We received ideas from across Armenia, even as far away as Canada, proposing wide-ranging solutions in everything from e-budgeting to household item recycling centres.

After narrowing down the very best ideas to ten, a final design workshop and pitching session saw four citizen-experts enter Kolba’s incubator to receive seed funding and mentoring. Meet the #mylocgov innovators!

Smart City

What is an e-governance system you say? Karen Yerznkanyan has devised an intuitive and user-response online platform that creates a shortcut in the relationship between community member and local government unit by:

·  Facilitating condominium payments, fines and taxes

·  Creating an interactive space for community members’ complaints or proposals (such as in garbage disposal, water waste, cleanliness of public yards, problems with elevators in residential buildings, city lighting, etc.) that neighbours can “vote up” by liking

·  Presenting information on financial flows and activities of condominium units, making governance processes more transparent.

Interactive Public Transport

Yerevan: city of 76 micro-bus routes, 68 bus routes, 10 trolleybus routes, and a metro line, and yet, a very high chance of getting lost… The absence of centralized transport information continues to confound even Yerevan’s longest-serving residents.

Enter Arthur Dolmajian and his interactive public transport platform. Arthur has created a system that will provide transport route maps, timetables, (tourist-friendly) content in multiple languages, and more. All available online, via special app, and on Google Maps!

Solar-powered Community Lighting

When the sun goes down, backyards and playgrounds in the city of Gyumri aren’t very welcoming, becoming consumed by the evening’s darkness. Arsen Vardanyan’s solution? Solar-powered street lighting! Working closely with his local community to design, build and install the lights, Arsen’s idea has brought more than light to his neighborhood. It has transformed the way his neighbours interact with their local public space, bringing people and communities together.

Seeing the success of the idea, others want in on the action. With the avid support of the local government in Gyumri, the lights will soon be rolled out to more residents.

Monitoring of Public Vehicles:

Perceptions of social injustice, ethical concerns and lack of good governance has damaged citizens’ trust towards the government and public officials worldwide. This has created an unhealthy distance and disconnect between the two groups.

The Freedom of Information Center of Armenia has developed a platform that can counter this trend in a unique way: by monitoring the vehicles of the public officials, and identifying and publicizing incidences of abuse in which official vehicles are used for private needs.

Using a simple app, users can take photos (using smart phones and other devices) of public vehicles and then send the photos with the geo-location to a website platform that will verify and publicize this information.

What do you think? All of our citizen-experts will be presenting their projects next Monday at Social Good Talks Armenia.  Join the event and come along to Mirozoyan Library at 4pm on 28^th September to learn more!

Are you a citizen-expert? Want to be part of Kolba’s incubator? If you have a clear problem you wish to solve and an idea that you think will accomplish this, or if you are already working on this issue and would like to increase the scope of your initiative, try our random submissions challenge!