On June 4, professional development program for municipal authorities "Effectively Managing Communities in Armenia" by the Matena International School was launched in Dilijan. Around two dozen mayors, municipal executives and local councilors from 15 communities of Armenia participated in the program.

The program, which aimed to significantly develop the professional and leadership skills of municipal leaders, was jointly developed by Matena and Skolkovo schools.

During the first module, the participants will be provided with comprehensive knowledge about modern municipal management, the role of a community leader, team management skills in complex situations, methods of strategic decision-making, key success factors, skills of building an effective team and managing it, peculiarities of external and internal communication and other important skills. The next two modules of the program will be held in July and August, respectively, in Yerevan and in Moscow (Skolkovo School of Management).

"The consolidation of communities has led to serious changes in terms of control and implementation of the community development programs. Thus, the goal of this program is to bring the best world experience to Armenia so that community leaders and the council members have the opportunity to gain new knowledge. The successfulness of a nation depends on the quality of its managers; and the development of communities is fundamental for the development of a country," said Ruben Vardanyan, Co-Founder of Matena International School, Founding Partner of UWC Dilijan International School and the Skolkovo School of Management.

One of the exceptional components of the program is the co-financing of the best individual projects. Those community leaders, who come up with the best community development projects at the end of the program, will be co-financed by Matena for the implementation of their projects.

"It would be very hard to find an educational program of comparable level for community leaders in any management school in the world, moreover, a program that, in addition to transferring international best practices, is specifically designed and best considers the local governance peculiarities of Armenia. It is important that the participants of the program will not only learn, but will also act, because, at the end of the program, based on the knowledge and skills they have acquired, they will submit projects on effectively managing their communities, the best of which will be co-financed by Matena," said the Co-Founder and CEO of Matena Ruben Hayrapetyan.

"The research on the competencies of public managers clearly demonstrated that there is a great demand for new knowledge on the development of team and territorial management skills. We see a high interest among the audience. We hope that the program in this format will help to solve the most acute problems and satisfy the demand of municipal authorities," said Marina Veldanova, Professor of Business Practice, and Director of the Healthcare Development Centre of the Skolkovo School of Management.