On February 16-21, IDFI conducted an online training on Transparency, Accountability and Integrity issues for the employees of the City Halls of Ambrolauri and Lanchkhuti municipalities and legal entities owned or managed by the City Halls.

The aim of the training was to raise awareness, as well as build capacity of the employees regarding anti-corruption mechanisms. It is noteworthy, that the trainings were preceded by the preparation of the Corruption Risk Assessment Reports for both Municipalities, which analyzed the challenges the City Halls are facing in terms of transparency, integrity, and accountability, in detail. The reports were prepared based of a pre-designed Corruption Risk Assessment Methodology. Most importantly, with the participation of IDFI, the municipalities have elaborated and adopted Building Integrity and Transparency Strategies and Action Plans.

The training participants had an opportunity to gain theoretical and practical knowledge regarding the issues presented in the Transparency and Integrity Guidebook, specially prepared for civil servants. The topics included:

-         Corruption Risk Assessment;

-         Ethics and Disciplinary Proceedings;

-         Filling out Assets Declarations;

-         State Procurement;

-         Whistleblowers Protection;

-         Provision of Public Information;

-         Data Collection, Processing and Publication Practice;

-         Citizen Participation in Decision-making Process;

-         Internal Financial Control Mechanisms;

-         Legal Entities Owned or Managed by City Hall;

-         Practice of Policy Analysis;

-         Implementation of Functional Analyses.

The issues of whistleblowing institutions and whistleblower protection turned out to be particularly interesting for the attendees. Apart from this, the training participants highlighted the importance of the institutionalization of market research and step-by-step monitoring system in the sphere of public procurement.  Discussion was also held on given examples of ethics and disciplinary proceedings, as this part of the training included interesting practical examples related to the day-to-day duties of public servants.

The online sessions were led by Teona Turashvili, Head of Local Government, Internet and Innovations Directions and Gvantsa Nikuradze, analyst of IDFI.

The training was held with the financial support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) “Good Governance Initiative in Georgia” (USAID GGI).