Project Title: New E-Governance Initiatives to meet OGP Commitments in Georgia

Donor Organization: Tetra Tech ARD/USAID Good Governance Initiative in Georgia, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Estonia

Grant Amount: $ 72, 685 ($ 65,935 Supported by USAID and $ 6,750 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Estonia)

Project Duration: 12 December 2016 – 30 April 2018

Implementing Partner: e-Governance Academy (Estonia)

Problem Statement

Implementing innovative e-governance solutions both on the central and local levels remains a challenge for Georgian public institutions. Nevertheless, there is significant interest and political will among the majority of public agencies to bring innovation into the public administration process in Georgia. Georgian institutions and civil society organizations have been widely relying on the Open Government Partnership (OGP) as a source and driver of innovation, transparency and public participation. Throughout the past several years, CSOs and public institutions have successfully co-created several important projects and initiatives. The OGP 2014-2015 and 2016-2017 National Action Plans are a vivid example of the co-creating and knowledge-sharing between civil society and the public sector.

Currently, there are several challenges that are related to successful engagement of municipalities and public institutions into OGP. In particular, municipalities and public institutions have demonstrated significant gaps with regard to public engagement and using new tools of e-participation and electronic transparency. Bringing municipalities into OGP and open government into the municipalities still remains a challenge. The initial mapping has revealed that municipal public instructions often do not possess necessary skills and technical capacities to successfully interact with the public, in a way that is transparent and efficient. In addition, several central public institutions have also demonstrated the need for assistance when it comes to citizen engagement and e-governance. Existing practice has demonstrated that existing mechanisms of e-participation do not effectively enable the agencies to interact with the public. 

Some of the main existing challenges with regard to e-governance are:

- Limited awareness on the prinicples of good, innovative and engaging governance and lack of capacity to follow these principles in practice;

- Insufficient knowledge and expertise to effectively publish and access public information, to engage citizens in policy planning, budgeting etc.;

- Limited Transparency of political and administrative processes, thereby hindering civic engagement in public policy;

- Limited use and awareness of public e-services.

Project Objectives

The aim of the project is to support three pilot municipalities and 2 Ministries in implementing effective electronic tools of engagement and citizen participation. The project will assist the municipalities of Batumi, Akhaltsikhe and Kutaisi in the implementation of innovative citizen engagement solutions and in increasing the capacity of human resources in areas of citizen engagement, participatory budgeting and electronic service delivery. These municipalities are represented with specific commitments in the 2016-2017 OGP National Action plan and the project aims to assist them in different ways.

In addition, the project will assist 2 Ministries in improving 2 existing e-governance tools that are aimed at increasing citizen engagement and improving communication between public agencies and citizen on the delivery of specific services.

Project Goals

Within the framework of the project, IDFI and the e-Governance Academy (eGA), working in close cooperation with representatives from City Halls of Akhaltsikhe, Batumi and Kutaisi as well as from Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs and Ministry of Finance of Georgia will undertake efforts targeted at:

- Setting up a new electronic system for facilitating involvement of citizens in local decision-making processes in Akhaltsikhe, Batumi and Kutaisi. The main aim of the system is to speed up communications with citizens, promote transparency, and allow for improved decision-making and service-delivery.

- Development of Participatory Budgeting Mechanisms (procedures, tools) of the Local Budget for Kutaisi, Batumi and Akhaltsikhe. The main objectives of this activity are effective elaboration of the local budget, increased public awareness and understanding of budgetary processes and improved mechanisms for public engagement in discussions on draft budget;

- Elaboration of a concept note (including international best practice analysis) and terms of reference (TOR) for development of an effective patient’s portal of the Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs;

- Development of a concept note and TOR to improve the  participatory budgeting online platform of the Ministry of Finance;

- Creation of new websites for Akhaltsikhe, Batumi and Kutaisi municipalities to improve e-transparency and electronic participation.

Expected results

In order to meet the above-mentioned goal the following main objectives will be achieved through introduction of new e-governance solutions:

- Enhanced transparency, good governance practices and e-communications with the public in Kutaisi, Batumi and Akhaltsikhe;

- Promoted public engagement in the process of policymaking and budgeting in Kutaisi, Batumi and Akhaltsikhe;

- Two central agencies (Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs) will be assisted to use e-governance techniques to increase transparency and citizen engagement while conducting their activities.

Planned Activities

Budget