Projects

Project title: Analysis of Russian Capital in Georgian Business - Stage 1
Supported by: Georgian Information Integrity Program(GIIP) / USAID 
Budget: GEL 23, 200
Duration: October 19, 2021 – February 18, 2022

Due to the fact that the share of Russian companies on the Georgian market is ever-increasing, within the frame of the proposed research project, IDFI aims to update the previous report : “Russian Capital in Georgian Business” after 6 years and supplement it with the research on the new and old companies that are owned by the citizens of the Russian Federation and the individuals affiliated with them. In the report, the work, resources, and connections of the companies owned by the citizens of Russia in the sectors of electricity, water resources, tourism, oil, gas, mining, mineral waters, communications, electric locomotive construction, banking and investments operating in Georgia will be studied in detail. 

The business is often related to socio-political actors and influences on public perceptions. We deem it important to closely investigate such links between political, civil and media actors and business companies owned by the citizens of Russia. This would give us a clear image of funding sources behind some malign political, media and civil actors that actively spread disinformation in the country. For this, IDFI will monitor the donations, lobbying cases and other types of connections between the companies and societal actors in order to map the network of Russian capital and political organizations in Georgia. As a result of the three stage project, IDFI plans to create a map of the Russian capital in Georgia, which will be integrated into the Georgian Disinformation Ecosystem Map.

Project Objectives

- Investigating and mapping the Russian capital in Georgian business and its impact on Georgian political, media, and civil actors; 

- Reaviling the connections between the companies owned by the citizens of Russia and political, civil, and media actors affiliated with the government of the Russian Federation;

-Creting an effective tool and source of verified information for the civil society and research organizations as well as for media outlets that are focused on Russian-Georgian relations, Russian propaganda and disinformation issues;

-Providing the Government of Georgia with detailed information about the potential and/or existing malign influence of Russian capital on the Georgian political environment;

Project activities:

- At the first stage, collecting the information from public agencies, the Internet and other open sources about the following four sectoral directions: communications, banking, mining and mineral water.

- Update the company information studied in 2015’s report. 

-  Creting an analytical brief/interim report.

Project Activities and Budget 

Contract

Project title: Inter-Religious Understanding Through Graphic Arts

Supported by: International Coalition of Sites of Conscience 

Budget: $2,850

Duration: September 6 – December 10, 2021

In 2019, it became known that the mass graves of the victims of the 1937-1938 Soviet repressions were discovered in Adjara, Georgia. The discovery of the mass graves is very important event for Georgia as the study of stories of the repressed people, their proper commemoration, and immortalization has a key role in the formation of collective memory of countries and understanding of the totalitarian past, which is confirmed by the experience of other post-Soviet countries. At the initial stage, some particular steps were taken by the government for studying the mass graves.

The main participants in this project will be students of the St. Matthias Apostolic Gymnasium-Boarding School, who will create comics about the stories of those repressed people, focusing on showing the religious understanding between the Muslims and Christian communities. With the spreading of such comic books about the stories of the repression victims, we expect a new knowledge about the repressive regime and personalities to emerge in the community. It shall also enhance even greater empathy among the victims of a religious minority group. The comics will be distributed both in Georgia and through the channels of the International Coalition.

The increasing interest of the younger generation in the issue of the repressed as well as their involvement in relevant discussions is important for raising general, public awareness. With this project, the society, the government, and the decision-makers will once again see the importance of the issue of the memory of the victims for the society, that this topic is not secondary and the new generation is involved in promoting the topic.

Project Objectives

- Raising public awareness about the discovered mass graves in Adjara;

- Enhancing dialogue among the local Muslim and Christian population;

- Attracting government’s attention to the issue of the discovered mass graves in Adjara.

Project activities:

- Lectures and discussion sessions on the topic of repression and repressed people;

- creation of  3 thematic comic books;

- distribution of the comics and other PR activities;

- submitting and discussing  the output of the project to the Coalition;

Timeline and Budget

Contract

Project Title: Study on Integrity in Civil Service – Georgia’s Challenges and the Best Practice 

Donor Organization: United Nations Development Program – Supporting Public Administration Reform in Georgia – Phase 2

Project Contract Number: 00121579

Total Budget: 17,420.00 USD

Duration of the Project: 1 September 2021 – 31 January 2022

Objectives

- to identify key challenges of Georgia in terms of civil service integrity and protection of whistleblowers;

- to analyze OECD-ACN and GRECO standards and recommendations; 

- to cooperate with the Administration of Georgia and the Civil Service Bureau as well as the ministries to better adopt to the national context the findings and recommendations of the study;

- to propose recommendations based on the above-mentioned analysis. 

Project Activities

1. Desk review – the research team will analyze the existing situation on integrity and whistleblowing issues by requesting relevant information and data from the public agencies, analyzing national legislation and OECD-ACN and CoE-GRECO recommendations on the issue. Statistical data requests from the agencies will pay attention to gender and socially disadvantaged groups. 

2. Online survey of the civil servants – based on the questionnaire prepared according to the final methodology with the involvement of a sociologist, the team will study the awareness and attitudes of civil servants on integrity and whistleblowing issues. The survey will be sent to the central agencies and municipalities (at lease those municipalities with ethnic minorities will be covered). Survey of public servants will be conducted using an e-mail database of HR units of the central agencies and municipality focal points, and within 90% of the reliability and error, a questionnaire completed by around 5% of total amount of civil servants will suffice. The data will be statistically counted and the awareness and attitudes of civil servants will be analyzed.

3. Focus Group Discussions with stakeholders – the first draft of the document and its findings will be shared with the Civil Service Bureau, Government Administration and other interested central agencies and municipalities to receive their opinions and to better adapt the document findings and proposed recommendations to the local needs and characteristics. The inputs received from the stakeholders will serve as a validation mechanism for both the data collected and preliminary recommendations developed. The recommendations prepared based on the analysis of the collected data will be directed to the Government of Georgia, the Civil Service Bureau, ministries and municipalities, however, final beneficiaries of the study are civil servants across the county and a wider public as the research project aims to contribute to the strengthening of integrity of the civil service. 

4. Closing event – the final study findings and proposed recommendations will be presented to the public to contribute to the civil service integrity.

Work Plan

Contract

Project Title: Localizing the 2030 Agenda in Georgia
Donor Organization: The Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Total Budget: 162.750,00 GEL
Contract Number: 83383644
Duration of the Project:June 15, 2021-December 15, 2021

Summary of the Project

Georgia adopted a comprehensive Decentralization Strategy 2020-2025 in December 2019, making decentralization a key policy priority. This envisages the transfer of more powers and aligned finances to local authorities. If launched coherently, the localization of the Agenda 2030 will support and go hand in hand with the Decentralization Strategy – the latter of which likewise promotes greater citizen participation in decision-making processes to ensure transparency and accountability.

To start the localization process in Georgia, GIZ programme - Good Governance for Local Development (GGLD) - plans a comprehensive analysis of the local SDG-architecture in Georgia. Recommendations, based on this analysis and the detected gaps, shall guide the design and implementation of pilot activities in four selected municipalities to launch the localization process in Georgia. A long-term action plan and further recommendations based on the practically gained experiences through the pilot activities shall lay the grounds for a successful upscaling strategy to comprehensively localize the Agenda 2030 in Georgia. 

Main objectives: 

- Comprehensive Analysis of local context, gaps and recommendations on SDG localization in Georgian municipalities

- Implementation of first activities to launch the localization of SDGs in four pilot municipalities

Activities

To achieve the above-mentioned objectives, the following activities will be implemented:

1. Analysis of Current Situation in Georgia and identification of relevant municipal competencies for SDG implementation at the local level. It will contain the following parts:

a) Analysing existing regulations (laws and bylaws) on the role of municipalities in implementing Agenda 2030 at the central and local levels. 

b) The current level of awareness and state of implementation of Agenda 2030 on the local level in the four selected pilot municipalities

c) Monitoring and review at the local level.

d) Studying the best international practice

e) Based on the analysis, gaps and needs in Georgia’s current SDG architecture will be identified at the central and local levels.

f) Recommendations - Most importantly, based on the revealed gaps, challenges, international practice and prospects, practical and evidence-based recommendations will be elaborated.

2. Implementation of pilot activities in the four pilot municipalities (based on recommendations of the analysis)

3. The final report of the project will be prepared

4. The final presentation will be organized to present the prepared analysis and elaborated policy recommendations with the participation of wider audience.

Planned Activities and Project Budget

Contract

Project Title: Global Data Barometer
Donor Organization: Latin American Open Data Initiative (ILDA)
Total Budget: $ 15,400
Duration of the Project:June 9, 2021-December 30, 2021

Summary of the Project

The Global Data Barometer is constituted as a project of the Latin American Open Data Initiative (ILDA) and funded by IDRC under the Open Data for Development (OD4D) partnership/program.

The purpose of this project is to deepen and strengthen the strategic partnership between the Parties for the purpose of providing effective support and contribution to the first edition of the GDB study design, implementation and more specifically, around Data Collection Phase across countries in Eastern Partnership and Central Asia. 

The Global Data Barometer will produce a unique global and regional view of data for public good across a wide range of sectors. As a high-profile study, it aims to influence policy debates at country, regional and global levels - and to support advances in a range of data for development initiatives. 

Activities and Phases

 - Field work, data collection, peer review/thematic review - June 1 - August 31st, 2021

Contract

Project Title: Develop Integrity and Transparency Strategy and Action Plan for the City-Halls of Akhmeta and Tsageri Municipalities
Donor Organization: USAID Good Governance Initiative in Georgia, TETRA TECH
Project Contract Number: GGI-SUB-061
Total Budget: 50,048 GEL
Duration of the Project: 10 May, 2021 – 29 September, 2021

Objectives

The overall objective of the project is to strengthen resilience of Akhmeta and Tsageri City-Halls against the threat of corruption.

 Specific objective of this assignment is to support Akhmeta and Tsageri City-Halls in:

 1) Development of Integrity and Transparency Strategy and Action Plan and implementation and monitoring framework; 

 2) Capacity building of the relevant staff on integrity and transparency to apply anticorruption measures in practice.

 Project Activities

 In order to achieve the above-mentioned objectives, IDFI will implement the following activities:

-      Development of a detailed methodology

-      Development of a detailed work plan

-      Conduct a corruption risk assessment

-      Preparation of corruption risk assessment report and recommendations

-      Development of Strategy and Action Plan

-      Conduct Public Discussion

-      Finalizing Strategy and Action Plan

-      Development of a Training Module

-      Development of implementation guidelines

-      Conduct a capacity building activity

Activities

Project Budget

Contract

Project Title: Develop Integrity and Transparency Strategy and Action Plan for the City Halls of Ambrolauri and Lanchkhuti Municipalities

Donor Organization: USAID Good Governance Initiative in Georgia, TETRA TECH

Project Contract Number: GGI-SUB-062

Total Budget: 48,506 GEL

Duration of the Project: 10 May, 2021 – 29 September, 2021

Objectives

The overall objective of the project is to strengthen resilience of Ambrolauri and Lanchkhuti City Halls against the threat of corruption.

 Specific objective of this assignment is to support Ambrolauri and Lanchkhuti City Halls in:

 1) Development of Integrity and Transparency Strategy and Action Plan and implementation and monitoring framework; 

 2) Capacity building of the relevant staff on integrity and transparency to apply anticorruption measures in practice.

 Project Activities

 In order to achieve the above-mentioned objectives, IDFI will implement the following activities:

-      Development of a detailed methodology

-      Development of a detailed work plan

-      Conduct a corruption risk assessment

-      Preparation of corruption risk assessment report and recommendations

-      Development of Strategy and Action Plan

-      Conduct Public Discussion

-      Finalizing Strategy and Action Plan

-      Development of a Training Module

-      Development of implementation guidelines

-      Conduct a capacity building activity

Planned Activities and Project Budget

Contract

Project Title: Enhancing Digital Freedoms through Monitoring, Reporting and Advocacy
Donor Organization: Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation (BST)
Project Contract Number: BST-21.089.GE25.1
Total Budget: $ 29,700 ($ 24,920 requested from BST)
Duration of the Project: May 1, 2021-January 1, 2022

Project Summary

The project aims to strengthen digital freedoms in Georgia through monitoring and reporting the activities and performance of Internet/communications sector state regulator in terms of accountability and proportionality of its decisions with regard to digital freedoms. To this end, analytical blog-posts and a comprehensive report will be prepared based on the monitoring results. To consider the opinions of all relevant stakeholders, workshops/focus group meetings will be conducted. Monitoring results and elaborated policy recommendations will be communicated during the final presentation.

Goal/Objectives

The general goal of the project is to ensure and strengthen safeguards and Internet freedoms in Georgia through monitoring, reporting and advocacy.

To this end, the major objectives of the project are:

• Increase accountability of the public institutions regulating the communications/Internet sphere in the country;

• Foster multi-stakeholder dialogue on the issue of performance of the mentioned regulator and identify common concerns;

• Identify major challenges and controversial decisions of the regulator in the sphere of Internet regulation/digital freedoms;

• Mitigate the elaborated challenges by reporting and devising potential solutions;

• Propose policy recommendations and communicate them with all relevant stakeholders for positive

Activities

1) Preparatory stage: elaborating a comprehensive methodology and submitting FOI requests

2) Holding workshops/focus group interviews

3) Monitoring and reporting

4) Preparing a monitoring report

5) Elaborating policy recommendations

6) Final presentation

7) Cooperation with media

Planned Activities and Project Budget

Contract

Project Title: Promoting PPD in Georgia through Monitoring and Awareness Raising
Donor Organization: Deloitte Consulting LLC, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), within the auspices of the Economic Governance Program 
Project Contract Number: R-2010-00014
Total Budget:GEL 136,742
Duration of the Project:April 5, 2021 - April 4, 2022

Project Brief Descriptionand Goals

The project aims to continue the operation of the PPD Quality Tracking Mechanism, expand its use in regions outside the capital and raise awareness on PPD among state and non-state actors as well as the wider society. Selected draft laws and regulations will be evaluated based on the extent and quality of inclusive consultation.

The evaluation of the extent and quality of PPD will be based on four pre-identified phases of policy development: policy design and development, legislation drafting, circulation and public comments, and ex-ante regulatory impact assessment (RIA), namely:

- Policy Design and Development - criteria to evaluate the extent and quality of relevant non-government stakeholder (private sector, business, civil society, affected party) or expert (professors/academia, lawyers, economists, think tank, NGOs, international donor organizations) input that government policymakers received in the initial formulation of the underlying policy behind proposed legislation (initial formative stage), at the very first stages of consideration before the commencement of drafting any legislation.

- Legislation/regulation drafting - criteria to evaluate the extent and quality of relevant non-government stakeholder (private sector, business, civil society, affected party) or expert (professors/academia, lawyers, economists, think tank, NGOs, international donor organizations) input in the actual creation of draft legislation.

- Ex-ante Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) - criteria to evaluate the extent and quality of the RIA performed related to the legislation.

- Circulation and public comments - criteria to evaluate the (i) extent and quality of efforts to publicize, circulate, and distribute the proposed draft legislation to the public and stakeholders (private sector, business, civil society, affected parties and the public at large); and (ii) the adequacy and extent of efforts to solicit and consider public feedback.

As a result of the grant activities, the project team will prepare a methodology for evaluating the quality of  PPD in the regions of Georgia, as well as a methodology for evaluating PPD quality in regard to regulations.

The representatives from key governmental institutions as well as the selected municipalities will be better equipped with relevant knowledge and information on high-level PPD. In order to achieve this goal, IDFIwill conduct information and training sessions in the regions of Georgia.

Activities (start date of activities May 01, 2021):

1) Preparatory stage: elaborating a comprehensive methodology and submitting FOI requests

2) Conducting interviews and training sessions

3) Inception study of selected three municipalities

4) Preparing a monitoring report

5) Developing and finalizing PPD quality tracking report

6) Final presentation of the report and social activities

Activities

Project title: Supporting CSOs in Digital Archiving - Expert Consultancy

Supported by: International Coalition of Sites of Conscience 

Budget: $1,200

Duration: March 1 – June 15, 2021

Project Objective

Developing a manual that will support civil society organizations (CSOs) in digital archiving to advance the transitional justice processes.

Project Activities

Based on the questionnaire provided by the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, collect and compile responses from at least three organizations in the region (former Soviet states) with digital archiving expertise; Produce a report of approximately eight (8) pages summarizing these responses and outlining the key findings (including the Consultant’s own expertise on the subject). Prepare a brief presentation about the findings.

Contract

Type of grant activity: Building Sustainable Human Capacity in Fighting Corruption

Donor institutions: Foundation to Promote Open Society

Total grant amount: USD 70,064.21

Project number: OR2020-70662

Implementation period: February 1, 2021 – August 31, 2022.

Project Goals

The goal of the project will be to build a community of corruption hunters who will be leaders in prevention of corruption; will be able to manage the risks of corruption; will be involved in defining the corruption cases; and will become active members of the anti-corruption community and society as general.

The first goal of the project is to successfully implement the program, while increasing its sustainability. The modules of the program will be transformed in two academic courses of Bachelor’s Degree which will be offered for 4th year Bachelor’s students at the School of Arts and Sciences. Therefore, the new program will enable ISU students to acquire the academic credits (ECTS) while taking the courses of the program. At the same time, modifying the current modules in academic courses will increase the sustainability of the program, as the academic courses on anti-corruption practices will become a part of the curriculum of the university degree program. Becoming part of the Bachelor’s Degree courses, won’t reduce the ability of the new program to recruit course participants from the private and public sectors, or from other universities. The course participants who are not ISU Bachelor’s Degree students, will receive the certificates for successful completion of the program courses.

The second goal of the project is to elaborate and implement a set of awareness raising, and team building activities which on one hand will increase the visibility of the project and raise the awareness of the society on corruption, and on the other hand strengthen the collaboration among the anti-corruption community and enable the formation of an active alumni network. The last segment of the team-building activities will consist of presenting the sub-projects (ideas) by the course participants which will be awarded based on the project outlines and the analytical papers.  

Expected Impact

Short-term impact: Enabling the ISU students to gather necessary ECTS for studying the modulestransformed in academic courses; engaging the prominent local and international experts in delivery of the course; graduates of the second cohort are becoming the members of the alumni network.

Medium-term impact: equipping the course participants with the necessary knowledge and skills, which will enable them to act as role models and change agents at their work, or through various projects that they will chose to engage with; enlarging and strengthening the anticorruption community by implementing team building exercises, planning, executing joint projects, and improving the visibility of the program and its activities.

Long-term impact: contribute to development of a community of like-minded progressive professionals, who are capable of recognizing opportunities for corruption and preventing corruption, as well as who will uncover corrupt practices and form a critical public opinion about the real human cost to corruption.

Planned Activities

Project Budget

Contract

Project Title: Development of Tbilisi City Hall’s Open Data Portal Concept and Terms of Reference (ToR)
Donor Organization: USAID Good Governance Initiative in Georgia, Tetra Tech ARD
Project Contract Number: GGI-SUB-054
Total Budget: GEL 59,922
Duration of the Project: December 24, 2020 – April 30, 2021

Project Objectives

An Overall objective of the project is to enhance transparency and accountability of Tbilisi City Hall by developing Open Data Portal and introducing effective open data management practices. 

Specific objectives of the project are:

1. Identify specific needs of Tbilisi City Hall in connection with collection, processing and publishing open data as well as existing demand for open data among different stakeholders; 

2. Develop Open Data Portal Concept;

3. Prepare Terms of Reference (ToR) for development of Open Data Portal of Tbilisi City Hall.    

Project Major Activities

1. Prepare a detailed workplan

2. Prepare of detailed methodology

3. Conduct comprehensive analysis 

4. Presentation of Situation/Comprehensive Analysis

5. Develop draft Open Data Portal Concept of Tbilisi City Hall

6. Present draft Open Data Portal Concept to Tbilisi City Hall

7. Present draft Open Data Portal Concept to interested stakeholders

8. Finalize Open Data Portal Concept

9. Develop detailed draft of the technical terms of reference

10. Present detailed draft of technical terms of reference

11. Finalize and submit detailed technical terms of reference

12. Develop and submit all deliverables

Planned Activities and Project Budget

Contract

Project Title: Local Self-Government Index - 2021
Project Donor: Open Society Georgia Foundation (OSGF)
Project Number: LDD/42/20 - 21174
Project Budget: Total budget USD 54,970  (IDFI budget –USD 20,100)
Project Duration: December 16, 2020 – September 16, 2021
Responsible Organizations: Centre for Training and Consultancy (CTC), Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) and Management Systems Development Center (MSDC)

Project Goals

The ultimate goal of the project is to develop transparent and accountable local self-governments, enhance public participation in local municipalities and improve principles of transparency and accountability at the local levels in Georgia.

To this end, the project aims to assess openness and accountability of municipalities based on Local Self-Government Index for the third time for 2021.

Project Objectives

- Provide all preconditions for conducting assessment of municipalities

- Raise public awareness about the Local Self-Government Index

- Conduct monitoring of all self-governing bodies for the third time, prepare a national report and communicate the monitoring results with all relevant local stakeholders

Project Major Activities

Objective 1: Provide all preconditions for conducting assessment of municipalities

1.1. Review the monitoring methodology

1.2. Update of the platform – lsgindex.org – enabling monitoring of municipalities in terms of transparency and accountability

1.3. Mobilization of local monitors and providing instructions

Objective 2: Raise public awareness about the Local Self-Government Index

2.1. Preparing an online webinar

2.2. Conducting public awareness raising activities about the Index

Objective 3: Conduct the third monitoring and prepare a national report

3.1. Conduct monitoring of all self-governing bodies

3.2. Prepare and present a national report of municipalities in terms of transparency and accountability based on the monitoring results

Planned Activities and Project Budget

Contract

Project Title: Capacity Building Grant

Donor Organization: United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

Total Budget: $ 30,000

Duration of the Project:December 9, 2020-September 9, 2021

Summary of the Project

The purpose of the Grant is to strengthen the capacity of Institute for Development of Freedom of Information in the field of data for public good & open data assessment methods and tools andact as a Regional Hub for the Global Data Barometer first global edition 2020-2021; thus, contributing to a drill-down global metrics that can show the policy frameworks, data availability, and uptake, in particular sectors, and can help direct global advocacy and action, and act as a benchmark for policy makers and funders to track progress towards shared goals.

Main objectives: 

- Capacity building for IDFI team on the 4 stages of the Global Data Barometer with focused sessions on each stage; 

- Capacity building for national researchers from across the 11 countries co-implemented with IDFI on the field work/data collection, peer review and thematic review process;

- Continuous mentoring and capacity support to IDFI in the successful implementation ofall GDB phases in the target regions. 

Activities

1. Capacity building for IDFI team on the main GDBphases

2. IDFI conducts global data barometer related capacity building sessions with all staff members of IDFI

3. IDFI conducts capacity building sessions with national country researchers on the GDB methodology

4. Review the GDB expert surveys filled in by national researchers and provide additional feedback

Budget

Contract

Project title: Promoting Personal Data Protection in Georgia

Donor organization: Embassy of the Netherlands in Georgia

Project number: 4000004558

Project budget: 243,929 GEL      

Project duration: 1 December 2020 – 31 January 2022

Project summary

The project is related to strengthening the personal data protection regime in Georgia through enhancing the knowledge and awareness of professional groups and students of the personal data protection standards, fostering professional and academic discussions on challenges related to personal data protection, and strengthening the capacity of the State Inspector Service. Within the scope of the project, relevant awareness-raising activities will be carried out, a number of publications/visualizations will be disseminated, working meetings will be organized with target groups, training will be held for the staff of the State Inspector Service, and relevant activities will be organized with the aim of engagement of students. As a result of the project activities, the capacity of the State Inspector Service will be strengthened which will contribute to ensuring stronger protection of the personal data in Georgia.

Purpose of the project

The main purpose of the project is to contribute to strengthening the personal data protection regime in Georgia in the most problematic fields. 

Objectives of the project

-To enhance the knowledge and awareness of professional groups and students of the personal data protection standards. 

-To foster professional and academic discussions on challenges related to personal data protection.

-Strengthen the capacity of the State Inspector Service.

Planned Activities and Project Budget

Contract

Project Title: Empowered Civil Society and Enhanced Beneficial Ownership Transparency Standards for Good Governance
Supported by: International Visegrad Fund 
Grant Number: 220203362
Budget: EUR 34,902
Duration: October 1, 2020 – September 30, 2021
Partner Organizations: KohoVolit.eu (Czech Republic and Slovakia), K-Monitor Public Benefit Association (Hungary), ePaństwo Foundation (Poland)

Background

Despite Georgia’s success in fighting against petty corruption, it still has shortcomings in fighting against elite corruption. As it is acknowledged globally, beneficial ownership transparency is a crucial component for combating high and international corruption. While the registry of the beneficial ownership of the companies registered abroad does not exist in Georgia, foreign and offshore companies often hold significant assets in Georgia (real estate, capital, etc.) and participate in public procurement. With regard to Visegrad countries, Slovakia was one of the first countries of the European Union, which implemented a public register of beneficial ownership. While other countries also adopted respective laws/regulations in order to implement the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (Directive 2015/849/EU). Studying and comparing legislation and practices of these countries in this regard will be a useful experience-sharing for Georgia. Apart from existing transparency standards, civil society and media can play a critical role in enhancing government accountability. However, there is a lack of systemic public scrutiny over government activities in Georgia, as only a handful of media or civil society organizations have relevant skills to perform effective watchdog functions. Activists as well as the broader society do not have enough skills for obtaining and processing public data, as well as using online and offline (international) tools for holding the government accountable.

Project Objectives

IDFI, together with its partners from V4 countries, aims to support Georgian public to effectively monitor the government as well as enhance availability of public data on offshore companies.

To this end, the project plans to:

1) Study and advocate beneficial ownership transparency standards in Georgia and V4 countries;

2) Increase capacity of journalists, CSOs and activists through enhancing their oversight skills and promote monitoring government spending.

Such holistic approach will significantly improve the environment for watchdog community through advocating publication of more public data, including data about beneficial owners, enriching their professional skills and fostering cooperation between CSOs, journalists and activists.

Project Activities

1. Workshop on beneficial ownership transparency standards

2. Preparing toolkit on international investigative platforms, including on beneficial owners

3. Practical training/Workshop

4. Preparing joint regional study on beneficial ownership transparency legislation and practice in Georgia and V4 countries

5. Mentorship/Consultation for journalists/activists/CSOs/watchdogs

6. Contest of analytical reports/articles

7. Preparing Datasets and Update of DataLab.ge

8. Preparing visualizations / informative videos

9. Preparing analytical/investigative articles

10. Final Presentation

Project timeline and Budget

Project Title: Core Support

Supported by: The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida)

Grant Number: No. 13382

Budget: SEK 9,100,000 (Swedish kronor)

Duration: January 1, 2020 - December 31, 2022

Objectives of the Core Activities

The overall objectives of the Core Activities are Supporting Democratic and Good Governance in Georgia through evidence-based research, monitoring and advocacy by a) Promoting Open Governance; b) Strengthening the Anti-Corruption System; c) Social and Economic Policy; d) Rule of Law; e) Facilitating the Decentralization Process; f) Supporting the Process of Democratic Transition in Georgia; g) Media and Freedom of Expression; h) Internet and Innovations.

Project Summary

Despite overall progress in terms of building a democratic state and improving the effectiveness, transparency and fairness of governance in Georgia over the past 20 years, these processes have slowed and are currently facing serious challenges, such as informal governance, concentration of power, lack of judicial independence, high-level corruption and lack of political will to continue with important reforms, as well as poverty, external political and economic pressure from the Russian Federation that negatively affects democratic processes in the country. Reputable international organizations as well as prominent Georgian civil society organizations have gone as far as to say that Georgia shows signs of state capture. While the Government of Georgia declares that country irreversibly keeps pro-Western, Euro-Atlantic, democratic course, these worrying trends show a clear necessity for civil society to focus on these direction and support Georgia’s democratic and pro-western development as much as possible within its competence.

Having 10 years of experience working on improving democratic processes and promoting the principles of good governance, IDFI intends to counteract the existing challenges facing democratic and good governance through evidence-based research, monitoring and advocacy. More specifically, IDFI will work towards key objectives of combating corruption, improving transparency of public institutions, increasing citizen engagement in decision-making processes, achieving higher standards of rule of law, promoting more inclusive economic policies, facilitating the democratic decentralization and the democratic transition processes, upholding media and human rights, and promoting innovations to solve outstanding problems.

To achieve these objectives, IDFI will work with all relevant public, private, and civil society stakeholders. The organization will also make active use of various national and international networks and platforms in order to achieve positive change in target areas. Finally, special attention will be paid to achieving results at scale, by engaging important cross-cutting issues, such as education, environment and gender.

Budget 

Contract

Project Title:  Promoting Open Governance Principles at the Parliament of Georgia and Supreme Council of Ajara (SCA). It is part of a broader initiative of the EU-UNDP project - “Consolidating Parliamentary Democracy in Georgia”.

Funded by:  The European Union with a co-share from the Parliament of Georgia and SCA

Project Number: 00113526

Total Budget: EUR 290,000.00

Duration: November 11, 2019 – April 30, 2022

EU-UNDP project “Consolidating Parliamentary Democracy in Georgia” contributes to improved democratic governance in Georgia through strengthening the performance of the Parliament of Georgia and the Supreme Council of Autonomous Republic of Ajara (SCA) within the new context of constitutional and legislative framework.

In the framework of the project, UNDP is collaborating with the IDFI to promote open governance principles in the work of the Parliament of Georgia and SCA in order to enhance openness, transparency and accountability of the institutions, including through greater citizen engagement.

The cooperation aims at (1) enhanced public engagement in parliamentary processes through:

- supporting the operation of the Permanent Parliamentary Council on Open Governance

- supporting the Council in monitoring the implementation progress of Open Parliament Action Plans

- supporting the Parliament in raising public awareness on openness reforms and promoting citizen participation in legislative processes

- building the capacity of the Communications Teams of the Parliament on social network content management and tools

- supporting the building and reinforcing partnerships between the Parliament and other OGP member parliaments

and (2) SCA’s increased institutional openness, transparency and citizen engagement through:

- facilitating the institutionalization of a legislative openness mechanism in the SCA

- providing support to the SCA’s working group on legislative openness

- supporting the SCA’s working group in developing and monitoring the implementation of openness action plans

The project targets: members and staff of the Parliament of Georgia and SCA, civil society organizations, youth, ethnic minorities, academia, media, and the public in general.

Contract

Budget

Planned Activities

Project Title: Contributing to PAR through Civic Monitoring and Engagement

Funded by: European Union

Implemented by: Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) and Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA)

Project Number:ENI/2019/409-956

Total Budget: EUR 499,435.55; European Union: EUR 449,492; Partners Match: EUR 49,943.55 (IDFI - EUR 259,611.32 and GYLA - EUR 239,824.24)

Duration: October 10, 2020 – October 10, 2022

Background

Georgia launched the Public Administration Reform (PAR) in 2015 after signing the Association Agreement with the EU. The general goal of the reform is to improve the transparency, predictability, accountability and efficiency of the public administration of Georgia. For the past 4 years, successful implementation of PAR has been limited. According to Government of Georgia (GoG) PAR implementation monitoring results, 122 activities were assessed, out of which 55 were fully accomplished, 33 - mostly accomplished, 22 - partially accomplished, and 12 were not fulfilled. In addition to slow pace of implementation, several past obligations within the reform have been left unfulfilled for the most part of PAR’s existence. For example, an integral part of PAR, adoption of a separate Law on Freedom of Information has not been fulfilled, despite it being part of the reform since 2015.

Generally, PAR lacks ambitious reforms, especially in the areas of transparency and accountability. If the previous PAR action plan included the national anti-corruption action plan, the current one omits this important element. Local governments are not part of PAR to the extent they should be and regional CSOs are not engaged in the oversight of the reform. Also, public participation and oversight in the implementation of PAR has been one of the weakest links of the reform, which hinders its successful implementation. The need to improve regional engagement and participation has been recognised by the Government in its Programme 2018-2020.

In order to ensure that the third PAR action plan is implemented to the greatest extent possible and that the work is done to prepare for future improvement of the reform, implementing organizations (IDFI, GYLA, and regional CSOs) plan to promote civil society engagement in the monitoring and revision of the Public Administration Reform through innovations, capacity building and multi-stakeholder dialogue.

Action Objectives

The action aims to promote the implementation of the Public Administration Reform through innovations, capacity building, multi-stakeholder dialogue and civil society engagement in monitoring and revision of the PAR Action Plan.

Specific Objectives of the action are the following:

1. Monitor the implementation of PAR through an innovative, inclusive approach

2. Strengthen capacity of local CSOs to better contribute to oversight and implementation of PAR

3. Facilitate PAR revision process through multi-stakeholder discussion and sharing of best practices.

Action Major Activities

IDFI and GYLA will monitor the implementation of Public Administration Reform, with particular focus on 4 components: policy development, accountability, public finance management and service delivery in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the implementation process, allowing for evidence-based revision. The assessment will serve as an alternative monitoring report, complementing and verifying the report of the GoG. Once unfulfilled commitments are identified, the project team will examine the principal reasons of failure and propose ways of addressing them. These observations will then be used by the implementing organizations for the revision of PAR and its action plan.

A single interactive and dynamic monitoring platform will be an integral part of the monitoring process. Monitoring and research results will be stored on this platform. For this purpose IDFI will create an online monitoring platform - PAR Tracker, that will grant the public and all interested stakeholders ready access to comprehensive information about PAR implementation, as well as means to engage in the monitoring process.

GYLA will train 11 local CSOs in at least 6 cities in Georgia (Akhmeta, Batumi, Kutaisi, Zugdidi, Poti and Marneuli), four of which have the self-governing status, while the fifth and sixth are populated by ethnic minorities (Muslim Kists in Akhmeta and Azerbaijanis in Marneuli). After the trainings, GYLA will select CSOs in each city via a competition, and issue small grants to them to assess implementation of PAR reform at local level and identify shortcomings and opportunities through public discussions and workshops with the participation of all relevant local stakeholders.

In an effort to facilitate PAR reform revision process, IDFI will study best practices on the most problematic issues identified by PAR Tracker and elaborate policy recommendations, which will be communicated to all relevant stakeholders and decision-makers through workshops and roundtable discussions. IDFI will also make active use of its media network to raise awareness about the reform, in an effort to stimulate public demand for more ambitious reform commitments. Finally, at the end of the project, IDFI and GYLA will hold a conference to gather all relevant stakeholders to advocate for improvements and ambitious commitments for the future of Public Administration Reform.

The logic behind the action is that by creating an online platform for monitoring PAR, CSOs which are part of the PAR Council will be equipped with an effective common monitoring tool, and other CSOs, not part of the process, with area specific expertise will be given the opportunity to contribute to the reform. The PAR tracker will act as a bridging mechanism allowing target groups and beneficiaries to share their feedback and concerns with public institutions that are responsible for policy making, service delivery and PAR implementation.

This systemic and innovative approach to monitoring will help identify all key challenges facing the reform. IDFI and GYLA will then develop evidence-based recommendations to counter these challenges by consolidating the feedback gathered through the PAR Tracker as well as studying best international practices. Finally, the recommendations for how to revise PAR will be advocated using all relevant channels.

Activity Plan

Project Budget 

Contract

Project Title: Good Governance for Georgia (3G)

Supported by: Luminate, Global Philanthropic Organization

Grant Amount: USD 390,000

Grant Term: January 1, 2019 – December 31, 2021

Project Description

Project aims at increasing public oversight of state institutions, and increasing transparency and accountability of the government of Georgia.

IDFI plans to accomplish this goal by conducting oversight activities related to monitoring of effective, responsible, transparent, ethical and accountable governance and public procurement activities, preparing investigative analyses, and increasing capacity of journalists, CSOs and activists to enhance their oversight skills and methods in the respective areas.

Initially, the project will pilot in Tbilisi (capital of Georgia) and gradually move to the rest of the country during the second and third years.  

The project will include the following activities:

- Promote anti-corruption agenda, access to public information, government transparency and accountability by preparing monitoring reports and in-depth analytical papers about implementation of fiscal policy at central and local government levels in Georgia;

- Based on IDFI’s practice, develop a practical toolkit about the use of open data and existing online and offline resources and mechanisms for government oversight;

- Hold practical trainings and workshops for the project’s target groups: journalists, local CSO representatives, activists and business sector representatives;

- Launch a monitoring process with the participation of trained journalists, CSO representatives and activists.

Project Budget 

 Contract