Name of Grant Activity: Strategic Plan Georgia 2020 – Strengthening Public Involvement (ZigB)
Donor Organization: Federal Foreign Office of Germany
Grant Recipient: Institute for Development of Freedom of Information
Partner Organization: Bremen University
Total Grant Amount: 86 580 €
Period of Performance: 10 October, 2014-10 February, 2015

Objectives:
The project aims to give rise to the interest of various groups of civil society towards involvement and extension of knowledge about the Strategic Document (Socio-Economic Development Strategy of Georgia “Georgia-2020) in order for them to be more involved in discussions for the future.

Current State:
The problematic spheres that prevent the growth of Georgian economy are identified in strategic document with using Growth Diagnostic Method. These problems are - low level of competitiveness, insufficiently developed human resources (Educational System, Health Care and Social Protection System) and the credit accessibility. Based on the current situation main aim of the Georgian Government is specified in the document as supporting private sector, supporting development of human resources and improving the financial availability. Various activities and objectives are included in strategy to eradicate the aforementioned problems for the years of 2017-2020.

Project’s connection with other projects and activities of governmental and non-governmental organizations:
As Georgian government neither organized, nor initiated the public involvement process, there is no current possibility for understudying it.

Activities:

• Organizing the special-courses of Lecturers and PhD students of Georgian and Germany Universities at Georgian State universities (most importantly in regions), for example, in Batumi, Kutaisi, Telavi and in other regions. Four special-courses will be organized within the project: financial development, social protection systems, economic policy, and culture management.
• Supporting Georgian bloggers and young analytics:
  • Organizing three day workshop for Georgian bloggers and young analytics of non-governmental organizations;
  • Selecting the young Georgian bloggers and analytics of Georgian non-governmental organizations for receiving the financial assistance; granting a 3 month stipend;
  • Organizing the Blogger’s Day for Georgian Bloggers and awarding them in various categories;
• Organizing the conference “Scientific Analysis of the Perspectives of the Strategic Document – “Georgia 2020” in February 2014. Famous German experts will be invited together with Georgian experts (with the collaboration of Tbilisi State University).
• Organizing the discussions in connection with the Strategic Document of Georgian Government “Georgia – 2020” with the presence of relative public groups. Three public discussions will be organized. Corresponding representatives of the relative ministries and state agencies, also other representatives of the given spheres will be invited to the discussions. The topics of the discussions will be the ongoing reforms in social protection sphere (healthcare and pension reforms) and educational reform, also current financial development of Georgia.

Target Group:
Target Groups of the project are social activists (bloggers, analytics of non-governmental organizations), Georgian scientists and students, also other stakeholders who are interested in state actions within the scopes of the strategic document.

Indicators of Success:
The success of the project will be experienced in various ways. The questionnaire will be spread among the researcher/scientist participants of the conference for the possible feedback. Also we’ll monitor the public discussions about the Strategic Document with the collaboration of the Georgian non-governmental organizations. Especially, we are expecting the big public response about the conference “Scientific Analysis of the Perspectives of the Strategic Document – “Georgia 2020” that will be held in February. Also after the end of the scholarship period we’ll receive the final document from the participants (bloggers/analytics of non-governmental organizations) that will also designate how was this scholarship used and whether the grant supported the development of the participants. Besides, the questionnaire should be spread during special courses, where the gained knowledge of each participant can be specified.

What activities are planned for raising the public awareness of the project:
For the project’s various activities, to attract the public attention, close connection with the Georgian media (TV channels, newspapers and web-pages) is being planned. IDFI has multiple contacts of printing and digital media, and at the same time IDFI has successfully launched various public awareness campaigns in former projects.