On April 6, the Supreme Council (SCA) of Ajara presented the citizen engagementweb-platform – chaerte.sca.ge. The web platform is developed based on the commitments of the Open Governance Action Plan 2020-2021 of SCA and integrates several digital services.

Through chaerte.sca.ge, citizens can submit a petition to the Supreme Council, apply to SCAwith a statement, comment on draft law, schedule a meeting with a member of SCA, request an electronic pass or attend the Council sessions, read the reports of the Supreme Council and its bodies and get any other information about the activities of SCA.

The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) was actively involved in development of the web-platform.  The platform combines digital services and enhances citizen engagement and access to information in the activities of the legislative body.

The meeting was opened by David Gabaidze, Chairperson of the Supreme Council of Ajara, Nick Beresford, UNDP Resident Representative in Georgia, Catalin Gherman, Deputy Head of Cooperation, EU Delegation to Georgia, and Giorgi Kldiashvili, Executive Director of the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI). After the presentation, the meeting continued in a question-and-answer mode and participants were given the opportunity to express their position on the new platform. The development of a web-platform was positively assessed by the meeting participants who think that is important to provide more information about the mentioned digital services to the citizens, to activate their engagement that will eventually increase the access to information and accountability from the Supreme Council of Ajara. The meeting was also attended by the representatives of the OGP, particularly by Jose Maria Marin (Senior Program Officer, OGP Local) and Peter Varga (Senior Regional Coordinator, Europe).

The web platform has one of the highest standards of access for the people with disabilities among Georgian public institutions.   There is an installation file of the reader program on the web-platform, which makes it possible to use the audio version of the website.

Chaerte.sca.ge has been developed within the framework of the EU-UNDP project “Consolidating Parliamentary Democracy in Georgia.” The project is closely cooperating with the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), to promote Open Governance Principles at the Parliament of Georgia and the Supreme Council of Ajara (SCA).