Action plan – Rustavi, Georgia, 2022 – 2025

At-a-Glance

Duration

Oct 2025

Date Submitted

28th December 2022

Foreword(s)

Modern cities are facing very extensive and diverse challenges, and  local governments would find it difficult to overcome them without the help of various sectors, regardless of the financial resources and competences they might have. Cooperation with civil, educational, business and many other sectors is important for the sustainable and stable development of municipalities. Such collaborations can be chaotic and inconsistent without a well-articulated vision, goals, objectives, and plan. Participation in the OGP Local program creates an opportunity for the municipality leadership and various sectors on the ground to perform in a more systemic manner, which is a solid prerequisite for long-term and fruitful cooperation.

Addressing the environmental issues is one of the main challenges for Rustavi Municipality. This affects all people living in the city. That is why cooperation in this area has become one of the important directions of this OGP strategic vision and action plan. Cooperation is a main strategic goal of Rustavi Municipality in order to ensure joint planning of activities for making the air cleaner in the city, to strengthen participatory instruments and to promote the engagement of civil sector in the monitoring process.

Open Government Challenges, Opportunities and Strategic Vision

This subsection details the Open Government Strategic Vision in your local area that should guide the commitments for the action plan period.

What is the long-term vision for open government in your context and jurisdiction?

In order to support the Open Government process, it is important to engage in cooperation and consultation with different sectors in the municipality, which on the one hand requires the presence of a relevant political vision among the municipality leadership, and on the other hand, the readiness of representatives of different sectors in the city to participate in the implementation of this vision. Having a systemic and institutionalized cooperation is a necessary prerequisite for promoting openness, confidence-building and cooperation, without which the development of a modern democratic society would be impossible. That is why, the long-term strategic goal of Rustavi Municipality is to create platforms for intersectoral cooperation in order to use them to overcome the challenges facing the city, among which the most important one is to ensure clean air and to improve the environmental situation in general in the municipality.

What are the achievements in open government to date (for example, recent open government reforms)?

As early as in 2017, Rustavi Municipality developed and approved the open governance strategy and action plan on its own. The municipality keeps its place among the top two in the Local Self-Government Index, which measures the extent of proactive publication of public information, digital governanceAs evolving technologies present new opportunities for governments and citizens to advance openness and accountability, OGP participating governments are working to create policies that deal with the ... More, and citizen participationAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, citizen participation occurs when “governments seek to mobilize citizens to engage in public debate, provide input, and make contributions that lead to m... More and accountability in the municipalities of Georgia.

Through our participatory budgeting mechanism, we let the city residents to elect their representatives to the Council of Civil Advisors, which is tasked with reviewing and selecting civic initiatives for envisaging them in the municipal budget. There have been 20 local infrastructure improvement initiatives already reflected in the 2021 and 2022 budgets.

Our priority is to promote the youthRecognizing that investing in youth means investing in a better future, OGP participating governments are creating meaningful opportunities for youth to participate in government processes. Technical ... More participation in local policy making. For this purpose, the City Hall co-finances youth groups for civil participation projects. One of such projects envisaged youth participation in identifying and addressing the city problems through a board game. This project was successfully implemented in Bolnisi, Dmanisi and Marneuli municipalities. We are ready to support the introduction of similar projects in other municipalities.

Another priority is the development of municipal services. The Rustavi Municipal Inspection was established in 2022, which provides improved supervision services to the public. Center of Municipal Services will also open soon.

What are the current challenges/areas for improvement in open government that the jurisdiction wishes to tackle?

It is important for the municipality to build its capacities and enhance competences of civil sector representatives as well regarding the matters of mutual cooperation. For this purpose, it is necessary to create dialogue platforms, thematic and in-person consultation spaces. It is also important to share the experience of municipalities that have been participating in the OGP Local for a relatively long time.

What are the medium-term open government goals that the government wants to achieve?

Main strategic goals of the municipality are to create a safe and healthy environment in the city and, accordingly, to solve the environmental challenges that the city is currently facing. In addition, the municipality aims at increasing the citizen participation in decision-making and creating more space for citizens, where they will have an opportunity to submit initiatives and monitor their implementation. Based on the mentioned two main goals, commitments under the OGP action plan were developed.

How does this action plan contribute to achieve the Open Government Strategic Vision?

In this action plan, Rustavi Municipality identified two commitments:

1. To introduce a participatory mechanism for developing the biking network in Rustavi;
2. To strengthen the participatory mechanism of Council of Civil Advisors of the Rustavi Municipality City Hall.

Development of the biking network will contribute to the reduction of air pollution in Rustavi, which is one of the strategic goals of the municipality. In addition, the introduction and improvement of the participatory mechanism is envisaged under the both commitments, which directly corresponds to the second objective of the municipality. Accordingly, this action plan will contribute to the implementation of the strategic vision of the municipality.

How does the open government strategic vision contribute to the accomplishment of the current administration’s overall policy goals?

For the leadership of Rustavi Municipality City Hall, it is important to increase the participation of various groups of citizens in the activities of the municipality, especially in the direction of improving air quality. The municipality has been working on the introduction of participatory mechanisms and the creation of relevant spaces for a long time. Accordingly, the strategic vision of open governance is directly in line with and will contribute to the implementation of the municipality’s policy objectives.

Engagement and Coordination in the Open Government Strategic Vision and OGP Action Plan

Please list the lead institutions responsible for the implementation of this OGP action plan.

• Administration Service of the Rustavi Municipality City Hall and its administrative units, City Council

What kind of institutional arrangements are in place to coordinate between government agencies and departments to implement the OGP action plan?

Representatives of the Administration Service of the Rustavi Municipality City Hall will provide necessary coordination throughout the implementation of the action plan. In addition, there will be an inter-agency task force created, comprised of those who will be actively involved in the implementation of the action plan. Therefore, coordination will be more effective.

What kind of spaces have you used or created to enable the collaboration between government and civil society in the co-creation and implementation of this action plan? Mention both offline and online spaces.

Similar to the process of co-creation, Rustavi Municipality City Hall is assisted by a partner organization from the civil sector, Rustavi Innovations Hub. This cooperation will continue during the implementation of the action plan. In addition, the Rustavi Municipality and the partner NGO will engage in continuous consultations with other representatives of the civil sector, who will be interested in receiving information on the progress of fulfilling the commitments.

What measures did you take to ensure diversity of representation (including vulnerable or marginalized populations) in these spaces?

During the co-creation processCollaboration between government, civil society and other stakeholders (e.g., citizens, academics, private sector) is at the heart of the OGP process. Participating governments must ensure that a dive..., information about drafting of the action plan was broadly disseminated among citizen groups. Accordingly, the organizations working on various issues attended the consultation meetings, including the representatives of organizations working with vulnerable groups.

Who participated in these spaces?

Representatives of various groups participated in the co-creation process, including women, minors and youth, athletes, people working on non-formal educationAccountability within the public education system is key to improving outcomes and attainment, and accountability is nearly impossible without transparent policies and opportunities for participation ... issues, organizations working on environmental issues and those working on promoting the citizen participation.

How many groups participated in these spaces?

6

How many public-facing meetings were held in the co-creation process?

3

How will government and non-governmental stakeholders continue to collaborate through the implementation of the action plan?

The action plan prepared by Rustavi Municipality envisages such activities that cannot be implemented without the participation of various groups. Accordingly, they will definitely be engaged in fulfilling the commitments taken under the action plan. Rustavi Innovations Hub is a partner to the municipality in the OGP Local. This organization will continuously inform various stakeholders about the implementation of the plan and involve them in consultations. Information will be proactively published on the website and social networks of the municipality, and meetings with interested parties will be held regularly every six months.

Please describe the independent Monitoring Body you have identified for this plan.

Rustavi Innovations Hub, which is a partner of the Rustavi Municipality City Hall, will lead the process of evaluating the implementation of the action plan. However, in order to ensure the independence of this process, other interested parties will be invited to actively engage throughout the monitoring activity. Participation in this process will be open. However, if the interest is high, the municipality will select the optimal number of members of the monitoring group through open competition.

Provide the contact details for the independent monitoring body.

• Rusudan Metreveli, Rustavi Innovations Hub – Monitoring and Evaluation Manager, rusomet@gmail.com

What types of activities will you have in place to discuss progress on commitments with stakeholders?

Rustavi Municipality, together with the partner NGO, will hold regular meetings with stakeholders to discuss the progress of commitments. Meetings will be held at least once every six months and will allow stakeholders to provide feedback, recommendations and initiatives to the implementing agencies for more effective implementation of the commitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action.... In addition, information regarding the progress of commitments will be published on the website and social networks of the municipality.

How will you regularly check in on progress with implementing agencies?

The Administration Service of the Rustavi City Hall will request quarterly information from the responsible units of the City Hall regarding the progress of fulfilling OGP commitments.

How will you share the results of your monitoring efforts with the public?

Information regarding the progress of commitments will be proactively published on the website and social networks of the municipality. When an opportunity presents itself, the City Hall will share the results through the media as well

Endorsement from Non-Governmental Stakeholders

• Rusudan Metreveli, Rustavi Innovations Hub – Monitoring and Evaluation Manager,
• Goga Jmukhadze, Rustavi Biking Club – Head,

Rustavi City Hall