End of Commitment Report – Improvement of Corruption Risk Management in the Ozurgeti Municipality

Name of Evaluator

Dea Tsartsidze

Email

dea_tsartsidze@yahoo.com

Member

Ozurgeti, Georgia

Action planAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen...

Action plan – Ozurgeti, Georgia, 2021 – 2021

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...

Improvement of Corruption Risk Management in the Ozurgeti Municipality

Action

In order to improve corruption risk management Ozurgeti Municipality City Hall and City Council will: Examine in detail the internal business process in the municipality City Hall and its subordinate agencies related to the identification, analysis, assessment, and mitigation of corruption risks. Develop and approve the corruption risk assessment methodology addressing specifics of the municipal governance and taking into account the best international practices and experience as well as the corruption risk assessment methodology prepared by the Ministry of JusticeTo address barriers that prevent citizens from having their justice needs met, OGP participating governments are working to expand transparency, accountability, and inclusion into all systems of justi... of Georgia. Carry out a corruption risk assessment based on the corruption risk assessment methodology addressing specifics of the municipal governance. Prepare and approve a corruption risk assessment report.

Problem

During the past years, many shortcomings in Georgia’s open government processes have been recognized by various international organizations at the national and local levels. Thus, in 2016 the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recommended that Georgia develop anti-corruption actions for local governments to improve integrity and the enforcement of conflict-of-interest policies and anti-corruption restrictions. In response to the recommendation, Ozurgeti is committed to taking further actions to eliminate corruption risks and strengthen anti-corruption mechanisms at the local level. In 2020, Ozurgeti Municipality in close coordination with local CSOs developed and approved Building Integrity and TransparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More Strategy and Action Plan. Despite a number of important activities carried out by the Ozurgeti Municipality in the area of fight against corruption, complete identification and analysis of corruption risks remains an important challenge the improvement of which will significantly help the Municipal bodies to effectively manage corruption risks

1.1 What was the overall level of progress in the commitment implementation at the time of this assessment?

Substantial

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

With USAID GGI’s technical support, Transparency International Georgia has prepared the corruption risk methodology that addresses Ozurgeti municipality’s needs. Corruption risk assessment is based on methodology prepared by the national anti-corruption council, and it was adjusted to the local government specifications. Therefore, the corruption risk assessment methodology was developed; as a result, the meetings with representatives of the City Mayor’s Office and agencies under the City Hall. The methodology identified corruption risk assessment stages, risk identification instructions, and risk management actions. Based on the methodology, the corruption risk internal registry was developed for Ozurgeti municipality in the next stage. Following this methodology, the City Hall agencies and non-commercial legal entities carried out the corruption risk assessment and prepared the report identifying all the key risks relevant to the municipality. However, the report is not yet approved.

1.2 Describe the main external or internal factors that impacted implementation of this commitment and how they were addressed (or not).

CompletionImplementers must follow through on their commitments for them to achieve impact. For each commitment, OGP’s Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) evaluates the degree to which the activities outlin... More of milestones coincided with local self-government electionsImproving transparency in elections and maintaining the independence of electoral commissions is vital for promoting trust in the electoral system, preventing electoral fraud, and upholding the democr... More in October 2021. However, it affected and delayed the completion of the commitment implementation stages. Notably, while the final report was prepared with the assistance of City Hall representatives and is ready to be approved, its approval has been postponed several times. According to the non-governmental sector, it could be postponed due to not being included as a priority agenda for the City Hall. It is important to mention that the research process and implementation stages were restricted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Independent researchers developed the methodology to carry out a corruption risk assessment in Ozurgeti municipality and an action plan fully remotely. Thus, it was difficult to discuss risks with the stakeholders, especially remotely. However, when consultants explained the corruption risk and that, in general, each process raises risks, employees became more engaged.

1.3 Was the commitment implemented as originally planned?

All of the commitment milestones were implemented as planned.

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

Commitment was implemented as planned. However, completion of actions extended the predetermined timeline.

2.1.1. – Did the government disclose more information; improve the quality of the information (new or existing); improve the value of the information; improve the channels to disclose or request information or improve accessibility to information?

Not Applicable

Degree of result:

– Select –

2.1.2. – Did the government create new opportunities to seek feedback from citizens/enable participation inform or influence decisions; improve existing channels or spaces to seek feedback from citizens/enable participation/ inform or influence decisions; create or improve capabilities in the government or the public aimed to improve how the government seeks feedback from citizens/enables participation/ or allows for the public to inform or influence decisions?

Not Applicable

Degree of result:

– Select –

2.1.3 Did the government create or improve channels, opportunities or capabilities to hold officials answerable to their actions?

Yes

Degree of result:

Major

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

Despite the fact that the municipality has already developed the Transparency and Integrity strategy and action plan, which already incorporated certain activities against corruption, still, the municipality does not have any system to assess the corruption risks at the local level. It is notable that strengthening anti-corruption instruments on the municipal level is one of the priority directions of the decentralization strategy for 2020-2025 and the National Anti-Corruption Strategy for 2019-2021. Thus, the commitment directly addresses this need, and its implementation enabled the municipality to establish a mechanism to conduct a corruption risk assessment regularly. Nevertheless, it is still unclear the intensity of corruption risk assessment. It is necessary to mention that establishing similar practices will broaden the experience of public agencies regarding this issue. It will also increase awareness of corruption risks that will prevent corruption and increase the accountability level of authorities.

2.1.4 Other Results

Not Applicable

Degree of result:

– Select –

2.2 Did the commitment address the public policy problem that it intended to address as described in the action plan?

Yes

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

Despite the fact that the municipality has already developed the Transparency and Integrity strategy and action plan, which already incorporated certain activities against corruption, still, the municipality does not have any system to assess the corruption risks at the local level. It is notable that strengthening Anti-corruption instruments on the municipal level is one of the priority directions of the decentralization strategy for 2020-2025 and the Anti-Corruption Strategy for 2019-2021. Thus, the commitment directly addresses this need, and its implementation enabled the municipality to establish a mechanism to conduct a corruption risk assessment regularly. However, it is still unclear the intensity of corruption risk assessment. It is necessary to mention that establishing similar practices will broaden the experience of public agencies regarding this issue. It will also increase awareness of corruption risks that will prevent corruption and increase the accountability level.

3. Provide at least one lesson or reflection relating to the implementation of this commitment. It can be the identification of key barriers to implementation, an unexpected help/hindrance, recommendations for future commitments, or if the commitment should be taken forward to the next action plan.

The challenges raised during the commitment implementation process mostly relate to the low awareness and competence of public servants. In the future, addressing these issues will ensure employees’ active participation in identifying corruption risks and developing actions against the identified risk. On the other hand, it will assist the municipality in identifying corruption risks independently in the long-term perspective, preparing a registry of risks, and developing assessment reports, respectively.

To achieve the long-term outcome and form sustainable local policies and practice against corruption, it is important to develop internal regulations that will outline the intensity of assessments, timeline, identification of units responsible for carrying out the assessment of corruption risks and etc. This action is necessary for institutionalizing the conduction of corruption risks at the local level.