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Georgian Municipalities on a Journey to Become More Open

Municipios de Georgia en camino a ser más abiertos

Lasha Gogidze|

Having served as a national researcher for Georgia from 2013 to 2019 for OGP’s Independent Reporting Mechanism, I have developed a particular interest in implementing the values of openness and accountability in local governments. From 2014-2015, Georgia implemented a series of local government reforms that allowed municipalities to directly elect the mayors along with the local council (sakrebulo) members and implement new mechanisms of citizen participation. This provided momentum to materialize my interest in open government. As the primary and regular point of contact for citizens with the state, local governments are directly responsible for addressing the day-to-day needs of their communities and have more opportunities to implement a variety of participatory mechanisms. I was able to operationalize this insight while leading the Local Government Program at the National Democratic Institute (NDI). Through this program I got to know the mayors, sakrebulo chairs, civil society representatives, and community leaders of different municipalities that all proved their uniqueness and value and inspired me to write a book. By that time I had already collected seven years of intensive practical experience of working with key local actors. I took a snapshot of this unique experience and underpinned it with relevant theoretical concepts to create Peculiarities of Open Governance Practices at the Local Level in Georgia.

The book shows that the Georgian municipalities are heavily influenced by the central government and lack powers of their own. This lack of decentralization hinders the full implementation of the open governance model within the municipalities. Local communities are demotivated to engage in policy-making as solving numerous problems they face is not within the powers and resources of their elected representatives. Low levels of economic development, poverty, unemployment and poor infrastructure are homogenous across the municipalities.

A resident engages with the Your Idea to Batumi project in Batumi, Georgia.PHOTO: Credit: შენი იდეა ბათუმს / Idea Batumi Facebook Page

That being said, the book also identifies successful open government practices in municipalities where local governments are more open to social change and new initiatives. With two flagship projects Manage from Home and Plan City Budget, Ozurgeti is a frontrunner in this regard. The Manage from Home project envisages the live streaming of sakrebulo sessions online and the remote participation of the rural population. The project was fully implemented in five villages where special community centers were set up. According to the sakrebulo chair, each sakrebulo session has about 1,000 views, which is a high number by local standards. The Plan City Budget project allows citizens living in the city of Ozurgeti to present and vote for their priority budget initiatives. The winning initiatives were funded by the local budgets of Ozurgeti municipality for 2020 and 2021. These inclusive projects have brought a tangible reward for Ozurgeti. In 2020, Ozurgeti joined OGP Local alongside Akhaltsikhe and Khoni. All three municipalities are currently busy implementing local action plans.

Other notable open government projects described in the book include Citizen Budget in Gori and Zugdidi allowing local residents to spend the portion of the local budget according to their priorities; Your Idea to Batumi through which Batumians can register their ideas/budget initiatives and vote for the desired initiative to be funded from the local budget; and Initiative.ge in Telavi within which the CSOs and the local government have a joint advisory council tasked with selecting the citizens’ initiatives for funding from the local budget. Finally, it was a rewarding personal experience to help Marneuli local government involve youth volunteers to conduct a public survey of budget priorities that were later incorporated into the 2020 municipal budget.

Residents engage with the Your Idea to Batumi project in Batumi, Georgia.

My key recommendation for moving forward with open governance and decentralization reforms in Georgia is to establish knowledge-based communities in different settlements – giving some of the powers and resources of the municipalities to them and creating a platform for their collaboration. Similar to the civil townships in the US, parish councils in the UK, and communes in France and Italy, such civic communities with relevant powers and resources to independently decide on issues of communal concern would increase public participation and influence in local policy-making. The devolved powers to small social groups living in a common territory would also likely increase the use of innovative approaches in that territory, which can become a source of inspiration for other similar territorial groups. For instance, successful practices in Georgian communities could inspire other communities not only within Georgia but also in fellow Eastern Partnership countries to follow suit. The Citizen Budget project is a good illustration. It started off in Marneuli and then spread to Gori and other municipalities. Regular repetition of such successful practices helps foster a culture of self-organization within the respective communities, establishes new thematic connections between them, and equips their members with sectoral expertise. Success is contagious!

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