Tbilisi. The Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia has drafted the report – "Citizen Participation in self-Government in the Eastern-Partnership States". It concerns the challenges and needs of the Eastern Partnership states in terms of citizen participation in the local governing processes. This report was developed as part of the project "Promoting Citizen Participation in Local Self-Government in the Eastern Partnership States", funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. 6 member organizations of sub-group of the public administration reform of the CSO forum have participated in the drafting of the report, including: "Center for the Support of Economic Initiatives" (Azerbaijan); "Association of Communities of the Finance Officers - CSO Armenia" (Armenia); "Foundation CCC Creative Center" (Ukraine); "Urban Development Institute" (Moldova); "Lev Sapieha Foundation" (Belarus); "The Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia" (Georgia). The Report - "Citizen Participation in Local Self-Government in Eastern Partnership States" (in English, in Russian). Source:csrdg.ge

Adjara. The Citizens' Advisory Council functioning with the Sakrebulo of the self-governing city Batumi, the Batumi Branch of the Civil Society Institute and the City Hall of the self-governing city Batumi have organized a public meeting on November 29 in the Batumi Civic Engagement Center. The participants have discussed Batumi's transport infrastructure and the problems that the city is facing in this respect. At the meeting the not-for-profit (non-commercial) legal entity "Transport Infrastructure Management Agency" presented the annual report and the future plans. The meeting was attended by the representatives of CSOs, Sakrebulo of the self-governing city Batumi, and the Ministry of Finance and Economy and the Tourism Department of the Adjara Autonomous Republic, as well as the local cargo transportation companies.

Samegrelo. CSO "Dea" delivered a training on November 26 and 27 for the members of the Advisors' Council of the Zugdidi Municipality Sakrebulo. The training concerned the elaboration of the socio-economic plan of the Municipality and the activities of the Advisors' Council. Main emphasis at the meeting was put on the advisors' functioning, structure and the organization methods. "Topics of the training included the forms of public co-participation and stimulation of civil initiatives by the local self-government, as well as the issues related to an effective and efficient dialogue with the population", - said the representative of association "Dea" Nona Kobalia. According to her, events planned within the project framework will increase the accountability of the local authorities and citizen participation in the decision-making process. The project is implemented with the financial support of the "Good Governance in Georgia" Program of the United States Agency for International Development.

Samtskhe-Javakheti.At the initiative of the Akhaltsikhe Civic Engagement Center, the public discussion of the draft 2013 budget of the Akhaltsikhe Municipality was held on November 20.The Chair of the Municipality Sakrebulo Oleg Sandroshvili, Deputy Chair of the Sakrebulo, Deputy Gamgebeli of the Akhaltsikhe Municipality, Chair of the Financial-Budgetary Commission, Head of the Financial Service and the representatives of local NGOs and media have participated in the discussion of the draft budget.It was decided that the local authorities and NGOs will jointly examine and plan the next year’s budget. Representatives of local authorities have expressed readiness to make corrections to the draft budget following the respective consultations with the non-governmental sector.

ShidaKartli. The international peaceful organization "Nonviolent Peaceforce", charity humanitarian center "Abkhazeti" and the "Rehabilitation and Development Center Ergneti" implement a joint project "Community Initiative Groups". The project aims to mobilize the communities located by the administrative-division line of ShidaKartli, identify the needs of human safety and develop the responsive mechanisms locally. As part of the project, a meeting was held in village Mereti, where such initiative group is functioning. The Mereti community initiative group unites representatives from the following villages: Mereti, Karbi, Koshka, Gugutiantkari and Zardiantkari. The group is coordinated by the "Rehabilitation and Development Center Ergneti". This group must identify the key problems and start cooperating with the donors. Currently the problems are already identified: villages of the conflict zone are mostly concerned about the irrigation and drinking water, lack of agricultural equipment, chemicals and the migration. Initiative groups are set up in other villages of the conflict zone as well.

Samtskhe-Javakheti. The "International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy” has organized a press-conference on November 14 in the Akhaltsikhe Civic Engagement Center. Attending public was informed about the events carried out since January 2012 until present for engaging the public in the work of local self-government, and what were the post-advocacy results.It was noted that several important problems of the city were resolved with assistance of the initiative groups consisting of local active youngsters. Initiative groups, which have researched these problems and addressed the self-governments with recommendations afterwards, were set up as part of the project – "Participation of the Civil Society in the Local Decision-Making Process”. The project is implemented by the organization ISFED, with the financial support of the Eurasia Partnership Foundation (EPF) and the Swedish Agency for International Development and Cooperation (SIDA). The project aims to enhance the transparency and responsibility of local self-government authorities in the process of solution of local problems, and to improve the skills of local community organizations and media in terms of monitoring of the self-government authorities.ISFED was implementing the similar project in six municipalities of Georgia. The organization will hold the final conference at the end of November in Tbilisi.

Samtskhe-Javakheti.On November 13, the introduction meeting was held between the Chair of the Akhaltsikhe Municipality Sakrebulo and the local CSO representatives.The NGO sector representatives have initiated the meeting, main topic of which concerned the local budget related issues.The Chairman of the Akhaltsikhe Municipality Sakrebulo Malkhaz Gikoshvili has left the office last week. Member of the faction "Georgian Dream” Oleg Sandroshvili was elected as the new Chair of the Sakrebulo, who will soon answer the population’s questions in the traditional online-conference mode.

Adjara.The Batumi Branch of the Civil Society Institute has met with the population of 13 territorial units of Batumi over three weeks (from October 18 to November 8), together with the Citizens' Advisory Council functioning with the Sakrebulo of the self-governing city of Batumi. Discussed at the meeting were the forms and mechanisms of the population's participation in the exercise of self-government, as well as the modification project of the Citizens' Advisory Council functioning with the Sakrebulo of the self-governing city of Batumi (the project foresees the establishment of public assemblies in all thirteen settlements and including one representative from each of them in the Citizens' Advisory Council, which by itself contributes to effective communication between the population and the Sakrebulo). To identify local problems, interviews were held during 13 public meetings, at which the meeting participants had an opportunity to describe problems within the settlements and to participate in the determination of program priorities in the 2013 budget. The Citizens' Advisory Committee will submit the analysis of results of interviewing to the Sakrebulo in the form of recommendations.

Guria. On November7, the representatives of the Young Scientists' Club of Ozurgeti and the Lanchkhuti Information Center have met with the Chair of the Chokhatauri Municipality Sakrebulo Anton Khundadze. The stages of developing the strategic plan for borough Chokhatauri were discussed at the meeting. The working group was specified, uniting representatives from various fields, and the consultation meeting was planned.The meeting was held as part of the project "Advocacy for the development of cities left without self-government". The project aims to raise the socio-economic potential of cities of the Chokhatauri and Lanchkhuti Municipalities of the Guria Region. To this end, key task of the project is to develop the socio-economic strategic plan for these two cities with participation of the public.

 Svaneti. The Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia has organized a training in "Local self-government and monitoring methods" on October30-31 in Mestia and on November 1-2 in Latali. Up to 40 activists of the Mestia and Latali communities have attended the training. Discussed at the meeting were the structure and competences of local self-government, participation forms in the decision-making process, as well as the budgetary cycle of local self-government and the stages of budget monitoring. The training for the community organizations was organized as part of the EU-funded project "Promoting Civil Society in Zemo Svaneti and Its Involvement in Local Self-Government". For full text

Samtskhe-Javakheti. Another online conference was held on November1 in the social network Facebook on the official page of the Akhaltsikhe Municipality, as part of the project "Transparent Self-Government". Deputy Head of the Sakrebulo Chair Malkhaz Aspanidze has answered the population's questions. The questions concerned drainage channels, drinking water, lifts, sports arenas and the private property issues. The conference has triggered large online activities, involving as rural as well as urban residents. The project "Transparent Self-Government" is implemented by the NGO "Union of Democrat Meskhetians". It aims to facilitate partnership between the self-government representatives and the population.

Guria. The ecological week was organized on October 26 at the initiative of the Chibati Civic Club as part of the Civic Education and Teachers’ Training Program. The program is implemented by PH International, funded by USAID. The Guria Youth Resource Center is the program implementing partner in Guria. As part of the week, the group has worked on environmental issues. At the closing event the eco-committee group set up as part of the week has delivered a presentation on environmental issues and discussed the current situation in our country in this respect, as well as the future solutions.The regional coordinator of the Greens Movement of Georgia / "Friends of the Earth – Georgia” and the project "Let’s Clean Our Environment” MananaGoguadze has attended the final event of the week.The committees set up during the week will continue working in the future also. As the Club’s supervising teacher LadoApkhazava has noted, one committee will work on environmental issues by collecting and processing information in this respect, the second committee will exercise the self-government functions, while the third committee will work on the community issues by attending the Municipality meetings and lobbying the environmental issues there. Around 40 persons have participated in the event.

Guria. On October 25, the representatives of the "Democratic Development Union of Georgia” have visited the village Chanieti of the Ozurgeti Municipality. Pursuant to the regulations of the Ozurgeti Municipality Sakrebulo, the Sakrebulo deputies must meet their voters in the village administration building once a month.This meeting is important and acceptable for the voters in that in the administrative building of their village they can raise any issue, request or problem, and the representative of the administration of the Ozurgeti Municipality Sakrebulo has to write down all these issues in the protocol.For monitoring purposes, NGO representatives have visited village Chanieti at 1 pm. They could not find either the Sakrebulo deputy or the administration’s representative in the administrative building.

Samtskhe-Javakheti. Another online conference was held on October 25 on the official Facebook page of the Akhaltsikhe Municipality Gamgeoba. This time the Sakrebulo’s chief specialist in legal affairs Irina Kurmashvili has answered the population’s questions.Announcement on the conference was released few days earlier. The population’s questions concerned mainly the completion of the city’s gasification, municipal improvement of streets and residential buildings, and the improvement of infrastructure.Online conferences on the Akhaltsikhe Municipality’s Facebook page are held since August 30, as part of the project "Transparent Self-Government”, which is implemented by NGO "Union of Democrat Meskhetians”. The Akhaltsikhe Municipality Gamgebeli and other representatives have already answered the citizens’ questions. The project aims to facilitate cooperation between the self-government representatives and the population.

Adjara. On October23, the Batumi Civic Engagement Center has organized the public discussion on the "Head of the Adjara Government: appointed or elected position?!”Representatives of the coalition "Georgian Dream”, "United National Movement”, various political parties, CSOs, students and media, as well as the Head of the Adjara Branch of the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association have participated in the discussion. The meeting participants have discussed the rule and procedures for appointing the Head of the Adjara Government.A part of political parties and the public believes that the nomination of the Head of Government by the President undermines self-development of the autonomy, while the other part believes that this position must be elective, or just like in case of Prime-Minister, it must be nominated by the political entity that won the majority of votes in the elections.

Imereti. The civic education students’ forum was held in the I. Otskheli Kutaisi Public School #2. The civic club members of the Kutaisi-based public schools and the civic education teachers have participated in the forum. Main objective of the forum is to identify and advocate the problems within the community and schools, and to involve the business sector and the authorities in the community affairs. The Director of the Kutaisi Education, Development and Employment Center Ilia Kiladze hopes that the forum will result in 10 initiatives planned by the schoolchildren, which will be implemented at a later stage and will focus on concrete decision-making with participation of the self-government, business and community representatives. The program strives to improve the quality of the civic education curriculum and enhance youth participation in the process of building the democratic society. The program is implemented with the support of the Ministry of Education and Science. 125 public schools are involved in this program Imereti-wide. There are 44 civic clubs founded in Imereti. The forum participants split up in groups to identify the communities and the school curricula.

ShidaKartli.The training in "Advocacy - Basis for Social Changes" was delivered on October 10 and 11 in association "Biliki" as part of the "Civic Education and Teachers' Training Program" for the pupils of the Gori-based and Gori District schools. The first day of the training was dedicated to the theory, where the participants discussed topics such as the notion and objectives of advocacy, effective advocacy campaign and its phases, types of advocacy, and management and monitoring of advocacy results. On the second day of the training a workshop was organized, during which the participants chose problems of concern to them and discussed ways of their solution, as well as the problems of the school and community. 22 youngsters from various schools have participated in the training. The organization plans to organize the same training for the students of public schools of the Khashuri and Kaspi Municipalities. For full text. Source: civics.ge

Tbilisi. Interested persons have an opportunity to get familiar in the Regional Development and Local Self-Government Resource Center of the Caucasian Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development with the new book "Local Authorities in the Central and Eastern Europe: Comparison of Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Russia". Authors of the book focus on the fact that in the post-Communist states decentralization has become one of the key issues during the planning and implementation of political reforms. In addition, the book looks into the examples of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Russia. The Resource Center was set up and functions as part of the Social Transition Program of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Matra). For full text Source: participate.ge

Kakheti. The civil society organization "Business Center Kakheti" has held a meeting in Dedoplistskaro on what does regional economy look like in Kakheti. CSO representatives, students, journalists, local self-government representatives and interested citizens have attended the meeting. The public believes that the 5-year strategy of Kakheti's regional development, which is being currently drafted, must include problems, which determine the municipalities' role in terms of the economy. MakaKhaziuri, journalist: "Kakheti is considered to be one of the rich regions and it has vast economic potential, but the region needs a plan according to which the economy will develop". According to the Head of the "Business Center" SosoMikeladze, first the economic problems need to be identified in the region: "Firstly, problems must be analyzed in all municipalities. Key economic indicators and many other issues need to be examined in the region, which need to be studied and taken into account when planning the regional economy."

Kakheti. The Community Development Center, Caucasian House and the community organization "Nukriani" have organized the festival of folk craft, culinary and arts – "Nukriani 2012". Traditional festival will be held on October 13 in the square adjacent to the Nukriani Public School. Visitors of the festival will have the opportunity to get familiar with the works of folk craft shops and masters operating in various municipalities of Kakheti, listen to folk music, etc. The festival is organized with the financial support of the German Fund "Bread for the World". Source: satemo.ge

Samtskhe-Javakheti. Within the framework of the Good Governance Program Grant in Georgia, the civil society organization "Union of Democrat Meskhetians" implements in Akhaltsikhe the project "Transparent Self-Governance". The project is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and aims to increase the efficiency, transparency and citizen participation in the work of local self-government. The official page of the Akhaltsikhe Municipality was activated in the social network (Facebook) as part of the project "Transparent Self-Governance", where the first conference was held just recently and the AkhaltsikheGamgebeli has responded to questions of interest to the population in the course of one hour. According to the project media-coordinator JabaNatenadze, such conferences will be held systematically and the population's questions will be answered by all persons in respect of whom the most questions will be posed. He noted also that this web page has increased the population's awareness on the developments taking place in the municipality.

Adjara. On August 31, the "Civil Advisers' Committee" has presented the modification project of the Committee to CSOs and media representatives. This project was developed by the "Civil Society Institute". The "Civil Advisers' Committee is the consultative body existing with the Sakrebulo of self-governing city of Batumi, which aims at enhancing the citizen participation mechanisms in the activities of the Sakrebulo, and submitting the comments and recommendations. Pursuant to the modification project of the "Civil Advisers' Committee", public conventions must be established in all territorial units of self-governing city Batumi, which on its hand will provide a more solid mechanism of citizen participation. Under the new project, each representative of public conventions and two representatives from CSOs, business sector and media outlets operating in Batumi will be the Committee members. They will be elected by the relevant organization. The presentation ended with the discussion as on the effectiveness of the Committee's activities, as well as on the modification of its name.