Imereti. With the support of Local Democracy Agency Georgia in the municipalities of Kharagauli, Baghdati, Samtredia, Vani, Tskaltubo and Khoni has launched an online citizen feedback platform as a pilot. “The purpose of creating this platform is to evaluate the services / programs provided for the citizens by the municipality. In the first stage, social programs are being evaluated. The citizen feedback platform created within the framework of the grant "Increasing the quality of citizen involvement in local self-government", with the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Government of Georgia”. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Samegrelo. Transparency International Georgia's Zugdidi office and members of committees of concerned citizens have applied to the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure and Khobi City Hall with a request to build a water supply system, rehabilitate internal roads, drainage canals and outdoor lighting in the village of Torsa-Dgvaba in Khobi. The request statement is signed by 47 local residents. TI Georgia calls on the Khobi City Hall and the Ministry to study the problems of Torsa-Dgvaba locals in detail and in a timely manner. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Ajara. Aiming at engaging local population in planning and management of the city budget, Civil Society Institute is engaged in implementation of the participatory budgeting project Your Idea to Batumi which has been realized by Batumi city hall since 2019 with support of USAID GGI. Read more... Source: The webpage of the organization

Imereti. According to the information of the UNICEF, On February 1, UNICEF Representative in Georgia, Ghassan Khalil visited the Mayor of Kutaisi, Ioseb Khakhaleishvili and discussed how to make Kutaisi a child-friendly city. “Last year, Kutaisi joined the UNICEF-led child-friendly cities initiative. UNICEF continues to support municipalities in addressing children's rights". Read more… Source: www.unicef.org

Tbilisi. According to the information of the UNDP Georgia on 24 January, women councillors got together at their annual forum to discuss the next steps to bringing women’s perspectives to local politics. Read more… Source: www.ge.undp.org

Imereti. Local Democracy Agency Georgia shares a brief overview of the activities and results of the implemented grant ''Increasing the Quality of Citizen Involvement in Local Self-Government". Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) publishes an analysis of local self-government budgets. “In 2021, the largest share of expenditures - 37% (GEL716,3 million) planned by municipalities comes on subsidies that are mostly released to finance N(N)LEs. In 2020-2021 years, a total of GEL 212 million was provided in the Tbilisi budget to subsidize public transport of the city. The share of remuneration expenses in total costs in municipalities ranges from 8% to 50%, while that of social assistance - from 2% to 17%. In 2021, as a result of budget changes made prior to the local self-government elections, the figure of planned total expenditure has increased by GEL 292 million”, - is stated in main findings of the analysis. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) considers that developments occurred in regard to approval of budgets for Batumi and Zugdidi for the year of 2022 raise doubts about legality of decisions made in conjunction with these processes in material terms. “Such a practice contradicts both democratic principles and the essence of local self-governance, reinforced by the Constitution, thus endangering perspective of democratic governance to be performed by population at the local level”. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. On December 15, representatives of the IDFI, CTC and MSDC presented the National Assessment of Georgian Municipalities 2021. “According to the results of the 2021 National Assessment of Transparency and Accountability of Georgian Municipalities, the average score of municipalities is 28% (on a 100% rating scale), which is equal to the 2019 assessment score. It can be thus said that, according to the data of 2021, the rate of transparency and accountability of municipalities has remained practically unchanged”. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. According to the information of UN Women in Georgia Local governments in Georgia join the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence. “Within the framework of the campaign, over dozens of local governments will hold thematic events, including information meetings and media appearances all across Georgia. To guide the implementation of the campaign, NALAG has developed a special guidance for the local governments”. Read more... Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Guria. The village of Laituri was visited by UN Resident Coordinator in Georgia Sabine Machl, UN Women Country Representative in Georgia Kaori Ishikawa and the writer Ekaterine Togonidze. “With the support of UN Women and the Government of Norway, local women opened the first bakery as well as a café and a mushroom enterprise in Laituri in 2018, bringing new life to their village. Now they already have a local NGO and are going to implement a number of initiatives for the benefit of the community. The initiative was realized as part of the UN Joint Programme for Gender Equality in Georgia, funded by the Government of Sweden”. Read more… Source: The organizations page on the social network

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) has prepared the 3rd interim report of the long-term observation mission for the 2021 local self-government elections. According to the report: “Allegedly politically motivated acts of violence, committed both before and after October 2, still remain a challenge. In the pre-election period of the second round, GYLA described two cases of interference into the pre-election campaign carried out by political parties. Within the reporting period, there were revealed facts of damage to agitation material of both the ruling party and the opposition”. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) prepared the second interim report of a long term observation mission for the 2021 local self-government election. “GYLA registered cases of voter bribery, unlawful participation in agitation and use of administrative resources performed in favor of the “Georgian Dream”, as well as some opposition parties and independent candidates. The challenge remains to be attribution of government projects to people and affiliation of them with the party, which blurs the lines between the state and the party”. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Within the framework of the “First time at the self-government elections” campaign, an online meeting with young people living in Batumi, Shuakhevi, Khelvachauri, Ozurgeti, Chokhatauri, and Gori municipalities was held on September 9 and 10. The purpose of the meeting was to clarify the essence of self-governance, competencies, forms of citizen participation, and electoral procedures for young people, especially those for whom the 2021 self-government elections are the first elections. The “First time at the self-government elections” campaign consists of various stages and serves personal development of young people, enhancement of their role, and encouragement to participate in local self-government activities. The campaign is implemented by the Civil Society Institute (CSI) within the framework of the project - “Building a Robust Alliance of Local Development Actors in Georgia” (Phase II), with the support of a German organization - “Bread for the World” and in partnership with youth centers operating in target municipalities as well as with Innovation and Civil Development Center - “Progress House”. Read more…  Source: The website of the organization

UNDP Accelerator Lab conducts a behavioral experiment to support waste separation in Batumi and Tbilisi... UNDP signed memorandums of understanding with the Batumi and Tbilisi municipalities, to assist the two largest Georgian cities to introduce plastic waste separation practices and promote sustainable lifestyles. Read more…  Source: The webpage of the organization

Tbilisi. According to data released by the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), remuneration of Mayor at municipalities varies from GEL 2,600 to GEL 4,500 (net amount from GEL 2,080 to GEL 3,600). “The article reflects the situation existing to date and reviews current policy of determining salary rates for Mayors of municipalities, legislative regulations and expediency of pre-election promises made by the Prime Minister. The promise of the Prime Minister in regard to doubling remuneration of Mayors, provided that legislation does not restrict them from making such a decision independently, clearly points to existing decentralization problems at self-governments”. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. The European Union (EU), together with UNDP, kicked off the new Mayors for Economic Growth Facility #M4EG in Georgia. „The #M4EG Facility will focus on cities and municipal centres in the Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine), assisting them to emerge from the pandemic crisis and discover new opportunities for sustainable growth and economic prosperity“. Read more… Source: eeas.europa.eu

Tbilisi. International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) offers a free service of legal assistance for the 2021 local self-government elections.                                    Source: The website of the organization on a social network

Tbilisi. The Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia (CSRDG) publishes a video on the model and importance of Community Foundation. “Community Foundation is a successful model established by civil society organizations around the world, which aims to improve the quality of life of people living in a certain geographical area and, along with various other activities, provides grants. We will try to supply you with information about Community Foundation, the world-wide-tested model, its characteristics, existing international experience, and interesting resources step-by-step”. Source: The website of the organization on a social network More (GEO)

Tbilisi. The Public Defender has published a special report – “Compliance of social and health care programs of self-governing bodies with the principle of equality”, which contains an analysis of compliance of municipal programs with anti-discrimination legislation. “The study found that some programs of local self-governments apply discriminatory criteria in terms of gender, disability, age, marital status and other grounds while determining target beneficiary groups, as a result of which a number of groups are left out of the program. Besides, there are used terms and regulations, which encourage discrimination against different groups and reinforce existing stigmas. In some cases, selection for participation in the program from people with similar needs is done without any justification”. Read more… Source:ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. The Center for Development and Democracy (CDD) shares a guide to citizen participation in a local self-governance implementation process. For participation of citizens... “Participation of citizens in a decision-making process is a cornerstone of democracy and has great effect on substantial improvement of local self-governance related processes and issues”, - is stated in the document. Source: The website of the organization on a social network