Acknowledgement: I would like to express my gratitude to Nino Khitarishvili and Eastern European Centre for Multiparty Democracy for hosting and assisting me throughout my stay in Georgia and conducting my desk research.
The aim of the paper is to present the local governance system in Georgia with particular stress on the citizen participation mechanism. In addition, the paper will try to compare the similarities and differences between Armenia and Georgia. Both countries have signed The European Charter of Local Self-Governance and have ratified it. The local governance system in Georgia has undergone several reforms during the last decade to strengthen the system and ensure political and fiscal decentralisation and stronger local authorities. In both countries, the local government bodies have their own functions and competencies. They are in charge of administrating their budgets and properties to implement their main functions independently from central authorities effectively. Since the local authorities are independent in decision-making in frames of their competencies, and the local governance system is the closest one to the citizens and people, it is important to ensure that it has the necessary systems and procedures for participatory decision-making and the promotion of local democracy.
In order to assess the participatory tools at the local level in Georgia and see to what extent the authorities are promoting those tools and the citizens are willing to be a part of local decision-making, several interviews were conducted with the civil society organisations representatives in Georgia who are directly working with local policymakers and authorities. As can be summarised from the interviews and desk research, the main categories for participation are the following:
- Informing the public about the local priorities and local agenda
- Public consultations for collecting feedback and expertise
- Collaboration with local groups and public
- Engaging local people through various participatory tools[1]
According to the Local Self-Government Code of Georgia, the main means of participation are a General Assembly of a Settlement, a Petition, the Council of Civil Advisors, Participation in the sessions of a city Assembly and the sessions of its commission, Hearing reports on the work performed by the Mayor and members of Municipal Council, and Participation in the budgetary process. [2] As for the public councils, there are different types of councils in different communities such as Youth Councils, Gender Equality Councils, Minorities Council, People with disabilities Council etc. The same applies to the Armenian local governance system. According to the Armenian Code on Local Self-Governance, the LG bodies may establish advisory bodies for consultation and inclusive policy-making. As for the petitions, it was initially 1% of residents to sign, now, it is reduced to 0,5%, and an online petitions system has been introduced.
Some municipalities also have SMS systems for informing their residents. So Local Government bodies regulate these initiatives independently. In addition to these, local authorities also use live streams and broadcasts for public awareness, TV and social media platforms as well. One of the recent initiatives introduced in Georgia is Participatory budgeting which is not obligatory. However, it is a new method to engage citizens and implement projects based on local needs and priorities. The procedures of participatory budgeting in the municipalities are different. Initially, the project ideas were received from civil society organisations, but now it is also available to the public. Municipalities announce the competition, and people submit proposals for financing. The projects are submitted online, and only registered citizens can vote. Before voting, there is a quality check conducted by municipalities so that submitted projects are in line with Local Governance competence and local priorities and the budget is within limits. A special committee is comprised to assess the project for financial support.
In fact, there is no legislative regulation for participatory budgeting; however, there are several municipalities in Georgia that implement participatory budgeting and allocate a certain amount of public finance in the municipality’s annual budget. By the year 2019, nine municipalities in Georgia were implementing this initiative: Batumi, Ozurgeti, Zugdidi, Mestia, Tskaltubo, Kutaisi, Akhaltsikhe, Gori and Sighnaghi. This format still is not widely used and known in Armenia. There were cases that the CSOs consulted municipalities to implement this initiative. However, it is usually a one-time event, and the LG bodies do not have all the necessary procedures in place to ensure regular implementation of this initiative.
Another participation tool which is again widely used in Georgia at the local level is the public consultation mechanism which is used wider than at the central level. This mechanism is mostly used for local budgets, development plans, infrastructure-related projects etc. According to the code of Local Self-Government, the mayor is obliged to submit legal acts, budget drafts, and other relevant documents to the Council of Civil Advisors, which is a consultative body and is comprised of representatives from the business sector, civil society and the residents of the particular municipality. The composition of the Council is decided and confirmed by the mayor. One-third of the candidates should be female.[3]
The other participatory tool that is available both in Armenia and Georgia is the petition mechanism. However, this mechanism is not very popular either in Armenia or in Georgia because of low awareness of the system and procedure.
Despite all the public participation mechanisms and tools mentioned above being in place and well developed both in Armenia and Georgia, the level of civic engagement in local policy-making still is not as high as expected.
In order to measure the progress in LG participation in Georgia, the Local Governance Index system was developed and applied. The measurement index is comprised of three main pillars: Public Information (11 sub-blocks and 52 criteria); Electronic Governance (4 sub-blocks and 29 criteria); Citizen Participation and Accountability (12 sub-blocks and 19 criteria). The assessment is conducted once in two years. However, since 2020 the participation index has decreased due to the pandemic and restrictions related to this. This index is becoming quite popular in Georgia, especially at the central level and among the international community. The index also boosts the competitiveness among the LG bodies to improve their systems at different levels and practices. For instance, according to the results of the 2021 national assessment of transparency and accountability of Georgian municipalities, the best performing local authority is Poti, and the lowest one is Municipality of Adigeni[4]. Armenia has a similar Index methodology to evaluate the effectiveness and progress of LG bodies in Armenia developed by the Communities Finance Officers Association.
To sum up, both Armenia and Georgia have comparable types of participation tools and mechanisms for citizen engagement and the promotion of local democracy. However, there is room for improvement both at the municipal level and in public behaviour and attitude. The local authorities lack the capacity to engage citizens, communicate with the public about existing tools of participation and lack the initiative to pilot those tools. On the other hand, the citizens are not interested in local policymaking for different reasons such as lack of knowledge and information, interest and motivation, successful cooperation cases etc.
Author: Julya Sahakyan
The blog is produced within the Economic Policy Research Center’s (EPRC) project ACTION -Activating Civil Society Organizations through Training and Inclusive Operational Network. The project is implemented with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.
The views expressed are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of EPRC and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.
References:
[1] https://icld.se/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Georgia-.pdf
[2] https://rm.coe.int/handbook-georgia-eng-final/1680a5bd47
[3] https://rm.coe.int/handbook-georgia-eng-final/1680a5bd47
[4] http://www.lsgindex.org/ge/analysis/
