Action plan – Ozurgeti, Georgia, 2023 – 2025

At-a-Glance

Duration

Oct 2025

Date Submitted

1st May 2023

Foreword(s)

Despite the economic struggles and limited resources, Ozurgeti is known as an “Open Star” when it comes to open governance in Georgia. Both local and international organizations recognize Municipality as a local reformer committed to upholding the principles of open and transparent government. But the question is why? What has triggered to achieve this? The short response would be strong local civil society organizations and local public servants committed to promoting open government values and principles across the Municipality, thus, improving inclusive, citizen-oriented local governance. That ends up in a very close dialogue process and co-creation spirit during the policy design and implementation process in the municipality.

In this light, we are keen to do more, and we would like to strengthen our efforts to achieve sustainable results for citizen participationAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, citizen participation occurs when “governments seek to mobilize citizens to engage in public debate, provide input, and make contributions that lead to m... More, introduce innovative solutions that guarantee 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 and counter corruption, and improve public service deliveryTo ensure that citizens of all groups are better supported by the government, OGP participating governments are working to improve the quality of and access to public services. Commitments in this are... by initiating the action plan within the framework of the OGP Local in 2023-2025.

In line with its OGP aspirations, we believe that our 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... will empower and further incentivize to promote OGP values and principles across the Municipality, thus, improving inclusive, citizen-oriented local governance.

Open Government Challenges, Opportunities and Strategic Vision

What is the long-term vision for open government in your context and jurisdiction?

Ozurgeti is committed to establishing itself as a model in open government-oriented self-governance. Following the Municipality’s previous success in introducing digital governanceAs evolving technologies present new opportunities for governments and citizens to advance openness and accountability, OGP participating governments are working to create policies that deal with the ..., improving service delivery, citizen participation, and access to information, we fully believe that our continued efforts will help us accomplish this open governance goal.

In particular, as a further step forward considering the local context, Ozurgeti municipality is committed to:

1. Further strengthen anti-corruption mechanisms including through elaboration of the new, Building Integrity and Transparency Action Plan for 2023-2025.
2. Enhance citizen participation and inclusive decision-making process, through piloting and institutionalizing innovative forms of civic participation and introducing forms of deliberative democracy
3. To scale up open government values and initiatives across Georgia by creating a platform led by the Municipality to share open-governance-related experiences and establish a mechanism for learning across the country
4. Improve the quality-of-service delivery and ensure equal access to public service for marginalized communities.
5. Enhance oversight and evidence-based decision-making capacity of the legislative body (Sakrebulo) of the Municipality.

What are the achievements in open government to date (for example, recent open government reforms)?

Ozurgeti was one of the first local self-government to join the OGP Georgia national process in 2020 and pledged commitments to strengthen open governance at the grassroots level. During this period, the following key achievements were observed:

• Initiating Live Transmissions Municipality Assembly sessions and posting full video recordings on the Municipality website and official social media pages.
• Developing Building Integrity and Transparency Strategy along with rigorous Monitoring and Evaluation framework.
• Introducing the Corruption Risk Assessment system and developing a corruption risk assessment report and corruption risk register.
• Launching an online petition platform.
• For better access to public service for vulnerable groups and improved response to their needs, the municipality conducted two comprehensive research for better needs analysis. Based on the findings of both studies, recommendations were developed and approved.
• For better public finance management prepared the Budget Priority Document budget, which has been developed based on the public meetings with citizen participation. With the purpose of increasing citizen awareness and fostering participation, the municipality prepared a visual budget.
• Developed the new online budgeting platform -“be a co-ruler” form of participatory budgeting.
• Conducting robust awareness-raising toward open governance at the local level.

What are the current challenges/areas for improvement in open government that the jurisdiction wishes to tackle?

Ozurgeti is committed to taking further actions to eliminate corruption risks and strengthen anti-corruption mechanisms at the local level. Despite the elaboration of the Corruption Risk Methodology within the OGP Local 2021, the methodology has been approved by the local government,  and it still remains an important aspect for the local government to address within the second cycle of OGP. Even though, Ozurgeti municipality has implemented several actions in the municipality to promote awareness-raising activities towards Open Governance, still it further steps to conduct robust awareness-raising towards Open Governance.

Another challenge relates to improving public service delivery and access to public services to the marginalized communities in the municipality. As part of its digital governance agenda, Ozurgeti recognizes the importance of simplifying the dialogue between the government and citizens to improve access to information and improve public service delivery to ensure equal access to the citizens across the Municipality. In response to the conducted studies, the findings show the gaps and recommendations and leave room for further improvement and designing new steps. The Sakrebulo weakly and irregularly uses existing oversight mechanisms while not possessing the new oversight tools that Parliament at the national level has in its toolboxes such as post-legislative scrutiny, thematic rapporteur, and thematic inquiry.

What are the medium-term open government goals that the government wants to achieve?

Ozurgeti municipality is committed to achieving the following medium-term goals:

1. Strengthen mechanisms to effectively fight against corruption including regular use of a corruption risk assessment system to ensure that the Municipality keeps identifying the weakness which may present the opportunity for corruption to occur.
2. To strengthen civil participation for more inclusive and active participation of the local community. This includes establishing the systems to allow participation, piloting innovative civil participation methodologies, taking actions to ensure the sustainable application of civil participation practices at the local level, as well as increasing awareness of the local population on already established civil participation mechanisms.
3. To promote the open governance values and principles not only within the municipality but also beyond it through the promotion of the open government culture and sharing experiences across the country.
4. To enhance inclusive, citizen-centered, and transparent public service delivery and improve access to services for marginalized communities by providing the inclusive service delivery
5. Strengthen the legislative oversightEffective parliamentary oversight of the executive branch is key to the integrity of democratic systems and, by extension, to the open government agenda. Technical specifications: Commitments that inv... and evidence-based decision-making capacity of Sakrebulo.

The medium-term goals are directly in line with the long-term strategic vision of the municipality and address the challenges to open government identified in the previous section.

How does this action plan contribute to achieve the Open Government Strategic Vision?

Ozurgeti Municipality is committed to implementing the following three commitments for the OGP Local Action Plan 2022-2025:

1. Strengthening Participatory Democracy and Civil Participation in Ozurgeti municipality using innovative participation mechanisms
2. Strengthening Legislative Oversight in Ozurgeti Municipality
3. Improve Public Service Delivery in Ozurgeti Municipality

How does the open government strategic vision contribute to the accomplishment of the current administration’s overall policy goals?

In line with the ambitious Open Government aspirations of Ozurgeti Municipality, the OGP Local Action Plan 2022-2025 will further stimulate Ozurgeti’s governance agenda Municipality to promote OGP values and principles, thus, ensuring inclusive, citizen-oriented local governance. In particular, the vision reflects Ozurgeti’s aspirations to enhance public service delivery accessible to every citizen, especially for marginalized communities, strengthen mechanisms to eliminate corruption risks, enhance citizen participation, create an open governance learning platform for the municipalities across the country, and strengthen legislative oversight and evidence-based decision making.

Engagement and Coordination in the Open Government Strategic Vision and OGP Action Plan

Please list the lead institutions responsible for the implementation of this OGP action plan.

• Ozurgeti Municipality City Hall
• Ozurgeti Municipality Assembly

What kind of institutional arrangements are in place to coordinate between government agencies and departments to implement the OGP action plan?

Ozurgeti City Hall and the Municipality Assembly (Sakrebulo) will be leading the implementation of the OGP Local Action Plan. In addition, for better coordination, by the decree of the Mayor of the Municipality, a working group is established to coordinate the implementation of OGP Local. The working group consists of representatives of Ozurgeti Municipality and its subordinate legal entities, the City Council, and civil society organizations. It acts as a coordination mechanism to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the priority areas identified by the strategy. The working group will meet on a regular basis to better track the implementation of the OGP action plan.

What kind of spaces have you used or created to enable the collaboration between government and civil society in the co-creation and implementation of this action plan? Mention both offline and online spaces.

Through engaging in the OGP process since 2020, Ozurgeti municipality has already established active cooperation with local civil society organizations such as Guria YouthRecognizing that investing in youth means investing in a better future, OGP participating governments are creating meaningful opportunities for youth to participate in government processes. Technical ... Resource Center, Center for Innovations and Civic Development “Progress House,” and Democratic Development Union, as well as development partners or international organization to ensure OGP principles of co-creation are reflected in the policy planning and implementation process. Although already established as a robust co-creation mechanism, the officially established Working Group will remain an institutional tool further to foster a cooperative spirit between the government and CSOs. The working group will serve as the primary mechanism to strengthen collaboration between the government and civil society in the co-creation and implementation of the OGP Local Action Plan 2022-2023 regularly.

What measures did you take to ensure diversity of representation (including vulnerable or marginalized populations) in these spaces?

A number of local civil society organizations are functional in Ozurgeti, representing the voices of marginalized communities at the local level. In addition, representatives of the Council of Civil Advisors and GenderOGP participating governments are bringing gender perspectives to popular policy areas, ensuring diversity in participatory processes, and specifically targeting gender gaps in policies to address gov... Equality Council will be invited to join the Working Group to ensure their participation in a better co-creation processCollaboration between government, civil society and other stakeholders (e.g., citizens, academics, private sector) is at the heart of the OGP process. Participating governments must ensure that a dive... from the perspective of marginalized communities. In addition, robust public participationGiving citizens opportunities to provide input into government decision-making leads to more effective governance, improved public service delivery, and more equitable outcomes. Technical specificatio... sessions have been conducted by the Municipality and CSOs together to ensure that the voices of the citizens are heard and considered in this OGP strategic vision.

A robust co-creation process during the OGP Local Plan development as well as implementation helped us to identify major challenges and leverage civil society and other stakeholdersCivil society organizations (CSOs) are indispensable actors in the OGP process. Governments are required to engage with civil society toward a clear and open process of participation. Civil society ma... in implementing reforms.

Who participated in these spaces?

During the OGP strategy elaboration process, Ozurgeti Municipality with the local CSO Guria Youth Resource Center started the development of the initial ideas for the new cycle of the OGP action plan. In this line, held consultations with representatives of Ozurgeti City Council, City Hall, and local key stakeholders to develop the OGP Local Strategic Vision and Action Plan 2022-2025. Local civil society representatives were encouraged to voice their ideas and recommendations on how to improve good governance at the local level.

Further, public consultations were held with the local citizens, where representatives of the Municipality and CSOs held the consultations within the municipality, traveling in villages across the municipality, with the aim to reach the citizens in the remote area or ensure the participation of marginalized communities, youth, and women.

How many groups participated in these spaces?

6

How many public-facing meetings were held in the co-creation process?

7

How will government and non-governmental stakeholders continue to collaborate through the implementation of the action plan?

The working group will serve as the main mechanism to ensure a cooperation spirit during the implementation process of the OGP Local Action Plan 2022-2025. Meetings will be held on a regular basis to provide updates about the implementation process and inform the Working Group members.

In addition, the municipality will keep a record of the meetings and publish the transcripts online for public use. As part of informing a wider audience of the implementation process, Ozurgeti Municipality will ensure regular updates of the OGP Local repositoryAccess to relevant information is essential for enabling participation and ensuring accountability throughout the OGP process. An OGP repository is an online centralized website, webpage, platform or ... on the City Hall website to collect all OGP Local-related materials in one space for better access. In addition, to robust a better awareness of OGP, Ozurgeti will ensure using various communication channels such as Facebook, City Hall’s and Council’s webpage and etc.

Please describe the independent Monitoring Body you have identified for this plan.

The Working Group will serve as a coordination mechanism as well as a Monitoring Body with a co-chair by one of the local government representatives and one civil society representative. This multi-stakeholder Working Group will designate to monitor the implementation and the progress of the Action Plan. Ozurgeti Municipality will also adopt the formal procedures of the Working Group. The chairman of the Working Group will be the Chairman of Ozurgeti Municipality City Council and the co-chair will be selected from the local civil society organizations, this approach will ensure to empower the representation of the local CSOs in the process and better monitor the OGP second cycle in the municipality.

Provide the contact details for the independent monitoring body.

• David Darchia, Chairman of Ozurgeti Municipality AssemblyCouncil: David Darchia Chairman of Working Group, darchiadavit@gmail.com
• Democratic Development Union of Georgia – Levan Khintibidze, Chairman, Levankhintibidze@gmail.com

What types of activities will you have in place to discuss progress on commitments with stakeholders?

Ozurgeti municipality is committed to encouraging the co-creation process by implementing the following activities:

1. Regular meetings with key stakeholders, including implementing units as well as local civil society organizations.
2. Regular face-to-face public meetings to discuss with the wider community the progress of the OGP Local Action Plan implementation.
3. Regular meetings with the representatives of functional platforms of civic participation such as the Council of Civil Advisors; the Council for Gender Equality; General Assemblies of Settlements.
4. Regular outreach campaigns through various social media platforms.

How will you regularly check in on progress with implementing agencies?

The co-chairsThe leadership of the Steering Committee is made up of four co-chairs who provide strategic guidance and support to advance OGP’s overarching priorities. Co-Chairs serve two-year terms beginning on ... of the Working Group will be responsible for regularly checking on the progress of the implementing units from the City Hall as well as the Council. The working group will meet at least once every 3 months to provide updates on OGP Action Plan 2022-2025 implementation progress and to better coordinate implementation with other relevant departments. Regular updates will ensure that the implementing agencies report any expected challenges faced during the implementation period for respective solutions with other stakeholders involved in the OGP process.

Besides, the Municipality Assembly serves as Monitoring Body to monitor the OGP Local 2022-2025 Action Plan implementation process. The involvement of the City Council will establish a high legitimacy of the implementation of the Action Plan.

How will you share the results of your monitoring efforts with the public?

Ozurgeti Municipality will be responsible for communicating with the general public and informing the population about ongoing OGP-related activities in the Municipality. The Municipality City Council Chief of Staff will be in charge in active collaboration with Public Relations unit to inform the results of the monitoring to the local community by utilizing various social media platforms, municipal webpage: City Hall and Council.

In addition, Ozurgeti Municipality will create an online OGP repository to collect and publish all documents repository on the local OGP website. The OGP repository will provide a historical record and access to all the documents related to the OGP local process, including transcripts of the meetings, the Strategic Vision and Action Plan, monitoring results, and various supporting documentation of the commitment implementation process.

Additionally, to ensure the involvement of the marginalized communities, especially from rural areas, the Village Trustees will incorporate OGP-related information as part of their agenda. This will support the spread of information in the rural area of the Municipality, where the internet penetration is lower, and the citizens rely more on word of mouth.

Endorsement from Non-Governmental Stakeholders

• The Institute for Change and Innovation – Tamar Ghlonti, Executive Director.
• Center for Innovations and Civic Development “Progress House” – Levan Mzhavanadze, Chairman.
• Democratic Development Union of Georgia – Levan Mzhavanadze, Chairman.