Introduction of an Electronic Petition Portal and “Zugdidi-INFO” on the Webpage of Zugdidi Municipality Assembly (GE0063)

Introduction of an electronic petition portal and “Zugdidi-INFO” on the webpage of Zugdidi Municipality Assembly; In the framework of the Action Plan, Zugdidi Municipality Assembly is implementing two projects in the direction of public participation and informativeness: a) by means of webpage http://www.zugdidi.gov.ge, administered by Zugdidi Municipality Assembly, it will be possible to present petitions in electronic format to the representative body; 2) by means of the information center Zugdidi-INFO, citizens will receive information about ongoing infrastructural, cultural, sports or other projects, also about healthcare and social protection programs in the form of SMS. Using the same method, population receives information about the date and agenda of the Assembly meetings. Zugdidi-INFO, a fast and direct communication space with citizens, will improve public participation in self-governance and decision-making process. By means of webpage http://www.zugdidi.gov.ge, administered by the City Assembly, citizens concerned with the various issues will have the opportunity to easily submit petitions in electronic form about their needs and interests to the municipalitites. Date ofImplementation: 2016-2017; Issues to be Addressed: Certain part of the citizens feel indifferent to public participation and involvment in the local self-governance. One of the defining factors for the low interest and activity towards self-government issues is shortage of information. Though self-government bodies in active collaboration with NGOs try to raise public awareness, this issue still calls for additional endeavor. Main Objective: Timely provision of information about the activities of the municipalities to the public so that to improve participation quality.

22. Introduction of an electronic petition portal and “Zugdidi- INFO” on the webpage of Zugdidi Municipality Assembly

Commitment Text:

In the framework of the Action Plan, Zugdidi Municipality Assembly is implementing two projects in the direction of public participation and informativeness: a) by means of webpage http://www.zugdidi.gov.ge, administered by Zugdidi Municipality Assembly, it will be possible to present petitions in electronic format to the representative body; 2) by means of the information center Zugdidi-INFO, citizens will receive information about ongoing infrastructural, cultural, sports or other projects, also about healthcare and social protection programs in the form of SMS. Using the same method, population receives information about the date and agenda of the Assembly meetings.

Zugdidi-INFO, a fast and direct communication space with citizens, will improve public participation in self-governance and decision-making process.

By means of webpage http://www.zugdidi.gov.ge, administered by the City Assembly, citizens concerned with the various issues will have the opportunity to easily submit petitions in electronic form about their needs and interests to the municipalities.

Responsible institution: Zugdidi Municipality Assembly

Supporting institution(s): Zugdidi Municipality Town Hall and Municipality non-entrepreneurial (non-commercial) legal entities

Start date: (Month not provided) 2016 End date: December 2017

Commitment Aim:

Within the commitment, the Zugdidi Municipality Assembly took the responsibility to launch: 1) the Zugdidi-INFO SMS service to deliver news and announcements regarding the local governance and Assembly meetings to citizens; and 2) the electronic petitions portal on the municipality website, in order to diversify the means and simplify the process of submitting policy suggestions to the local government. [101] By sending SMS notifications and providing relevant updates to citizens, the Assembly intended to bolster public interest and engagement in local self-governance. The e-petition mechanism was expected to provide an additional platform to voice citizens’ needs and suggestions for local decision-making.

Status

Midterm: Substantial

By the midterm, the commitment was implemented to a substantial degree, considering that the SMS service was up and running, and the electronic petition portal was under development. Within the Zugdidi-INFO initiative, 11,000 citizens were receiving regular announcements with the time, date, and location of Assembly meetings. Other text messages informed the public about local municipal news, including reconstruction developments. As a result, the service was multifunctional. [102]

End of term: Substantial

The commitment has remained substantially complete at the end of term. Its two key components were technically implemented; however, one is not fully functional.

Zugdidi-INFO SMS service: The SMS service was launched in May 2016 and has been running since. The number of SMS recipients remains at 11,000. [103] SMS notifications are sent from one of the Assembly staff member’s phone numbers. According to a Transparency International (TI) representative, users usually receive announcements regarding the Assembly meetings, as well as report presentations by local government officials. [104] Several local residents who participated in the focus group conducted by the IRM researcher, recalled receiving SMS about an upcoming concert, infrastructure work, and news associated with the local Public Service Hall.

Electronic mechanism for submitting e-petitions: The new website for Zugdidi Municipality Assembly incorporates the electronic petitions portal. However, because of the technical issues, it is not in service and it is not possible to submit e-petitions to the Assembly. [105]

Did It Open Government?

Access to information: Marginal

Civic Participation: Did not change

The Zugdidi-INFO SMS service increased access to information by sending text messages to citizens about the local news and Assembly meetings. While this is a good tool for informing the public, the number of recipients has remained the same since the midterm–reaching up to 11,000 citizens, or a quarter of the population of the Zugdidi municipality. [106] There are no formal procedures for citizens to register for the service. They can write the Assembly on their Facebook page, or contact them through e-mail with the request to add their number to the general database. However, offline registration methods are important, as 35% of Georgians never use the internet, although this number is higher in rural areas (61%) than in urban areas (e.g., Tbilisi has only 15%). [107] While all focus group participants were active internet users, they still mentioned low internet penetration in the villages.

The electronic mechanism for submitting e-petitions did not become functional within the NAP 2016−2018 cycle. Despite incorporating the portal on the new website, the online petition mechanism is not in service and as a result, the e-library of pending, awarded, and rejected online petitions is empty. [108] The Assembly’s plans for launching the electronic portal are vague and might require development of a new website. [109] A TI representative also stated that there is no legal framework for submitting electronic petitions. The citizens are still able to submit hard copies to the Assembly. However, the overall numbers remain low; in 2017, three petitions were submitted to the Assembly in 2018. [110] Some of the proposals requested developing proper drinking-water tanks in two villages, fixing streetlights and other infrastructure, managing waste, installing public litter bins and establishing shelters for stray dogs. The first initiative was fully funded, while the remaining proposals from petitions were either partially funded or rejected. [111]

As the focus group results showed, among the reasons for low engagement can be a lack of public awareness on formal procedures, as well as skepticism about the local government considering citizens’ initiatives. A focus group participant recalled working on an initiative to reduce public transport costs for students, which took around six years of persistent negotiations before being made free in September 2018. Another attendee advised the village representatives to proactively reach out to the population and inform them about ways to engage in the local governance.

The majority of the focus group participants did not know about either of the services. Two participants out of six had received SMS updates; the remaining four participants said they would be interested to get such text messages. In order to increase the impact of Zugdidi-INFO, it is important to raise awareness about the service and offer the public different registration methods.

Carried Forward?

This commitment was substantially completed by the end of term and was not carried forward within the new Action Plan 2018−2019. However, the Zugdidi Municipality Assembly made a new commitment to introduce a Mobile Application for citizens to increase access to information. [112] This multifunctional app intends to provide updates on Assembly meetings and the issues under discussion, while it will also grant access to the calendar of cultural and sports events, and dates for implementing infrastructure projects. NAP 2018−2019 includes another commitment for Zugdidi, which is the development of an online portal allowing citizens to register proposals to the Zugdidi Mayor, who will be responsible for providing feedback. [113]

To improve citizen engagement in local governance, the IRM researcher recommends that the Zugdidi Municipal Assembly and the Town Hall fully utilize tools created through this commitment and explore ways of offline engagement for citizens, particularly in villages, where internet penetration is lower.

• A standardized registration form could be introduced for the Zugdidi-INFO service, allowing citizens to indicate areas of interests for relevant updates.
• In order to maximize the effect of the SMS service, conduct awareness-raising campaigns allowing citizens to register on-site, especially in rural areas, with low internet penetration rates. [114]
• Village representatives could act as mediators between the population and the local governing body by organizing regular meetings.

[102] Lasha Gogidze and Tamar Gzirishvili, Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM): Georgia Progress Report 2016-2017 (OGP, 30 Apr. 2018), https://bit.ly/2NIr097.

[103] Giga Kilasonia (Head of the Public Relations and Civil Sector Unit), phone interview with IRM Researcher, 1 Nov. 2018.

[104] Archil Todua (Transparency International Zugdidi Regional Office Coordinator), e-mail correspondence, 1 Nov. 2018.

[105] Kilasonia, interview, October 2018

[106] National Statistics Office of Georgia’s statistics on population by regions and self-governed units is available at: https://bit.ly/2SnTK5w. The total population of the Zugdidi municipality is 42,700, according to the latest National Census data.

[107] Caucasus Research Resources Center, 'FRQINTR: Frequency of internet usage by SETTYPE: Settlement type (%),' https://bit.ly/2SCa3M9.

[108] Zugdidi Municipality, 'Registered petitions' (2019), http://zugdidi.mun.gov.ge/ge/petitions.

[109] Kilasonia, interview, 1 Nov. 2018.

[110] Kilasonia, interview, 1 Nov. 2018.

[111] Institute of Democracy, “Zugdidi Municipality Sakrebulo Responding to citizens' petitions” (2017), https://bit.ly/2DTwGrx.

[112] Government of Georgia, Georgia Action Plan 2018-2019, (OGP, 4 Dec. 2018), https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/georgia-action-plan-2018-2019.

[113] Konstantine Kakava (Member of Zugdidi Municipality Assembly), phone interview with IRM Researcher, 1 Nov. 2018.

[114] Caucasus Research Resources Center, 'FRQINTR: Frequency of internet usage by SETTYPE: Settlement type (%).'